So I see you're reading a nonfiction book.

Is it any good?

What's the quality of information that it presents?

How do you know?

These are questions that are hopefully in the back of your mind whenever you pick a book off a shelf.

Unfortunately, there are lots of reasons why certain authors may have little motivation for doing original research using the best sources to produce the most informative book.

What are those reasons?

Well, we're going to find out right now on Skeptoid.

You're listening to Skeptoid. I'm Brian Dunning from Skeptoid.com.

How We Verify Our Sources.

Welcome to the show that separates fact from fiction, science from pseudoscience, real history from fake history, and helps us all make better life decisions by knowing what's real and what's not.

If you're living in the 21st century, this is not the first time you've heard that misinformation

abounds right now.

But today I'm not talking about the kind of misinformation that might float around your

table at the brew pub with your friends when discussing the events of the day. I'm talking about the

kind that might steer you astray should you be writing an article or working on a book or some

film project. When you assume the role of a communicator who is going to put words into some

lasting form,

rather than just blurting them out in a social gathering,

you're taking on the obligation of an extra layer of responsibility

to make sure that what you put down into words is as correct as possible.

So I thought I'd talk a bit about how I go about it, but then it occurred to me that if

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