How the Human Mind Shapes Myth

Michael Shermer reviews When They Severed Earth from Sky: How the Human Mind Shapes Myth by Elizabeth Wayland Barber and Paul T. Barber, in American Scientist:

As the publisher of Skeptic magazine and as the monthly “Skeptic” columnist for Scientific American, I am frequently thrust into the job of myth busting, an intellectualized version of what the irrepressible pair Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman do each week on the Discovery Channel’s popular television series MythBusters. I’ve found that it’s wise to proceed with caution, however, because one person’s myth may be another’s true belief, and some myths may actually be true.

Just what do we mean by myth, anyway?

More here.