“Stories get collected and retold by other people for many reasons – to entertain an audience, instill gratitude, sell a product, shape public oinion, inspire by example, or lobby for change. … … The combination of a persons perspective and goal is often called bias.” (Page 54 in Chapter 4)

Often I like to summarize a book for my reference, and so other people can get a flavor of what is in the book. This book did it for me between pages 235 and 240, plus 252-253. That is too much to summarize in a medium length book review. So, this book is engagingly written by a historian who had extensive experience with rumor, innuendo, and like techniques. To get a quick overview, those pages (Appendix A, and C) give a summary of the questions to ask when evaluating new information.


He is well qualified: “Keith A. Erekson is an award-winning author, teacher, and public historian who currently serves as the director of historical research and outreach for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He also sits on the editorial board of the Church Historian’s Press.”
https://www.keitherekson.com/about/

Best resources to authenticate photos and videos on the Internet (Chapter 10, Page 140)
Whois.icann.org
Majestic.com
Afrefs.com
Images.google.com
Www.tineye.com
Fotoforensics.com
EXIF.regex.info/exif.cgi
Citizen-evidence.amnestyusa.org

Websites that help trace stories to sources (Chapter 11, p 148)
Snopes.com
Hoax-slayer.com
Fact-check.com
Politifact.com
Washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker
Quackwatch.org
Sourcewatch.com

I was delighted to find this book which was published in 2021 in a thrift store in the same year year was published. I had been alerted to it’s value by a podcast interview with the author. It met and exceeded my expectations. ( )

Growing up as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I heard many rumors ranging from the mundane to the outrageous. Some were presented by people trying to convince me that the church was lead by wicked frauds and others were presented during Sunday classes as potential faith building experiences. Still others were just presented as random nuggets of information just considered interesting.

When I picked up this book, Real vs. Rumor, I mostly expected it to be a listing of dozens or even hundreds of stories that would then either be proven as fact or debunked as fake. What I found was somewhat different.

The true content and intent of the book is elaborated by its subtitle: "How to dispel latter-day myths". While the book does use a handful of rumors and stories as examples, the real purpose of the book is to present readers with a sort of blueprint or methodology for evaluating these stories and rumors on their own to try and determine their veracity.

The author, Keith A. Erekson, is a historian who worked for many years as director of the Church History Library and so he had many opportunities to hone his research methods and to uncover truth and error. He shares some of his experiences and points out some of his findings related to a handful of the well known myths but mostly he wants readers to come away from this book with a better strategy for finding and accepting truths.

In any religious setting, it is important that we take things on faith. But blind faith is often counter productive and can sometimes be dangerous to our long term beliefs. Erekson presents a number of "sniff tests" to help us decide if something we hear should be believed on face value or if it warrants further investigation. And if it does require additional investigation, he provides advice for how and where to seek out that information.

In this age where anything and everything can be shared at the tap of a button, there is more information that we can possibly digest. So when we come across something that seems a little off or a little too "share-worthy", before we hit the "share" button, we should pause and do a little bit of digging to validate the accuracy. Otherwise, we just continue stirring the pot of confusion and diluting the faith and beliefs of those around us. Good advice not only for the truths of the LDS Church but for any type of information we find and share. ( )

I was talking about The Chosen with a gentleman who objected to the choice to present Jesus Christ as with darker skin because "he was really white." I asked for sources. It's been several weeks and no sources have been produced.

When I was young there was a popular story being shared in various meetings about a certain point in our religious history. It was a nice story about a real occurrence that contained claims about effects that supposedly caused the death of certain persons. About the 6th time I heard it, I said so(I don't like repetition). My grandpa heard my complaints and, with a twinkle in his eye, said "you know it never happened, right?" Without waiting for me to answer, he went on to provide logistical problems, issues with the "primary" source, and public sources that disproved the supposed causes of death. I was curious if that bothered him. No, it didn't, he said. He had faith that the intentions of most of the tellers were good, even if there were better tools available.

About halfway through this book I was the recipient of several screenshots of information from a FB friend from an unnamed source who called a man of high-ish rank* who, supposedly, negated several false and true claims and advocated for behavior outside proper and designated channels. Upon checking the history of my messages with said "source," I also was reminded of a message containing "info from Newsmax that highly encouraged writing dissatisfied letters to Penn Ave"--- Info/encouragement that was never on Newsmax and wouldn't have done any good anyway.

All this is mentioned to say that this book is needed. That the info/tools in this book should not just be used on religious claims. Erekson's paragraphs regarding conspiracy theories, identifying fake photos and documents, and ways to sort through hearsay (a friend of a friend said...) is very valuable. That's why I don't think I'll categorize this as religious. Though I particularly think that it is important to remember this info when watching that TV show in the first paragraph. Some of the backstories lack sources. ;)

The good news? It's crazy popular in my neighborhood. Hopefully that's a sign that people want to do better. And hopefully Deseret Book will publish more books of this caliber.


*A google search revealed that they, conveniently, got the name wrong. ( )