Editing Skeptical Inquirer (section)

== Reception and influence ==

Science communicator [[Neil deGrasse Tyson]] said ''Skeptical Inquirer'' is his favorite magazine and it tells him what people are currently "misthinking" about.{{r|tyson}} In his 2017 book, [[Bill Nye]] recommended S.I. to his readers as a magazine that "promote[s] the aggressive form of critical thinking needed to immunize us to fakery".{{r|nye}} [[Eric Zorn]] wrote that S.I. "remains a favorite of those of us who can, in fact, handle the truth".{{r|zorn}}

Several notable skeptics have described the magazine as influential to the early stages of their development as [[Scientific skepticism|scientific skeptics]]. In 1995, [[Perry DeAngelis]] and [[Steven Novella]] were friends that played ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' together until DeAngelis noticed a ''Skeptical Inquirer'' magazine on the table in Novella's condo. DeAngelis, also an avid reader of the magazine, pointed out the back page to Novella and said "What is missing?" DeAngelis stated that what was missing was a Connecticut skeptic group, he said "we should do this" to which Novella agreed. They started the [[New England Skeptical Society]] and eventually the [[Skeptic's Guide to the Universe]] (SGU) podcast.{{R|RememberingPerry}}

Writing for ''[[Scientific American]]'', [[Douglas Hofstadter]] asked the question, why would ''Skeptical Inquirer'' succeed when the only people who read it are people who do not believe in the paranormal? The answer, he says, lies in the back of the magazine in the "Letters to the Editor" section. "Many people write in to say how vital the magazine has been to them, their friends and their students. High school teachers are among the most frequent writers of thank-you notes to the magazine's editors, but I have also seen enthusiastic letters from members of the clergy, radio talk-show hosts and people in many other professions."{{R|Hofstadter}}

Daniel Loxton, in his essay "Ode to Joy" about discovering ''Skeptical Inquirer'' magazine as a freshman at his University writes... {{blockquote|But the true treasure, the lamp at the end of the cave, the thing that helped set the course of my life, was hidden away in the periodical collection: a complete set of the ''Skeptical Inquirer'', going back to its launch in 1976. I couldn't believe such a wealth of skeptical research existed! I worked my way through the stack systematically, hungrily....{{R|Joy}}}}

=== Levy and Olynyk art project ===

Inspired by the four decades of ''Skeptical Inquirer'' magazine, an exhibition titled ''Some Provocations from Skeptical Inquirers'' by artists [[Ellen Levy]] and [[Patricia Olynyk]], was held at the [[Baruch College]] Mishkin Gallery in February 2016. Reviewer Eileen G'Sell wrote that the artists "plumb the depths of the murky ontological sea that is empirical belief."{{R|Sumptuous}} Writing for ''[[The Brooklyn Rail]]'', reviewer William Corwin stated that the artwork represented "this built-in confrontation between fact and fiction (which) was the basis of the Skeptical Inquirer itself and its playful willingness to consider the most unlikely phenomena."{{R|VisualArts}}