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    Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science
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    Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science
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    Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science
    Ebook570 pages8 hours

    Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science

    By Martin Gardner

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    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    "Although we are amused, we may also be embarrassed to find our friends or even ourselves among the gullible advocates of plausible-sounding doubletalk." — Saturday Review
    "A very able and even-tempered presentation." — New Yorker
    This witty and engaging book examines the various fads, fallacies, strange cults, and curious panaceas which at one time or another have masqueraded as science. Not just a collection of anecdotes but a fair, reasoned appraisal of eccentric theory, it is unique in recognizing the scientific, philosophic, and sociological-psychological implications of the wave of pseudoscientific theories which periodically besets the world.
    To this second revised edition of a work formerly titled In the Name of Science, Martin Gardner has added new, up-to-date material to an already impressive account of hundreds of systematized vagaries. Here you will find discussions of hollow-earth fanatics like Symmes; Velikovsky and wandering planets; Hörbiger, Bellamy, and the theory of multiple moons; Charles Fort and the Fortean Society; dowsing and the other strange methods for finding water, ores, and oil. Also covered are such topics as naturopathy, iridiagnosis, zone therapy, food fads; Wilhelm Reich and orgone sex energy; L. Ron Hubbard and Dianetics; A. Korzybski and General Semantics. A new examination of Bridey Murphy is included in this edition, along with a new section on bibliographic reference material.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDover Publications
    Release dateMay 4, 2012
    ISBN9780486131627
    Unavailable
    Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science
    Author

    Martin Gardner

    Martin Gardner, born in 1914, has written several reviews for The New York Review of Books and was a Scientific American columnist for over twenty-five years. His books include Calculus Made Easy and When You Were a Tadpole and I Was a Fish. He lives in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

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    Reviews for Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science

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    • 4/5
      Martin Gardner, always delightful, in his seminal work. This book has withstood the passage of time, partly because many of the fallacies he describes have managed to continue in spite of being evidence free. Highly recommend reading this book, especially if you believe that the aura of nonsense surrounding the world is something that's risen very recently.
    • 4/5
      Martin Gardner, always delightful, in his seminal work. This book has withstood the passage of time, partly because many of the fallacies he describes have managed to continue in spite of being evidence free. Highly recommend reading this book, especially if you believe that the aura of nonsense surrounding the world is something that's risen very recently.
    • 4/5
      An interesting and enjoyable read, but like the somewhat similarly themed Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds it suffers from a few noteworthy issues.The first is the lack of references. Quotes occur often, but the exact location they are drawn from is not always attributed. Now, I will admit that I'm unlikely to track down any of the works mentioned (OK, maybe some of the Hollow Earth ones), but at the same time a reference as to where and when a quote was stated would make the book seem a bit less light and allow a somewhat better chronological structuring of the surveyed cranks' changes in opinions.The second is that, nearly 60 years after the first edition and more than 50 since the second, the book is quite simply dated. Many cultural references that would have been common knowledge in 1952 whiz by without nary a spark in the memory. The same goes for various fads that are referenced with the expectation that the reader knows what they are, but not covered in more detail.In summary: interesting, but desperately in need of an editor to go through and add explanatory notes for those of us who weren't alive in the early '50s or commentary for when various facets of the information presented have changed drastically.Amusing side-note: the number of science fiction authors and editors, often fairly recognizable names, who show up in here as proponents of the various beliefs is certainly something.
    • 5/5
      A classic of the genre. A witty and engaging exploration of human gullibility. Written in 1956 the author would be disappointed to note that gullibility is still around and indeed many of the types of woo he exposes as such are still around and still fleecing those unable to use critical thinking skills to protect themselves.In fact some of the woo factories have gone on to expand their influence ( and their bank balances ) beyond any recognition from the fifties.Scientology in particular is exposed as tosh and yet here we are with their vastly swollen coffers funding a worldwide expansion programme.Well written in an easy to read and engaging style, the best of the early days of scepticism.I will be getting more of his books.
    • 1/5
      Absolute crap.