7/9/22

7/9/22

Setrata de un libro antiguo pero a pesar de todo imprescindible. Trata de la pelea de todos los dias de ciencia contra pseudociencia o peor aún contra la intransigencia. Hoy nos rebelamos contra creacionismos, negacionismos, terraplanismos, homeópatas, ... y nos escandaliza que estas corrientes puedan tener la más mínimatrascendencia cultural. En este libro veremos como en los setenta la pelea eran los dobla-cucharas de Uri Geller, mediums, clarividentes, percepción extrasensorial, ovnis, ... Puede causarnos risa, pero en su momento tenían el poderío de nuestros demonios actuales. Sinceramente, un libro de obligada lectura, de los que el tiempo no envejece, ... ( )

Vintage Martin Gardner, though unfortunately pretty much devoted to psychic film flam. While his articles are well done, he was always at his best in responding to the objecting letters that followed his articles. Where I see his treatments as eminently fair as only occasionally biting, those who came to be reviewed/ analyzed saw otherwise. It almost seems as if he delighted in baiting the wackos, and when they took the bait, the gloves came off and he skewered them with their own arguments. ( )

My reaction to reading this book in 1993.

I liked this book.

Gardener has an impressive knowledge not only of science and mathematics, he reviews books on both, but also of philosophy (which he has a degree in), religion, and literature.

Gardener has a deep knowledge of the paranormal and pseudoscience – hard won by closely examining these fringes. I, personally, wouldn’t want to examine all the many psychic experiments to point out (quite rationally, quite correctly) flaws. In fact, I found all the paranormal powers stuff a bit tedious at times. I’m much more interested in bizarre philosophers and non-psychic paranormal powers and pseudosciences.

I was fascinated by the accounts of Immanuel Velikovsky. His cosmology – why bother to rationalize miracles which are, by definition, a violation of natural law – has many absurdities obvious even with a cursory glance. Gardner relates the history of biorythmns which is bogus numerology courtesy of Wilhelm Fliess – surgeon and friend of Sigmund Freud – who didn’t seem to realize that any two positive integers with no common divisors can produce any positive integer and not just his pseudo-significant 23 and 28 cycles. Gardner relates the Marxification of particle physics in 1940s and 1950s Russia. No quantam mechanics for them, determinism – as in Lysenko’s biology – must rule. Then there is the strange Great Art of medieaval philosopher Raymond Lull who thought that all knowledge could be gleaned from exploring all the combinations of the basic elements of the universe. Gardner also touches on frauds of science. Some of the best parts in this book are letters from Gardener’s critics and his responses. ( )