Stripe7
5th Apr 06, 8:21 PM
Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns and other Delusions By James Randi
Non-Fiction First Published 1982
Book Score 90/100 (Overall Score)
Concept 5/5
Difficulty 3/5
Enjoyment 5/5
Length 2.5/5
Reread ability 4/5
If you love watching CSI or any Crime scene investigation movie you will like this book. James Randi is a magician and has a million dollar prize (used to be $10K, it has now gone up to a million) for anyone who can prove under controlled conditions that they have "super" powers. ie ESP, Psychics, dowsing etc.. He is the ultimate debunker.
The book starts off with an introduction by none other than Issac Asimov, then is broken down into various chapters treated like case files. In each of them he presents the Phenomenom, then in a detailed study he breaks it down to how it was done.
He starts of with the two sisters who faked the photos of faires. He actually has a lot less sympathy for the famous people who fell for the hoax than he does for one of the sisters. Mostly he concludes it was a case of a girlish prank that got blown out of proportion when some famous people decided to stick their noses where they had no business.
He goes on to look at the books on the Bermuda Triangle. He simply tears apart the entire notion of anything even remotely mysterious about it. I especially loved what he found about one of the missing Triangle flights. The flight plan called for it to fly north then south towards Bermuda, the plane crashed/disappeared before its stop and turn around south. However the author of the triangle mystery just saw, plane dissapears, flight plan includes Bermuda and put it in as one of they mystery disapearances.
He goes on to attack UFO's, psychics, even Scientology. If you like to see the world with blinders and belive in mysterious forces, this book is not for you. This book will open your eyes quite a lot and let you see more of the world as it is, rather than filled with all the BS we get fed.
Non-Fiction First Published 1982
Book Score 90/100 (Overall Score)
Concept 5/5
Difficulty 3/5
Enjoyment 5/5
Length 2.5/5
Reread ability 4/5
If you love watching CSI or any Crime scene investigation movie you will like this book. James Randi is a magician and has a million dollar prize (used to be $10K, it has now gone up to a million) for anyone who can prove under controlled conditions that they have "super" powers. ie ESP, Psychics, dowsing etc.. He is the ultimate debunker.
The book starts off with an introduction by none other than Issac Asimov, then is broken down into various chapters treated like case files. In each of them he presents the Phenomenom, then in a detailed study he breaks it down to how it was done.
He starts of with the two sisters who faked the photos of faires. He actually has a lot less sympathy for the famous people who fell for the hoax than he does for one of the sisters. Mostly he concludes it was a case of a girlish prank that got blown out of proportion when some famous people decided to stick their noses where they had no business.
He goes on to look at the books on the Bermuda Triangle. He simply tears apart the entire notion of anything even remotely mysterious about it. I especially loved what he found about one of the missing Triangle flights. The flight plan called for it to fly north then south towards Bermuda, the plane crashed/disappeared before its stop and turn around south. However the author of the triangle mystery just saw, plane dissapears, flight plan includes Bermuda and put it in as one of they mystery disapearances.
He goes on to attack UFO's, psychics, even Scientology. If you like to see the world with blinders and belive in mysterious forces, this book is not for you. This book will open your eyes quite a lot and let you see more of the world as it is, rather than filled with all the BS we get fed.