AUTHOR:Martin Gardner
CATEGORY:general
COMMENT:A collection of Gardner's <a href="/bib/89"><cite>Skeptical Inquirer</cite></a> columns, reviews and essays. The usual battle with parapsychology takes place, but more interesting is the detailed material on the Smith-Blackburn hoax and Mrs. Piper (W. James's "white crow") in the early days of psychical research. Plus: Reich and orgonomy, Benveniste and homeopathy, Gaia, polonium halos, the <a href="/bib/206">Urantia</a> book, glossolalia.  Gardner also discusses philosophy in an overconfident manner, and sometimes does not pay enough attention to historical context.  But most irritating is his habit of quasi-religious sermonizing, and his focus on personalities to the degree of regularly resorting to personal attacks.  These are distractions rather than fatal flaws, but bothersome nonetheless.
DATE:19990629
KEYWORDS:astrology creationism fraud newage occult phrenology psi:history quackery religion skepticism
MISC:257p., illustrated
PUBLISHER:Prometheus
SUBMITADDR:bibliographer@csicop.org
SUBMITNAME:Taner Edis
TITLE:On The Wild Side: The Big Bang, ESP, the Beast 666, Levitation, Rainmaking, Trance-Channeling, Seances and Ghosts, and more...
URL:http://www.prometheusbooks.com/site/catalog/sci37.html
YEAR:1992