COMMENT:About science and pseudoscience, this book spends a lot of time in the "...penumbral zone with no sharp boundaries, filled with claimants for recognition as parts of science. In this border zone are honest errors and sloppy works; instances of fraud; 'discoveries' that have been neither confirmed nor rejected." The emphasis of the book is on how science works, and how scientific claims are established. The topics covered include cold fusion, polywater, homeopathy; where some of the supporters include practicing scientists. Cold fusion, for example, is contrasted with continental drift in chapter 3. The question is: how and why did one, and not the other, become accepted theory? Later chapters cover UFOs, ESP -- theories that again claim scientific support. Chapter 11 is about Political Pseudoscience, and covers Lysenko, Aryan Physics and Creation Science.
