{"product_id":"fads-and-fallacies-in-the-name-of-science-the-curious-theories-of-modern-pseudoscientists-and-the-strange-amusing-and-alarming-cults-that-surround-t-9780486203942","title":"Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science: The Curious Theories of Modern Pseudoscientists and the Strange, Amusing and Alarming Cults That Surround T","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Although we are amused, we may also be embarrassed to find our friends or even ourselves among the gullible advocates of plausible-sounding doubletalk.\" -- \u003ci\u003eSaturday Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"A very able and even-tempered presentation.\" -- \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eThis 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.\u003cbr\u003eTo this second revised edition of a work formerly titled \u003ci\u003eIn the Name of Science\u003c\/i\u003e, 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMartin Gardner was a renowned author who published over 70 books on subjects from science and math to poetry and religion. He also had a lifelong passion for magic tricks and puzzles. Well known for his mathematical games column in \u003ci\u003eScientific American\u003c\/i\u003e and his \"Trick of the Month\" in \u003ci\u003ePhysics Teacher\u003c\/i\u003e magazine, Gardner attracted a loyal following with his intelligence, wit, and imagination. \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMartin Gardner: A Remembrance \u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003eThe worldwide mathematical community was saddened by the death of Martin Gardner on May 22, 2010. Martin was 95 years old when he died, and had written 70 or 80 books during his long lifetime as an author. Martin's first Dover books were published in 1956 and 1957: \u003ci\u003eMathematics, Magic and Mystery, \u003c\/i\u003e one of the first popular books on the intellectual excitement of mathematics to reach a wide audience, and \u003ci\u003eFads and Fallacies in the Name of Science, \u003c\/i\u003e certainly one of the first popular books to cast a devastatingly skeptical eye on the claims of pseudoscience and the many guises in which the modern world has given rise to it. Both of these pioneering books are still in print with Dover today along with more than a dozen other titles of Martin's books. They run the gamut from his elementary \u003ci\u003eCodes, Ciphers and Secret Writing, \u003c\/i\u003e which has been enjoyed by generations of younger readers since the 1980s, to the more demanding \u003ci\u003eThe New Ambidextrous Universe: Symmetry and Asymmetry from Mirror Reflections to Superstrings, \u003c\/i\u003e which Dover published in its final revised form in 2005. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo those of us who have been associated with Dover for a long time, however, Martin was more than an author, albeit a remarkably popular and successful one. As a member of the small group of long-time advisors and consultants, which included NYU's Morris Kline in mathematics, Harvard's I. Bernard Cohen in the history of science, and MIT's J. P. Den Hartog in engineering, Martin's advice and editorial suggestions in the formative 1950s helped to define the Dover publishing program and give it the point of view which -- despite many changes, new directions, and the consequences of evolution -- continues to be operative today. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the Author's Own Words: \u003cbr\u003e\"Politicians, real-estate agents, used-car salesmen, and advertising copy-writers are expected to stretch facts in self-serving directions, but scientists who falsify their results are regarded by their peers as committing an inexcusable crime. Yet the sad fact is that the history of science swarms with cases of outright fakery and instances of scientists who unconsciously distorted their work by seeing it through lenses of passionately held beliefs.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"A surprising proportion of mathematicians are accomplished musicians. Is it because music and mathematics share patterns that are beautiful?\" -- Martin Gardner\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dover Publications","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50412518899986,"sku":"9780486203942","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_048dae86-e4a5-45e1-8854-f98fa20415d1.jpg?v=1729315557","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/fads-and-fallacies-in-the-name-of-science-the-curious-theories-of-modern-pseudoscientists-and-the-strange-amusing-and-alarming-cults-that-surround-t-9780486203942","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}