Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science

Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science PDF Author: Martin Gardner
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486131629
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Fair, witty appraisal of cranks, quacks, and quackeries of science and pseudoscience: hollow earth, Velikovsky, orgone energy, Dianetics, flying saucers, Bridey Murphy, food and medical fads, and much more.

Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science

Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science PDF Author: Martin Gardner
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 9780486203942
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
Reviews fads, hoaxes, and cults propagated under the guise of being scientifically founded and proven

In the Name of Science

In the Name of Science PDF Author: Harold L. Nieburg
Publisher: Crown
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description


Fads, Fallacies and Foolishness in Medical Care Management and Policy

Fads, Fallacies and Foolishness in Medical Care Management and Policy PDF Author: Theodore R Marmor
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9814472980
Category : Managed care plans (Medical care)
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
No one misses the onslaught of claims about reforming modern medical care. How doctors should be paid, how hospitals should be paid or governed, how much patients should pay when sick in co-payments, how the quality of care could be improved, and how governments and other buyers could better control the costs of care ? all find expression in the explosion of medical care conference proceedings, op-eds, news bulletins, journal articles, and books. This collection of articles takes up a key set of what the author regards as particularly misleading fads and fashions ? developments that produce a startling degree of foolishness in contemporary discussions of how to organize, deliver, finance, pay for and regulate medical care services in modern industrial democracies. The policy fads addressed include the celebration of explicit rationing as a major cost control instrument, the belief in a ?basic package? of health insurance benefits to constrain costs, the faith that contemporary cross-national research can deliver a large number of transferable models, and the notion that broadening the definition of what is meant by health will constitute some sort of useful advance in practice.Contents: Fads in Medical Care Policy and Politics: The Rhetoric and Reality of ManagerialismHow Not to Think About ?Managed Care?Medical Care and Public Policy: The Benefits and Burdens of Asking Fundamental QuestionsMedicare and Political Analysis: Omissions, Understandings, and MisunderstandingsComparative Perspectives and Policy Learning in the World of Health CareHow Not to Think About Medicare Reform Readership: Graduate students in public policy, comparative politics, management, nursing, medicine, and social sciences; medical writers; medical professionals.

Entertaining Science Experiments with Everyday Objects

Entertaining Science Experiments with Everyday Objects PDF Author: Martin Gardner
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486319113
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
A prominent popular science writer presents simple instructions for 100 illustrated experiments. Memorable, easily understood experiments illuminate principles related to astronomy, chemistry, physiology, psychology, mathematics, topology, probability, acoustics, other areas.

When You Were a Tadpole and I Was a Fish

When You Were a Tadpole and I Was a Fish PDF Author: Martin Gardner
Publisher: Hill and Wang
ISBN: 9781429935548
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Best known as the longtime writer of the Mathematical Games column for Scientific American—which introduced generations of readers to the joys of recreational mathematics—Martin Gardner has for decades pursued a parallel career as a devastatingly effective debunker of what he once famously dubbed "fads and fallacies in the name of science." It is mainly in this latter role that he is onstage in this collection of choice essays. When You Were a Tadpole and I Was a Fish takes aim at a gallery of amusing targets, ranging from Ann Coulter's qualifications as an evolutionary biologist to the logical fallacies of precognition and extrasensory perception, from Santa Claus to The Wizard of Oz, from mutilated chessboards to the little-known "one-poem poet" Langdon Smith (the original author of this volume's title line). The writings assembled here fall naturally into seven broad categories: Science, Bogus Science, Mathematics, Logic, Literature, Religion and Philosophy, and Politics. Under each heading, Gardner displays an awesome level of erudition combined with a wicked sense of humor.

The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener

The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener PDF Author: Martin Gardner
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 1466823321
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 496

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Book Description
The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener showcases Martin Gardner as the consummate philosopher, thinker, and great mathematician that he is. Exploring issues that range from faith to prayer to evil to immortality, and far beyond, Garnder challenges the discerning reader with fundamental questions of classical philosophy and life's greater meanings. Recalling such philosophers was Wittgenstein and Arendt, The Whys of Philosophical Scrivener embodies Martin Garner's unceasing interest and joy in the impenetrable mysteries of life.

Mathematics, Magic and Mystery

Mathematics, Magic and Mystery PDF Author: Martin Gardner
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486801179
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Famed puzzle expert explains math behind a multitude of mystifying tricks: card tricks, stage "mind reading," coin and match tricks, counting out games, geometric dissections, etc. More than 400 tricks. 135 illustrations.

Undiluted Hocus-Pocus

Undiluted Hocus-Pocus PDF Author: Martin Gardner
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691169691
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description
The autobiography of the beloved writer who inspired a generation to study math and science Martin Gardner wrote the Mathematical Games column for Scientific American for twenty-five years and published more than seventy books on topics as diverse as magic, religion, and Alice in Wonderland. Gardner's illuminating autobiography is a candid self-portrait by the man evolutionary theorist Stephen Jay Gould called our "single brightest beacon" for the defense of rationality and good science against mysticism and anti-intellectualism. Gardner takes readers from his childhood in Oklahoma to his varied and wide-ranging professional pursuits. He shares colorful anecdotes about the many fascinating people he met and mentored, and voices strong opinions on the subjects that matter to him most, from his love of mathematics to his uncompromising stance against pseudoscience. For Gardner, our mathematically structured universe is undiluted hocus-pocus—a marvelous enigma, in other words. Undiluted Hocus-Pocus offers a rare, intimate look at Gardner’s life and work, and the experiences that shaped both.

The Trickster and the Paranormal

The Trickster and the Paranormal PDF Author: George P. Hansen
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
ISBN: 9781462812899
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 564

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Book Description
Paranormal and supernatural events have been reported for millennia. They have fostered history’s most important cultural transformations (e.g., via the miracles of Moses, Jesus, Mohammed). Paranormal phenomena are frequently portrayed in the world’s greatest art and literature, as well as in popular TV shows and movies. Most adults in the U.S. believe in them. Yet they have a marginal place in modern culture. No university departments are devoted to studying psychic phenomena. In fact, a panoply of scientists now aggressively denounces them. These facts present a deeply puzzling situation. But they become coherent after pondering the trickster figure, an archaic being found worldwide in mythology and folklore. The trickster governs paradox and the irrational, but his messages are concealed. This book draws upon theories of the trickster from anthropology, folklore, sociology, semiotics, and literary criticism. It examines psychic phenomena and UFOs and explains why they are so problematical for science.