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 : 385

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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: 0486131629
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 385

Get Book Here

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

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 : 130

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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.

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.

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: 1429935545
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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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.

Forgotten Science

Forgotten Science PDF Author: S. D. Tucker
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1445648385
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 532

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Book Description
Was Jesus a giant electron? How much does a mouse’s soul weigh? Can women mate with monkeys? As mad as these questions may seem, they have been asked by science in years gone by. Forgotten Science unearths some of the most extraordinary attempts to understand the world around us.

Nonsense on Stilts

Nonsense on Stilts PDF Author: Massimo Pigliucci
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226667871
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
Recent polls suggest that fewer than 40 percent of Americans believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution, despite it being one of science’s best-established findings. More and more parents are refusing to vaccinate their children for fear it causes autism, though this link can been consistently disproved. And about 40 percent of Americans believe that the threat of global warming is exaggerated, despite near consensus in the scientific community that manmade climate change is real. Why do people believe bunk? And what causes them to embrace such pseudoscientific beliefs and practices? Noted skeptic Massimo Pigliucci sets out to separate the fact from the fantasy in this entertaining exploration of the nature of science, the borderlands of fringe science, and—borrowing a famous phrase from philosopher Jeremy Bentham—the nonsense on stilts. Presenting case studies on a number of controversial topics, Pigliucci cuts through the ambiguity surrounding science to look more closely at how science is conducted, how it is disseminated, how it is interpreted, and what it means to our society. The result is in many ways a “taxonomy of bunk” that explores the intersection of science and culture at large. No one—not the public intellectuals in the culture wars between defenders and detractors of science nor the believers of pseudoscience themselves—is spared Pigliucci’s incisive analysis. In the end, Nonsense on Stilts is a timely reminder of the need to maintain a line between expertise and assumption. Broad in scope and implication, it is also ultimately a captivating guide for the intelligent citizen who wishes to make up her own mind while navigating the perilous debates that will affect the future of our planet.

Fads and Fallacies in the Social Sciences

Fads and Fallacies in the Social Sciences PDF Author: Steven Goldberg
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN:
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
No Marketing Blurb

Codes, Ciphers and Secret Writing

Codes, Ciphers and Secret Writing PDF Author: Martin Gardner
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 9780486247618
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 100

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Book Description
Explains various methods used in cryptography and presents examples to help readers in breaking secret codes

Worlds in Collision

Worlds in Collision PDF Author:
Publisher: Paradigma Ltd
ISBN: 1906833710
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
With this book Immanuel Velikovsky first presented the revolutionary results of his 10-year-long interdisciplinary research to the public, founded modern catastrophism - based on eyewitness reports by our ancestors - shook the doctrine of uniformity of geology as well as Darwin's theory of evolution, put our view of the history of our solar system, of the Earth and of humanity on a completely new basis - and caused an uproar that is still going on today. Worlds in Collision - written in a brilliant, easily understandable and entertaining style and full to the brim with precise information - can be considered one of the most important and most challenging books in the history of science. Not without reason was this book found open on Einstein's desk after his death. For all those who have ever wondered about the evolution of the earth, the history of mankind, traditions, religions, mythology or just the world as it is today, Worlds in Collision is an absolute MUST-READ!