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Science: Good, Bad And Bogus by Martin Gardner
02/02/2008 . Source: Geoff Willmetts 
pub: Prometheus Books. 412 page illustrated enlarged paperback. Price: $25.00 (US). ISBN: 0-87975-573-3). Buy Science: Good, Bad And Bogus in the USA - or Buy Science: Good, Bad And Bogus in the UK  check out website: www.prometheusbooks.com
If you bought 'Flim-Flam!' by James Randi' based on my previous review, then you'll want to read Martin Gardner's 'Science: Good, Bad And Bogus', which is essentially a follow-up. Basically, this is a collection of thirty-eight articles Gardner wrote on various topics during the 1970s which would have been helped had they had a professional-standard magician, like Gardner, ensuring that the scientific researchers were being taken for a ride by some standard and obvious tricks. What makes this book still pertinent today is that each chapter has follow-up material between those he criticised and his further replies and even more importantly, what happened to their careers. Many of them you've probably never heard from again which should speak for itself.
When you the likes of Isaac Asimov quoted on the cover saying the book is 'fascinating' then you have to appreciate the worth of a book even before someone like me looks it over.
We play with pseudo-science in Science Fiction as a matter of course. I mean, time travel, ESP and even manned space travel beyond the Moon are far beyond what is currently possible. On the other hand, it is important to keep on track where real science is concerned. That again can get tricky when we have to keep on the border of what is possible which is where the content of this book and us truly meet. The important thing you should learn from this book is not to believe all you hear and to question everything as to the validity of scientific method.
Gardner covers various subjects but also goes specifically into claims about extra-sensory perception (ESP) and various frauds, not to mention telling you enough to understand how they are done. The main reason magicians don't go all out accusing the likes of Uri Geller of faking it is because the Magic Circle rules of not revealing stage secrets gets in the way. If anything, Gardner goes a little more in-depth than Randi but not enough to give full disclosure.
In many ways, this book is a matter of self-discovery. Whether you're a sceptic or a believer, you will come away having learnt something from this book. Seeing is definitely not always believing and parlour tricks aren't really that much of a demonstration of practical abilities. If anything Gardner is doing a service by removing the bogus so research can be done on the real which needs being reminded for every generation. I suspect because it is such a definitive book and other publishers still put out books about such 'discoveries' that there hasn't been a follow-up so this makes this book an important read.
GF Willmetts
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