- Hardcover: 300 pages
- Publisher: PROMETHEUS BOOKS (Oct 1 2000)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1573928526
- ISBN-13: 978-1573928526
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.9 x 2.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 653 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,849,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Over his several decades of writing, Gardner has accomplished so much it's hard to believe there's just one of him. His 60-odd books have explained complex science and math, dissected UFOs and pseudoscience, analyzed and admired Alice in Wonderland, answered everyday questions about technology and collected 25 years of contributions to Scientific American's column "Mathematical Games." This compilation of previously published work adds postscripts and restores editorial cuts to 29 short essays and book reviews, reprinted from Skeptical Inquirer, Free Inquiry, Discover, the Los Angeles Times Book Review and elsewhere. Many pieces attack religious fundamentalists and claims of the supernatural, like the purported "psychic surgeons" from the Philippines. A three-part series examines the Seventh-Day Adventists and their breakaway sects, who set dates, since expired, for the apocalypse (the first Christians apparently did the same). Also in Gardner's sights are TV evangelists, Buckley's brand of Christianity and social constructionist theories of science and math. Readers who share Gardner's sentiments on all these matters may find his debunking essays repetitive, but they will turn with gratitude to his appreciations. The best of the essays and book reviews here are praiseAfor unjustly forgotten children's author and editor John Martin, for L. Frank Baum of Oz fame, for science-fiction editor and popular-science writer Hugo Gernsback, for H.G. Wells and for sharp-tongued Catholic novelist G.K. Chesterton, whose work Gardner knows inside and out. It is in these pieces that Gardner's readers will learnAas they may expect from him something new each time. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
The tireless Gardner collects another batch of his articles, introductions, and reviews concerned with his great enthusiasms--science, miracle-mongering religion, and literature, especially literature concerned with science and religion. He wears two hats when he writes. One is the skeptic's, worn for pieces on the scandals of Seventh Day Adventist splinter sects; on the concept of the meme , invented to posit a unit of cultural self-replication analogous to the biological unit of self-replication, the gene; and for a review essay on Christian Science, which Gardner feels is culpable for countless deaths. The other is that of an intellectual publicist when he writes about forgotten popular and children's magazines, such as the puzzle-filled John Martin's Book , or G. K. Chesterton's novels, which contain intriguing puzzles in their multileveled allegorical structures (Gardner is, by the way, a prolific puzzle maker and anthologist, too). Reincarnation, William F. Buckley's religious beliefs, the Oz books, and the prophecies of H. G. Wells furnish further grist for Gardner's mill. He turns them all into gratifying fare for the culturally curious. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Odd Assortment,
By DancesWithAnxiety "chewtoy to the Fates" (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: From The Wandering Jew To William F Buckley Jr (Hardcover)
I came to this book with the wrong idea. I had expected variations on a theme, but this turned out to be a bewildering hodge-podge. (I had hoped for a running dissection of the strange things people believe and why they believe them -- alas, not here. Much of this book is just 'inside baseball' for dedicated sci-fi fans.) Gardner's breadth is undeniable, as is his passion for the diverse topics he addresses here, but I found myself uncaptivated by his enthusiasm. If you are not a sci-fi fan and if you're not looking for detailed debunkings of obvious absurdities like 7th Day Adventism and astrology, then caveat emptor.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Long live Martin Gardner!,
By
This review is from: From The Wandering Jew To William F Buckley Jr (Hardcover)
Martin Gardner has done it again: Another fabulous jewel in his crown of critical and thought-provoking works. I have been a fan of Gardner's since "Fads and Fallacies (In the Name of Science)". His strength is in taking an unflinching look at the foibles and farces that most people would prefer to pretend don't exist in our civilized world... But they do, and they're ugly, and they need to be looked at -- acknowledged -- as a first step to fixing them, much as an alcoholic or drug addict first needs to admit they have a problem. Sure, Gardner packs a modicum of vitriol -- but in that, he merely mirrors what the masses actually feel when confronted by the nonsense that Gardner takes on. He's a brave, bold and straight-shooting warrior in the war for common sense, reason and rationality, and I wish him long life and many more books. Interestingly the "reader from Pasadena", the only negative reviewer, gives himself (or herself) away by the list of books quoted as being "thoughtful, brilliant volumes one could profitably spend time with": This person obviously suffers from the Religion-is-the-only-correct-viewpoint syndrome. I find it even more interesting that this reviewer states that Gardner's "attacks are directed only at people who challenge human-based authority". "Human-based" as opposed to what? God-based? Yes, we certainly wouldn't ever want to question Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, now, would we? Or any other God-based authority, would we? I can only guess the reader from Pasadena means that religious-minded people should be allowed to "challenge" secular viewpoints, but never the reverse. How sad... and how eloquent a reminder that the world needs Martin Gardner, now more than ever. Here's a tip: Whenever you're feeling like the world is a crazy, hopeless place, pick up a Martin Gardner book and start reading. It's always a nice feeling to know that there's at least one other sane person out there. Long Live Martin Gardner!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gardner's Latest Demonstration of Universal Interest,
By
This review is from: From The Wandering Jew To William F Buckley Jr (Hardcover)
Gardner is amazing! Each of his collections of essays is a marvel. This volume consists of ten essays and nineteen book reviews or introductions on a stunning variety of topics. Gardner is known as a mathematical puzzler and a sceptic and debunker of pseudo-science. He is also a philosopher and literary scholar of impressive breadth and depth. This book exhibits depth of analysis on a stunning array of topics, from Christian Science to The Wizard of Oz. Highly recommended, but if you are new to Gardner anthologies, his collection, The Night is Large, is a better introduction to his breadth of thought.
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