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Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural
 
 
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Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural [Hardcover]

Jim Steinmeyer
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
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Frequently Bought Together

Charles Fort: The Man Who Invented the Supernatural + The Last Greatest Magician in the World: Howard Thurston Versus Houdini & the Battles of the American Wizards + Hiding The Elephant: How Magicians Invented the Impossible
Price For All Three: £32.35

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: William Heinemann; hardcover edition (1 May 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0434016292
  • ISBN-13: 978-0434016297
  • Product Dimensions: 13.7 x 3.3 x 22.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 395,315 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Jim Steinmeyer
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Product Description

Book Description

The curious and compelling story of Charles Fort, pioneer of the public interest in strange phenomena and the inspiration for The Fortean Times, by Jim Steinmeyer, author of Hiding the Elephant

Product Description

'I am the first disciple of Charles Fort. Henceforth I am a Fortean'

Since Ben Hecht wrote this line in reviewing The Book of The Damned in 1919, Charles Fort - whose very name spawned an adjective, Fortean, defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as 'relating to or denoting paranormal phenomena' - has so divided opinion that to Theodore Dreiser he was "the most fascinating literary figure since Poe;" to The New York Times he was "the enfant terrible of science;" and to HG Wells he was "one of the most damnable bores who ever cut scraps from out of the way newspapers."

This is the seminal biography of the 20th century's premier chronicler of the paranormal, an inspiration to anyone seeking significance in chaos. Fort provides the impetus for public interest in mysterious phenomena - he coined the word 'teleportation', gathered accounts of spontaneous human combustion, monsters, poltergeists, and what became known as UFO's. His legacy extends to conspiracy theories, sci-fi, graphic novels, film, and of course, the Fortean Times. Fort was first and foremost a writer, and his peculiar brand of agnostic, anti-scientific scepticism remains unique.

Told against the backdrop of jazz age New York and Edwardian London, Charles Fort: The Man who Invented the Supernatural is about wonder, obsession, and mystery, and an iconoclastic author who has become an unlikely cult hero.


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Customer Reviews

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is an interesting book about a professional life but that seems to avoid the very weirdness Fort became famous for and that is a shame. This is a good writer and though it is diverting enough, it nowhere near reaches the quality and sheer interest of his book, "Hiding The Elephant." Which I'd recommend to anyone especially those with an interest in stage magic.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Lord of the X FILES 5 July 2008
Format:Hardcover
No flies on this book. A very readable tome, not merely an introduction to the man and his outlook, but an entertaining, educational [how often do you see those two adjectives in the same sentence] MESSAGE. I've always liked the Fortean 'pinch of salt' to give a savory taste even to the Emperican. This book lets you meet the man, with his hopes and dreams. Finishing it reminds you just what it is to be human. And neither I nor Fort meant that to be a doubting Ape. Dawkins take note.
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Interesting read 24 April 2012
By Charles
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am a big fan of the magazine Fortean Times so this book about the life of Charles Fort turned out to be a very interesting read.

He famously used the many strange incidents of raining fish/frogs/worms etc as examples to criticize scientists because the scientific explanations are not very good and the incidents are just ignored by science.

I think that Mr Fort is unfairly labeled as crack pot/pseudoscience because crackpots can take his criticism of science and use them for anti science arguments, but I think he's just suggesting that something in human nature (no matter who you are) causes us to ignore things that contradict our beliefs, thus his criticism applies to everybody including the very crackpots using his arguments against scientists.

This books is a must for fans of the magazine Fortean Times and a wonderful read.
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