Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science (Popular Science) [Paperback]

 

 

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Mr. Garder's book is one which makes us laugh at our gullibility. Since this book was up-dated on 1956, much of the information is about old crackpot theories, like Flat-earth cults, or medical cults. It is, however, a true account of contemporary quackery and fringe science, since many of the theories and motivations of the truly eccentric, and sometimes downright fraudulent types, can still be found among many of today's highly popular personalities who, using mass media and their own appeal, continue this trend to advertize oddball ideas and pseudoscience as truths, without allowing any type of validation or independent scrutiny.

We tend to believe we are somewhat safe from eccentrics trying to force their weird theories upon us or our children. We are not. Take the case of Dianetics, which is discussed in Mr. Gardner's book at the time it was just appearing and being promoted by Science Fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. It did to the stablished psychiatric community what Afrocentrism is doing to qualified and professional history research.

It also presents a strong argument in favor of strict, closedly suppervised experimentation for validating new scientific theories, especially when those theories deal with human emotional problems or capabilities (like Repressed Memory and ESP). Probably most tragic for a scientist is discovering he has been deluding himself pursuing validation for his pet theory. He willingly falsifies data or ignores results in orther for his research to come out just right, conforming to his hypothesis. Also, this book emphazises the use of double-blind tests in highly difficult human research, as in the case of Dr. Rhine's ESP studies.

It comes with a word of warning to us all: scientific illiteracy IS dangerous. And even if certain crackpot scientific theories do us no harm, the same cannot be said about medical cults, which CAN cause early death for treatable diseases. Psychology is also a target for these fringe cults, and the trend is getting worse today as we see a lot of new "therapies" being advertised on TV. These so-called therapies can do harm to an individual's emotional well-being (it is my opinion, though, that even psychology rests on very dubious foundations, and is still more a "witch doctor" profession than real science, simply because the empirical data needed is found on "case studies", which yield very subjective results.)

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the contemporary history of scientific frauds, quackery and eccentricities. It is very well written, and very amusing. Martin Gardner still writes and colaborates closely with "Skeptic Magazzine".

Sincerely:

Francisco Torres Laredo, Tx. USA

Although written in the 1950s, Martin Gardner's Fads and Fallacies is one of the masterpieces of science. Gardner tackles both seriously and humorously the pseudoscience of his day, including flying saucers, flat-earthers, dianetics, medical cults, dowsers, orogonomy, Atlantis historians, and many more. From Trofim Lysenko's efforts to overthrow Darwin's theory of evolution for Lamarck's theory of acquired characteristics in Russia, to the hilarious chapter on Charles Fort's philosophy of "accept everything but believe nothing" in our own country, Gardner paints a marvelous portrait that will make the reader roll their eyes and smile at some people's credulity as well as be shocked at how far some will go to search for and believe in what isn't there. What strikes me as the most prominent thing about this book is that he almost seems to be addresing the pseudoscience/antiscience of our day instead of decades past. In summary, his essays will bring the reader's mind to a more a skeptical level of thinking when faced with current claims that resemble those of yester-year. Gardner's book is a fitting prequel to Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World as it not only debunks the false claims of pseudoscience, but also educates the reader's mind about what real science is while maintaining an apt for wonder.

First published in 1952 as "In the Name of Science", "Fads and Fallacies" is often cited as the first book written for the scientific or rational sceptical movement. True, as Gardener states in his preface to the first edition, there were prototypical works, but nothing really comprehensively looked at the culture, motivations and nature of pseudoscience, charlatanism and quackery as this book. Most of the major American sceptics see Gardner as the unofficial founder of their movement and he is regularly credited as a huge influence by Michael Shermer and James Randi, who was a good friend of Gardner up until his death in May 2010.

"Fads and Fallacies" is interesting for many different reasons. Firstly I am happy to say that after hearing so much about the book and finally hearing James Randi's touching tribute to Gardner on a sceptical podcast, that the work more than lives up to its reputation. The background it gives on the individual cases, its thorough research and its often wry humour make for a compulsive read. Like other more recent comprehensive sceptical books, like Shermer's "Why People Believe Weird Things", "Fads and Fallacies" cuts deep into the various cults and characters that purvey pseudoscience and weird theories, and looks for connections between their philosophies. This helps each chapter lead onto the next one. Gardner's overall pattern is to start with what he views as the most eccentric theories and to end with examples of pseudoscience that just fall short of credible science. Likewise he views the characters in his early chapters as barely literate cranks and those at the end as what Michael Shermer and Ben Goldacre ("Bad Science") would term smart people who believe weird and wrong things.

Secondly the time the book was written provides a fascinating insight into what was emerging then and can be compared to what is happening now. Gardner theorizes that the emergence of pseudoscience is a type of by-product of the huge and rapid advances in actual science. As the world moved forward with huge breakthroughs in technology across the scientific and mathematical disciplines, so the layman became more open to new and exciting ideas - including bad ones. Gardner's book was written during the 1950s, a time of immense social, political, economic and technological change in the developed world. These changes are reflected in the book's chapters. Scarily despite Gardner's prophetic warnings of the dangers of pseudoscience, he often woefully underestimates the future impact of some of these "fads" and the gullibility of humans for the next five decades. For example, he predicted that the Dianetics craze would soon burn itself out, especially as its founder, science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard had gone bankrupt in 1952. Today this is the celebrity supported cult known as "The Church of Scientology", a group that counted among its sometime followers, a one Charles Manson.

True to the rough form I have described, after the introductory chapter Gardner goes straight in for the most ignorant-sounding of the pseudosciences - flat and hollow earth adherents. In this chapter we see the theories that the Earth is either flat, hollow or that we are living on the inside of the Earth. The first of these theories is supported by a zealous and paranoid religious dogma and the others follow similar form. In "Monsters of Doom" Gardner explains four "unorthodox" ideas about astronomy put forward for the reasons behind certain catastrophes and miracles described in the Bible and the Torah. This is an early example of some of the pseudoscience we have seen re-emerge around Creationism in recent years. All of these theories are supported by wild ideas supported by no testable evidence and only legends that flies in face of physics as we have known it for at least half a millennia.

Throughout Gardner's book lurks the miscreant shadow of Charles Fort. Once we meet this individual in the chapter "The Forteans", rarely a successive chapter goes by without an opinion given by this wildcard of intellectualism. Gardner is clearly quite puzzled and amused by him. Fort set up an organization for the study and reporting of unusual phenomena. The organization has thrived since his death and "Fortean Times" can still be bought in most high street newsagents and supermarkets. It appears to be the most rational of the weird phenomena magazines and regularly features pieces written by respected historians and scientific sceptics. Fort promoted himself as an equal critic of both "scientists and priests". He is introduced at this stage in the book, as during his lifetime, Fort seemed to be mainly critical of mainstream astronomers. Gardner quotes him in opposing roles as a witty commentator on the frauds of the day and as a representative of the type of bizarre faddish way thinking his book seeks to discredit. However, in the latter role Gardner appreciates that Fort wasn't necessarily always being serious - the trouble is only Fort really knew when he was joking.

Gardner remarks that the flying saucer hysteria covered in the next chapter would have much amused the mischievous Fort, especially with all the authorities trying to explain weather balloons and other objects mistaken for alien spaceships.

If Fort set himself up to be something of a jester in the court of science and speculation, then Alfred Lawson's had far loftier aspirations. He is introduced in "Zig-Zag-and-Swirl" as the first true egomaniac in the book. Lawson set up his (unaccredited) university based on an all encompassing "science" of physics known as Lawsonomy. It worked on the principles of suction and pressure, opposing Newtonian physics in the process, and grew into a full-on religious cult contained within his university at Iowa. Gardner does not stint on delivering the genuine achievements of this extraordinary individual who not only had a successful career in professional baseball and wrote a philosophical novel, but was a remarkable pioneer in aviation, where he is often credited as being the inventor of the airliner. Lawson ended up creating a movement that had its own strict eating codes, forbade kissing and descended into a weird mishmash of religion, philosophy and counter-scientific principles.

Lawson's eccentric demise is only just one example Gardner offers of intelligent public figures that went awry with their thinking. I was aware of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's obsession with spiritualism and the way he was hoodwinked by two young girls that they had fairies their back garden - ideas that seem to run contrary to the logical reasoning of his most famous creation, Sherlock Holmes. However, I was not aware of the odd ideas of his contemporary, the playwright George Bernard Shaw, or the writer Aldous Huxley. Both considered intellectuals and great thinkers of their time, bought into some serious pseudoscientific ideas and their public support of these ideas and their originators - comparable in embarrassment stakes with actor George Raft's support of top mob figures - pepper much of the book.

"Down with Einstein!" is a fascinating study of counter-authority motivated pseudoscience. Gardner shows us that before Einstein Sir Issac Newton was regularly attacked in 18th and 19th century literature. Gardner tells us that even Goethe wrote a two-volume book that aggressively attacked Newton's theories about light. Unlike Newton, Einstein's detractors not only included supporters of Newtonian and pre-Einstein theories, but also religious fundamentalists.

The chapter, "Sir Issac Babson", discusses the creation and continued objectives of the reasonable sounding Gravity Research Foundation. Founded by Roger Babson, another zealous fan of Sir Issac Newton, and a friend of Thomas Edison, the GRF was founded to implement gravitational shielding. This hypothesis is not accepted by mainstream science and generally considered be a fruitless venture. However, to this day, the GRF awards lucrative prize money to winners of their annual essay competition. The essays just have to be gravity related and a means to attract more interest in the Foundation. Babson was not a scientist, but a very successful businessman and invested a fortune in the GRF. Today several college campuses have monuments to the GRF paid for by Babson. No doubt, Gardner couldn't see the longevity of groups such as this. However, its legacy is perhaps most visible in the perpetual motion machine pseudoscience.

Interestingly Gardner then moves into some daft pre-scientific ideas in his chapter on dowsing rods and doodlebugs. These practices still thrive today despite failing the same double-blind tests it did in Gardner's day. "Under the Microscope" shows how by not observing strict scientific protocol all sorts of erroneous conclusions can be derived from watching through a microscope, which in turn can lead to some very outlandish theories. "Geology versus Genesis" sees the rise of the New Earth Creationist movement, although it isn't given that name then. Gardner, a theist himself, makes the strong point that not all Christians were opposed to Darwin's theory. We also see the foundation of various bizarre ideas about geology and evolution. This latter point explored in a case study through the next chapter on Trofin D. Lysenko, "Lysenkoism". Lysenko was a Communist party member whose bastardization of 18th century scientist Jean Lamarck's pre-Darwinian theory of evolution became Stalin's official view. This was the theory that evolution occurred through the "inheritance of acquired characters" - a species progresses through the efforts of its ancestors. Darwinian scientists were persecuted and disappeared under Lysenko's influence. Gardner reveals how politics can be married with pseudoscience. The Lysenko theory better aligned itself with the philosophy of... Read more ›

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5.0 out of 5 stars Comments on Martin Gardner's 'Fads and Fallacies'
Similar to Dr Ben Goldacre's columns in the Guardian on 'Bad Science'. It is amazing how people have been (and still are being) taken in by erroneous claims, arguments, schemes... Read more

Published 19 months ago by Keith Warren

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic of Skeptical Writing
Martin Gardner originally wrote this classic text on various forms of pseudoscience, covering the merely amusing to the ouright dangerous, in 1952 (this edition is the revised... Read more

Published on 3 Jan 2008 by jcmacc

2.0 out of 5 stars good book, but flawed.
Gardner centers his attacks on what he terms "psuedo science." Having read the book carefully, I got the impression that Gardner would attack anything that doesn't fit... Read more

Published on 1 Dec 1997

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