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Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science (Popular Science) Paperback – June 1, 1957

by Martin Gardner (Author)

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This fair and witty appraisal examines some of the crazes and quackeries that have masqueraded as science. Discussions include hollow earth theories; Charles Fort and the Fortean Society; Wilhelm Reich and orgone sex energy; dianetics; flying saucers; food and medical fads; much more. "A very able and even-tempered presentation." — The New Yorker.

Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science (Popular Science)

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Product Details

Series: Popular Science
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Dover Publications; 2 edition (June 1, 1957)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0486203948
ISBN-13: 978-0486203942
Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #561,660 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2651 in Books > Science & Math > History & Philosophy
- #6113 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Occult & Paranormal

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Customer Reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars

5 star		42%
4 star		26%
3 star		18%
2 star		8%
1 star		6%

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39 of 40 people found the following review helpful

Witty, informative, and still relevant

By magellan HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWER on September 5, 2000

Format: Paperback

Gardner's work debunking pseudo-science of all kinds is even more relevant today than it was when it was written nearly 50 years ago. Although it has been 30 years since I read it, I can still remember many of the funnier highlights of the book.

For example, some of his revelations on crackpot scientists are truly hilarious. In his chapter on health and health food faddists he discusses Gaylord Hauser, who was a famous name in the area long before people like Adele Davis, Ewel Gibbons, and so on.

Gardner mentions Hauser's famous theory that acidosis of the blood is responsible for just about all health ills, and recommended fasting to counteract it. Unfortunately, anyone even slightly familiar with human physiology will tell you that fasting actually causes acidosis, a little fact apparently Hauser overlooked. Another great theory killed by a nasty little fact, I guess.

Then there is the chapter, "Down with Einstein," where crackpots par excellence try to prove they are smarter than Einstein. One guy by the name of Gillette (no relation to the razor concern) says of Einstein, "As a physicist, Einstein is not a bad violinist," and insists his "Back-screwing Theory of Gravitation" is far superior to Einstein's. According to Gillette, "...gravity is naught but the kicked-back nut of the back-screwing bolt of gravitation." As you can see, Einstein is not the only genius physicist out there with a good theory or two.

The one person Gardner actually seems to like in this book is Charles Fort, the journalist who himself reported on much of the pseudo-science of his day.Read more ›

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39 of 41 people found the following review helpful

A classic of debunkology, endlessly entertaining

By Victor Eijkhout on August 27, 2004

Format: Paperback

This book is, even in its second edition, half a century old, and sometimes that shows. Lysenko is long dead, and in fact the Soviet Union in which he did his crackpot biology doesn't exist anymore. Several other kooks that Gardner writes about have long been forgotten. On the other hand, Dianetics is still around, and crackpot science in general is alive and well -- do I have to remind the reader of the Alien Autopsy on tv?

In a general sense, then, this book is still very much relevant in that it shows how pseudo science and pseudo scientists work by blithely ignoring facts, expounding theories with more support in rethoric than in actual facts.

My favourite chapter is the one about Alfred Lawson. Who? It doesn't matter. The man is so hilarious that he would have to be invented, if he hadn't invented himself first. "When I look into the vastness of space and see the marvelous workings of its contents, I sometimes think that I was born ten or twenty thousand years ahead of time" according the great man's autobiography. And Gardner quotes this with a straight face, even where possible defending his silly theories.

That is in fact what I like most about this book. Gardner does a good job of debunking, but he is never malicious towards his subjects, regarding them almost lovingly as wayward children. Thus this book stands as a classic of science writing, and is worth reading regardless the importance of its immediate subjects.

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25 of 26 people found the following review helpful

Timless essays a must-read for all

By cennbuie@aol.com on October 27, 1997

Format: Paperback

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.

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

Hilarious and Surprisingly Up-to-Date

By Donald Rogers on October 30, 2002

Format: Paperback

This book (written in 1952!) remains a classic of skepticism. It is very much the mid-20th century's answer to Charles MacKay's "Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds". Gardner amusingly debunks many forgotten pseudo-philosophies, like the flat- and hollow-earth theories. He highlights the sadly lost Iowan science of "Lawsonomy," whose founder produced a host of ludicrously egotistical books, along with perhaps the most wretched quatrain in all of English verse:
"So come on folks, the past is dead,
The future is alrighty,
And by the will, we'll win the till,
With strength from the ALMIGHTY."
But what gives the book surprising and continuing relevance is its treatment of many still-popular belief systems. These include Scientology, Creationism, Velikovsky, UFO's, chiropractic, Nostradamus, and the ancestors of today's holistic medicine faddists. If you are a believer in any (or God forbid, all) of these, you will be challenged, and probably offended. Good, I say.
It's true that a few of the ideas Gardner poked at have, over the last 50 years, moved from the fringes to a reasonable respectability. The Big Bang and continental drift are by now mainstream. I am sure that Gardner would treat these subjects differently if he were writing the book today.
But in a way, that only adds to the value of this book. It prompts us to ask ourselves: Why do we believe what we believe? What role does evidence play? How much of our beliefs are due to family upbringing, and how much to what William James called (not disparagingly) the Will to Believe?

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

it's amazing how little things have changed

The real value of this book is that it's old, from the 1950s, and taught me a lot about what was known then. Read more

Published 2 months ago by B. Dunning

A classic, if naturally outdated.

This book is a classic. First published in the 1950s, it surveys all major pseudoscience branches in the USA at the time - from quack medicine (by far the most lucrative and... Read more

Published 11 months ago by Classics Lover

Great

Exceeded my expectations. The book seems to include many arguments that state that some fields of supernatural fictional believes claim to be a science but are truly hoaxes that... Read more

Published 18 months ago by gabriel zaldivar

How does history repeat istelf.

An interesting book about numerous fads, ideas, and other odd assumptions that can arise out of the (mis)use of science. Read more

Published 18 months ago by michael tuttle

One of the great popular science books

Though the book is a bit out of date it remains - to me - one of the greatest popular science books I have come across. Read more

Published 22 months ago by Ezra Newman

Gardner Debunks Some But Not All Ideas

This book examines many alternative ideas that are not accepted in the mainstream scientific community in 26 chapters. Read more

Published 23 months ago by MacheteJason

Wondering if something is a fad? This book will help you decide.

We need help distinguishing the faddish from the scientific and logical. Based on our history as humans, we are not that skilled at doing this. Read more

Published on March 26, 2013 by Penny

Not What I expected

After reading Martin Gardner's "Colossal Book of Mathematics" and enjoying it, I was expecting to enjoy this book too. Read more

Published on March 9, 2013 by Brian Mathason

Awesome book.

This is one of my favorites. Published in the early 1950's it is a great view of things back then. A good example of how the details change, but human nature doesn't. Read more

Published on March 7, 2013 by Griffin

A Bit Obscure For Today's Audiences

The late Martin Gardener was a debunker of many fad-science subjects. The book, when published, addressed subjects that fell out of favor long enough ago that some if the items... Read more

Published on June 24, 2012 by Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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