Lo [Paperback]

Charles Fort (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1997

This volume deals most frequently and scathingly with astronomy (continuing from his previous book New Lands). The book also deals extensively with other subjects, including paranormal phenomena, which was explored in his first book, The Book of the Damned. Fort is widely credited to have coined the now-popular term teleportation in this book, and here he ties his previous statements on what he referred to as the Super-Sargasso Sea into his beliefs on teleportation. He would later expand this theory to include purported mental and psychic phenomena in his fourth and final book, Wild Talents. Fort's relationship with the study of anomalous phenomena is frequently misunderstood and misrepresented. For over thirty years, Charles Fort sat in the libraries of New York and London, assiduously reading scientific journals, newspapers, and magazines, collecting notes on phenomena that lay outside the accepted theories and beliefs of the time. From this research Fort wrote seven books, though only four survive. These are The Book of the Damned (1919), New Lands (1923), Lo! (1931) and Wild Talents (1932) In his writing, Fort rams home a few basic points that were decades ahead of mainstream scientific acceptance, and that are frequently forgotten in discussions of the history and philosophy of science: * Fort often notes that the boundaries between science and pseudoscience are 'fuzzy': the boundary lines are not very well defined, and they might change over time. * Fort also points out that whereas facts are objective, how facts are interpreted depends on who is doing the interpreting and in what context. * Fort insisted that there is a strong sociological influence on what is considered 'acceptable' or 'damned' (see strong program in the sociology of scientific knowledge). * Though he never used the term "magical thinking", Fort offered many arguments and observations that are similar to the concept: he argued that most (if not all) people (including scientists) are at least occasionally guilty of irrational and "non scientific" thinking. * Fort points out the problem of underdetermination: that the same data can sometimes be explained by more than one theory.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Charles Fort's parade of scientific anomalies frames the larger anomaly that is human existence. "Lo!" is a book with the capacity to rewire brains and sculpt new lenses for seeing the unexpected, the unexplained--and perhaps for glimpsing our own role in Fort's mystifying cosmic scheme. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: John Brown Publications (May 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1870870891
• ISBN-13: 978-1870870894
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,461,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, perhaps a little dense., April 27, 2000

By 

Carrie Laben (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: LO! (The Garland library of science fiction) (Hardcover)

Charles Fort is considered the venerable grandfather of anomalistic literature, and with good reason - his works are a fantastical Sears-Roebuck of frogs falling from the sky, rocks thrown by invisible hands, spontaneous human combustion, and people who disappear and reappear at random. If you're going to be in the field at all, you should read your Fort.

Of course, that's not to say that he's perfect. Fort's tongue-in-cheek message about science and the nature of reality is easy to misunderstand, and he doesn't do anything to help the situation with a dense, run-on prone style of prose. For the researcher, his occasional lack of documentation is also frustrating.

All in all, though, this is definitely a book worth checking out if you can find it.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great book, January 26, 2002

By 

rickey l. esteves sr (san francisco, ca United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: LO! (The Garland library of science fiction) (Hardcover)

Being an avid reader of John Keel,Ivan Sanderson,Colin Wilson,etc.for the last 30 years I only recently began reading Mr.Fort himself.My first book that I read by him "the book of the damned" was interesting but quite disappointing when compared to people like Keel and such.However,"Lo!" on the other hand is just what I was looking for.A vast collection of Forteana.Weird rains,vampire attacks,ghosts,sea monsters and other creatures,disappearances,ufos-whatever you want,it's in there.This is a book that should keep you focused for hours on end as it is great reading.

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lo!, March 18, 2006

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Lo! (Paperback)

It seems that many people's complaints about this book is that Mr. Fort never explains his exact view. However, this is what is so wonderful; he doesn't crowd out your own thoughts with his own dogmatic beliefs. He leaves room for you to draw your own conclusions. I'm 12 and I understand this book perfectly. Maybe it is that you need to open your mind to accept the unexplained, to have imagination. "We will pick up an existence by its frogs."