Customer Reviews

Weird Science: An Expert Explains Ghosts, Voodoo, The Ufo Conspiracy, And Other Paranormal Phenomena

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This is one of those rare finds where the title means just what it says. Science is weird. If you have ever asked yourself the question, is there anyone out there? You just might be surprised at the answer. Mr. White, using a slightly bent and twisted sense of intelligent humor defines exactly how, or even if, these popular notions about space and life are possible. He answers, with pure logic, intelligence, and the latest knowledge, all of those theories advanced by every extra terrestial nut that has ever put forth the contents of another book without the slightest shred of proof behind it. He, further postulates, using scientific knowledge, exactly what it would take to beome life as we know it, or even life as we could not know it. He attacks each new subject with the same patience and logic necessary to make informed conclusions, not sell books or create hysteria. It is a pure pleasure to read exactly how we do, and how impossible sometimes it is, for what we might like to think is out there, to really be there. This book would b e worth three times the asking price. It is written in everyday terms, is extremely interesting, is fun and puts your mind into the stated scientific conclusions as if you were actually there. It is a total pleasure to read from cover to cover. I found it impossible to put down. I take my literary hat off to mr. White. I highly recommend this book for all who want to know why, and when you learn why and how, you want to learn when and why, which leads to learning if, which leads to . . . . ?

There's a scene in the beginning of the movie Ghostbusters, where Bill Murray and crew are being thrown off campus. The dean explains how Murray's methods are sloppy, his conclusions are dubious, and, in short, he's a poor scientist. "But the kids love us," Murray retorts. And that's the real problem with this book. Sure, it's entertaining enough, but it's just not science. White's logic is often faulty and his offerings of "possible" explanations are simply implausible. Robert Park, in his (far superior) book Voodoo Science, talks about the "possible". If someone told you a dog was running down Fifth Avenue, Park explains, you'd have little reason to doubt them. If someone told you a lion was doing the same, you'd be justifiably skeptical and probably require some additional detail (such as a recently escaped zoo lion). But if someone told you a dinosaur was walking down Fifth Avenue, it would be entirely different. Sure, it might be possible, but it would be so unlikely as to be unworthy of further investigation. And that's exactly what White's wild speculations are: "possible" in some very limited sense, but so improbable (and scientifically unsupported) as to be unworthy of further debate. White "talks the talk", including superficial references to important concepts such as quantum mechanics and relativity theory, but simply doesn't build upon these in any useful or rational way. Added to this are the frequent flaws in White's logic. In support of voodoo, for example, White argues that organized religions hold equally unenlightened views on such things as abortion. This is simply cultural relativism, wholly inappropriate in an ethical discussion, and simply embarassing when offered as scientific "proof". White, admittedly, wants so much to believe that this desperation intrudes on his analysis. In his discussion of intergalatic travel, for instance, he notes that the limitations of physics make interstellar travel virtually impossible. But then he adds (inexplicably and without further explanation) that intelligent life does exist in the universe. Huh? Added to this bias is an undisguised slant against spirituality that permeates this book and often leads to conflicting results. There is no life after death, White concludes in the chapter on ghosts, but, yes, ghosts do exist. Again, huh? You'd think that after almost a whole chapter offering explanations for the existence of the Loch Ness Monster (all "proof" of which has been clearly discredited), White could afford to expound in a bit more detail on these important conlusions he casually throws at the reader. Sadly, he does not. Which is not to say that this is not an entertaining book. But like Bill Murray's ghostbuster, it's simply sensationalism posing as science.

Michael White's 1999 "Weird Science" is a book about scientific and pseudo-scientific opinion on time travel, UFOs, ESP, ghosts, zombies, spontaneous human combustion, faith healing, cults, stigmata, miracles, out-of-body experiences, alchemy, and various other paranormal phenomena. White offers few answers, but gives a reasonably balanced discussion of observed data and plausible theories. He describes the poisons and psychoactive chemicals that create zombies, but says that alien abductions are fiction. He says that ghost sitings -- like alien abductions -- are only experienced at night. No reason is known, although White considers the possibility that ghostly apparitions are holographic scenes stored in some physical matrix. He doesn't put much stock in out-of-body or near-death experiences, considering them adequately explained by science. He accepts time travel (and precognition) only in the context of worm holes and massive spatial anomalies, and rejects telekinesis, poltergeists, and spoon bending because electromagnetic brain waves don't have sufficient power to move furniture around. (Non-electromagnetic energy might be channeled, but no such force has been persuasively demonstrated -- unless you accept miracles and the power of prayer. Still, a few PSI and chi phenomena do seem to be repeatable. Maybe one will yet win James Randi's $1M prize.) Quantum mechanics is still a mystery, and White doesn't rule out the possibility of multiple universes forking off from every [observed?] particle collision. He is less generous with Biblical miracles, claiming that the parting of the Red Sea was really traversal of a papyrus swamp known as the Reed Sea. Whatever, it's an interesting book. Not astonishing or inspiring, but worth a scan. Maybe physics is all there is, but it's fun to keep an open mind. Or to think about Robert Heinlein's 1959 story "All You Zombies," with one time traveller as his/her own mother, father, daughter, and mentor (p. 161). [Computists' Weekly.]