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Worlds of Their Own: A Brief History of Misguided Ideas - Creationism, Flat-Earthism, Energy Scams, and the Velikovsky Affair

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Some people believe the Earth is flat and the center of the universe. It may sound unreasonable, but they still have their supporters. "Worlds of Their Own: A Brief History of Misguided Ideas: Creationism, Flat-Earthism, Energy Scams, and the Velikovsky Affair" is a collection of writings from the late Robert Schadewald, a science writer who spent much of his time debating with creationists and flat earthers in the name of science. The testimony of a thirty-year expert in the realm of debunking pseudoscience, "Worlds of Their Own" is proof that the world lost a great scientific mind in 2000.

This posthumous selection from Bob Schadewald's published and unpublished essays (skillfully edited by Bob's sister, Lois) is an account of several varieties of pseudoscience, including flat earth, perpetual motion, Velikovsky, creationism, and predictions of the end of the world. It succeeds on several levels. First, as an very readable and entertaining account of subjects that usually aren't dealt with in standard science textbooks, and also as a serious examination of philosophical questions relating to our interpretation of the evidence that forms our models of the natural world.

Bob was fascinated by independent thinkers. He followed with great interest the writings of people who refused to accept conventional and accepted science, preferring to invent their own personal world-view, contemptuous of established mainstream science. Bob felt that to fully understand what science is and how it is done, we should also look at the misguided and eccentric ideas of those who don't fully grasp the methods of science, or who reject them. Bob knew many of these people personally. His interviews with Immanuel Velikovsky and flat-earther Charles Johnson are included in this book. Bob treats his subjects with respect, while, clearly revealing why their ideas were flawed and mistaken.

Eccentric scientific ideas, and the folks who promote them, are the focus of this book. Such colorful characters are mostly harmless eccentrics who do no serious harm to science. But Bob also looks at various creationists who freely engaged in "lying for God" in their efforts to deny evolution and replace it with "creation science". They would be as irrelevant to science as the flat earthers, were it not for the fact that their theories are even today persuasive to religious fundamentalists, especially in the USA. Their motivation isn't scientific inquiry. They have a social and political agenda.

What do all of these have in common? The book title says it. These "independent thinkers" build an elaborate world-view of their own, as an alternative to the accepted scientific world-view. Scornful of the "authority" of science, they are fully confident that their own intuitive "common-sense" is sufficient to answer the great questions that the collective scientific enterprise can not. Nor do they doubt that their personal, naive insights, uncorrupted by higher education, can reveal truths that highly trained scientists are too blind to see.

Concluding chapters deal with "The Philosophy of Pseudoscience" and "Science Versus Pseudoscience." Though this book may seem to cover disparate subjects, one comes away with a clearer understanding that they all have much in common. This is an informative and entertaining book of continuing relevance, for fringe ideas of this sort never die, but are perpetually reborn in new clothing.

You won't need a science education to enjoy and learn from this book. But those who do can appreciate it as well.

Many years ago, an essay by Bob Schadewald was one of the influences that first got me interested in the dispute over evolution and creationism. I was sorry to hear that he passed away, but am glad that his sister, Lois, took the time to put this collection of essays together.

The essays discuss a variety of pseudoscientific ideas, including flat earthism, perpetual motion, Velikovsky's "worlds in collision," and creationism. The author has a very easy-going style and treats all of his subjects with respect or even friendliness; but he combines that with a sharp eye for the key issues, and he makes his points clearly and succinctly.

The essays on creationism were still the highlights for me, but even the essays about topics I'm not all that interested in were still enjoyable and informative. Having a bit of historical background can be very helpful when trying to illustrate the fundamental differences between science and pseudoscience. For example, creationism carries a lot of emotional and/or ideological baggage that can make it difficult even to start a sensible discussion about it, but there are other pseudosciences that don't carry that kind of baggage, so discussing those other pseudosciences first can make it possible to introduce indirectly some of the key points that need to be made about creationism without immediately triggering the emotional reactions that creationists are prone to. So the book is quite useful in that regard.

But the real bottom-line here is that the author had a unique and interesting perspective on the world of science, and he had a way of expressing his views that was simply a pleasure to read.