Did Adam and Eve Have Navels?: Discourses on Reflexology, Numerology, Urine Therapy, and Other Dubious Subjects (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Scientific gadfly Martin Gardner asks the questions that make believers of all types cringe. Did Adam and Eve Have Navels? is one such example and is the title and lead essay from this collection of his columns from Skeptical Inquirer. While many scientifically minded people find the fundamentalist skepticism of Gardner, the Amazing Randi, and their ilk to be a bit straining, the skeptics' voices are relatively quiet compared with the hordes of pseudo- and anti-scientific hucksters scoring political points and big bucks by exploiting ignorance and credulity.

Gardner's charm and dry wit aid his cause significantly. His essay on urine therapy is so amusing that only upon reflection does the reader realize that his evidence against it seems not much stronger than the evidence in favor of it; perhaps he felt it too silly to pursue with his usual vigor. This is not the case for his other topics, including "intelligent design" creationism, dream theory, numerology, and reflexology, which he debunks clearly and carefully, while retaining his good-natured humor. Readers new to Gardner's work will find it engaging; old friends will delight that the grand old man of popular science is still at it. Whatever your beliefs, though, try not to think about the title question too hard. --Rob Lightner

From Publishers Weekly

Former Scientific American columnist Gardner (The Annotated Alice, etc.) has also long been a columnist for another journalASkeptical InquirerAand some 28 of his far-ranging pieces are loosely tied together in this new collection. Individually, these essays amuse and provoke, but because the subject material is broad, Gardner doesn't delve deeply into any one topic. Rather, he jumps from fringe science to cannibalism, psychology and the histories of various religious sects. Along the way, he challenges his opponentsAespousers of bogus scienceAto explain their beliefs and denounces some books (by Deepak Chopra, for instance) as preposterous while praising others that are skeptical in tone. Reflexology, the practice of treating ailments by rubbing specific parts of the feet, is dismissed as "profitology." Some essays address current topics, including the Heaven's Gate cult, while others are old news (finding Freud's dream theory flawed). Still, there is much of interest here. One of the most fascinating chapters describes "urine therapy"Awhich involves swallowing, injecting or rubbing urine on the skin or eyes, which is advocated by various practitioners of ayurvedic and other alternative forms of medicine. Another essay effectively challenges the idea that cannibalism has ever been a widespread practice anywhere in the world, since nearly all of the evidence for it appears in secondhand reports. Updating addenda have been tacked on after most essays, but the lack of editing of the essays themselves results in overlapping discussions of some topics, with little transitional material. The essays, though united only by their underlying skepticism, present a witty and erudite rejection of pseudoscience. (Oct.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (October 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393049639
• ISBN-13: 978-0393049633
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,656,662 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Catalogue of Human Foibles, October 12, 2000

By	Bradley P. Rich (Salt Lake City, UT USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Martin Gardner chronicles human folly in his magazine columns and this book is a collection of his recent work. Each chapter is freestanding, representing a recent column, with the author's updated thinking on the subject at the end of the chapter. The columns are grouped by general subject matter. In each chapter, Gardner lampoons some error in human thinking, effectively revealing the errors during the column and then moving on to another foible in the next segment.

This is pleasant, entertaining reading and will revive the skeptic in each reader. Fortunately for Gardner, the list of human intellectual errors is a long one, allowing Gardner the comfort of endless material from which to select for future subject matter.

In short, a very entertaining book.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another fine collection, May 5, 2001

By	Dennis Littrell (SoCal) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

I found this the chewiest of the four Martin Gardner collections that I have read. Once again the venerable champion of common sense assumes his role as the sorcerer's apprentice trying to sweep back the tide of pseudoscience. And once again he provides insight into just how overwhelming that task really is.

There are 28 essays in this collection, all but one from Gardner's column in the Skeptical Inquirer. They range over such matters as UFOs, religion, social science, astronomy, evolution versus creationism, etc. There is a chapter on "Alan Sokal's Hilarious Hoax." ( I too thought it was pretty hilarious. See my review of The Sokal Hoax: The Sham that Shook the Academy (2000).) There is one on cannibalism in which I found Gardner's skepticism understandable, especially as he points out that it is always the other culture that makes the accusation; however his essay finally suggests that the debate may be more over the extent than in any doubt about its occurrence. The Adam and Eve question is of course a joke, but the kind of joke that has been taken seriously by some for hundreds of years. For me it's similar to the question about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. More germane is the chapter, "Freud's Flawed Theory of Dreams" followed by "Post-Freudian Dream Theory" in which it is demonstrated once again that Freud was, shall we say, mistaken.

The chapter on Carlos Castaneda is illuminating in what it reveals about the gullibility of some anthropologists, while the essay on the ill-fated Heaven's Gate "Bo and Peep" cult is sad. Gardner has some fun with Jean Houston, channeling master and New Age guru to Hillary Rodman Clinton. Apparently Houston's spin on channeling is that it is a kind of trance experience that allows one to come into contact with Jung's "collective unconscious" (p. 125). Notable is Gardner's accusation that Temple University "has become a center for the promulgation of some of the wildest aspects of pseudoscience" (p. 221). (Can Harvard be next?) I was amused to find that the "urine therapy" that Gardner takes apart really is predicated upon the use of human urine. I had seen the name before but naively thought it was "Your-reen therapy" after somebody's surname! The final chapter, "Science and the Unknowable" is a fine essay on the philosophy of science.

One of the very best reasons for reading Gardner is to appreciate how clear his expression is, and how readable he makes just about any subject (including the philosophy of science!). He has a gift for making the abstract concrete and the obtuse transparent. May his tribe increase.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Gives Debunkers a Bad Name, January 16, 2002

By	Jason F. Johnson "comicbook devotee" (Duluth, MN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Why does Gardner think of himself as a debunker of pseudoscience if he never debunks anything? He takes the attitude that it is beneath him to actually explain why these ufologists, New Age therapists, et al, are nuts. Consequently: (1) The layman will learn very little practical science (other than an interesting chapter about dreams); and (2) this book will appeal only to those who are already inclined to agree with him--and maybe not even them, as I found him to be self-righteous and not terribly instructive.

Compare Gardner's work to the infinitely superior work of Carl Sagan, esp. The Demon-Haunted World. Sagan fights stupidity with FACTS and SCIENCE, not simply labeling people as kooky. (We KNOW they're kooky already--explain WHY!) I give this book 3 stars because I don't want to suggest it's bad, as much as it is a missed opportunity.