Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns and other Delusions

If Martin Gardner is the Godfather of skepticism, James Randi is the crude, but effective enforcer. He prefers to debunk by empirical means (as opposed to Gardner's thorough intellectual dismantling) and Randi hides no disdain, calling the "psychics" and other frauds charlatans and more while explaining how he handled the would be para-whatevers. And, he has yet to be proven wrong. Who best to out a trickster than a professional magician?

Magician and skeptic extraordinaire James "the Amazing" Randi examines and debunks all kinds of way-out-there stuff, from people who claim they can levitate by means of meditation, to "psychic surgery," to the Bermuda Triangle. He also details a number of experiments he conducted to test whether people with claimed paranormal powers could demonstrate them under controlled conditions. (Spoiler alert: They couldn't.)

Parts of this book, mostly chapters that focus closely on one particular topic, are in-depth, fascinating, and entertaining to read. (Although I suspect that whether one finds the tone of humor-laced curmudgeonliness Randi takes throughout charming or irritating is likely to depend upon one's predisposition.) Other parts are show more rather disjointed, choose odd details to focus on, and display, perhaps, more passion than polish in the writing. It's also kind of dated, as it was first published in the 80s and features a number of subjects that were big topics then, but have been replaced with new pseudoscientific fads since. (When was the last time you heard anybody talking about biorhythms?)

Still, uneven or not, I deeply appreciate the fact that this book, and other books like it, exist, and that Randi is and has been out there doing the things he does. His book about Uri Geller, in which he devastatingly exposed all the famous spoonbender's tricks, was a real eye-opener for me as a youngster. I started reading it as someone who'd always simply accepted psychic claims (as well as any number of other dubious phenomena) at face value, and finished it as a more mature and significantly less gullible thinker. I say we need more books that can do that sort of thing. Many, many more. show less

This book systematically takes psuedoscience from the 60s and 70s and smashes it with the hammer of science. It can seem a little outdated, talking about pyramids, the Bermuda triangle, etc, until you start to see the patterns that are still around today. No one may be trying to pass off photoshopped pictures of fairies as real anymore, but there are plenty of people who believe in "power hologram" rubber bracelets, homeopathy, astrology, numerology, fung shui, tarot cards, palm reading, acupuncture, and any number of other hoaxes. This book teaches you to see these things like a magician sees them, to look for the trick, and to see them like a scientist sees them, as a phenomenon that, if genuine, is testable.

Well-paced, interesting topic, with an enjoyable bitchy tone, on occasions. Well-written and enjoyable.

I know Randi is more than a bit mean-spirited at times, but on the whole I appreciate this book: I'm quite sure there are real psychics out there somewhere...but so few that it's statistically unlikely anyone's ever going to claim Randi's prize.

Originally published in the early 80's the book covers things that are outside today's new age sphere. Spending time on ufology,the Bermuda triangle, and von daniken's aliens as gods theory.

It is also quite a dry read as Randi assembles facts and uses them to debunk or demolish various stories & psychics.

Chapter 13 in which he presents attempts on the (then) $10,000(*) Randi prize, is whilst enlightening quite depresssing. Self delusion, chicanery & charlatanism parade by. If you are a magician or want to be there are some nice things you can probably take away from it though.

(*) now $1,000,000 and still unclaimed.

Reviewed July 2002

Randi gives an interesting overview of cases he has been interested in. And these cases are very diverse indeed, air, water and Uri are just a few areas. The book is terrible dated (Randi's prize is only 10K) and many things like the Bermuda triangle are almost never mentioned these days. He does explain many different kinds of cases from people who shoot pictures of their hands and faces to people who tip tables. Card sharks dowsing, and on and on. This book must have been useful when it was current.

13-2002