ebook img

Weird water & fuzzy logic : more notes of a fringe watcher PDF

270 Pages·1996·6.983 MB·English
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview Weird water & fuzzy logic : more notes of a fringe watcher

a Fringe Watcher WEIRD WATER & FUZZY LOGIC Martin G a r d n Author ofScience: Good, Badand WEIRD PATER \> & FUZZY |f NeverbeforehasAmericaneducationinsci- encesunksolow,orthefloodofbooksabout bogussciencerisensohigh.Booksdiscredit- ingtheparanormalareoutnumberedbythose promotingastrology,angels,parapsychology, bizarreformsofmedicineandhealing,the propheciesofNostradamus,thesecretsof theGreatPyramid,attacksonevolution,and scoresofsimilarfollies.MartinGardneris amongthosesciencewriterswhobelievethat thistideofirrationalityneedstobestemmed byinformedwriting. ForyearsGardnerhasauthoredthe “NotesofaFringeWatcher”columnfor SkepticalInquirermagazine.WeirdWaterand FuzzyLogic:MoreNotesofaFringeWatcheris acollectionofGardner’scolumns,towhich areaddedthirtyrecentreviewsofbooksthat dealwithscience,philosophy,theology,and theparanormal. Thecollectionrangeswidelyoverboth goodandbadscience.Thereaderwillbe introducedtomind-wrenchingprobabili- typaradoxesandthesurprisingsuccessof MarianneWilliamsoninpromotingACourse inMiracles,claimedtohavebeenchanneled byJesus.Otherentertainingcolumnscover E-Prime,alanguagethatomitsallformsof theverb“tobe”;NormanVincentPeale’s naivebeliefsintheparanormal;thefakere- pressedmemorytherapythatissendinghun- dredsofinnocentparentsandteachersto prison;scienceblundersbyfamouswriters; thedeplorableinfluenceofTranscendental MeditationonthecareerofmagicianDoug Henning;Klingonandotherartificiallan- guages;andmuchmore. rrwi+iwimslm WEIRD WATER & FUZZY LOGIC More Notes ofa Fringe Watcher Martin Gardner AuthorofScience:Good, BadandBogus PrometheusBooks 59JohnGlennDrive Amherst,NewYork 14228-2197 Published1996byPrometheusBooks WeirdWaterandFuzzyLogic:MoreNotesofaFringeWatcher. Copyright©1996byMartinGardner Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,storedina retrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical, photocopying,recording,orotherwise,withoutpriorwrittenpermissionofthepub- lisher,exceptinthecaseofbriefquotationsembodiedincriticalarticlesorreviews. InquiriesshouldbeaddressedtoPrometheusBooks,59JohnGlennDrive,Amherst, NewYork14228-2197,716-691-0133-FAX:716-691-0137. 0099989796 54321 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Gardner,Martin,1914- Weirdwaterandfuzzylogic:morenotesofafringewatcher/Martin Gardner. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferences. ISBN1—57392—096—7(cloth:alk.paper) I.Title. AC8—.G335 1996 081 dc20 96-31113 CIP PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericaonacid-freepaper. CONTENTS SKEPTICALINQUIRERCOLUMNS 1. ProbabilityParadoxes 11 2. BigBangIsAliveandWell 23 3. MarianneWilliamsonandACourseinMiracles 29 4. MargaretMead’sGreatSamoanHoax 38 5. E-Prime:GettingRidofIsness 51 6. RMT:RepressedMemoryTherapy 63 7. WeirdWater,orH2Oh! 75 8. PealeismandtheParanormal 83 9. TheCultoftheGoldenRatio 90 10. EyelessVisionandGod 98 11. TheTragediesofFalseMemories 104 12. LiteraryScienceBlunders 117 13. Sciencevs.Beauty? 131 14. DougHenningandtheGigglingGuru 140 15. KlingonandOtherArtificialLanguages 147 16. FuzzyLogic 155 BOOKREVIEWS 17. FromHeretoInfinity 167 18. HowScienceWorksandFails 169 19. TheFaithofThreeScientists 172 5 6 WeirdWater&FuzzyLogic 20. SpeculationsofFreemanDyson 175 21. SheldonGlashowonScienceandSuperstrings 178 22. HeinzPagelsonMindsandComputers 181 23. SymmetryfromAtoZee 184 24. MathematicalBreakthroughs 186 25. Technology’sAwesomeMarch 193 26. ToPlutoandBeyond 195 27. AstronomersandGod 198 28. ReadingtheMindofNobody 201 29. IsWesternCultureVanishing? 203 30. Pencils 206 31. AllanSandage’sCosmology 209 32. TheMysteryofConsciousness 212 33. IsThereaGod? 216 34. TheWorldofStephenJayGould 219 35. IncredibleRamanujan 222 36. HowtoMakeaPPO 225 37. ArcheologicalCrankery 228 38. JosephCampbell,“Racist” 231 39. InformationTheoryandtheUniverse 237 40. MathematicalBeautyandCertainty 240 41. MoreSpeculationsofFreemanDyson 242 42. RichardFeynman,Magician 245 43. IstheSecondComingComing? 248 44. DoHumansSpontaneouslyCombust? 252 45. WillScienceDiscoverEverything? 255 46. TunnelsoftheMind 258

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.