Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #529007 in Books
• Published on: 1997-05-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Customer Reviews

Thought provoking and well researched
This book shows just how easy it is to fool some people, not only in the past but today as well. It is full of quacks, frauds and cheats who made fortunes from gullible folk and some are still doing so today. On the downside, some entries are too short and off topic slightly. Overall, a sobering read for anyone who believes in things like spiritualism, faith healers, dowsing astrology etc. This book shows the real facts behind them all and more.

WARNING! This book may change the way you think!
The encyclopedia is a thought-provoking and amusing tour through the world of the occult, and a superb antidote to the current media avalanche of misinformation and pseudoscience. Along the way, the 'unexplained' is explained and the 'unknown' is made obvious. Of course, this may upset some people who see Randi's rational explanations of the supernatural as a threat to their personal belief systems (or to their capacity to make money.)

Indeed, Randi's experience as a professional magician ideally equips him to debunk all manner of parlour tricksters. This does, however, make him unpopular with those who eschew the scientific method and refuse to take new evidence on board.

If, however, you have an open and enquiring mind then you will be enlightened, intrigued and challenged by turn. Whether you dip into it for five minutes (beware - you may find hours pass as you jump from one cross-reference to the next...) or use it as a unique reference, this is essential reading for any self-respecting free-thinker.

Invaluable in de-bunking all sorts of mystic nonsense.
James Randi is a saviour of what sometimes seems like the right-minded minority. If you have bought this book then you probably don't need convincing that there is a logical explanation for all things that go bump in the night, or that the ouija board wouldn't work without someone pushing it etc However it is interesting and reassuring to have this book at hand to combat and dispel the notions of those who prefer to hold the more colourful answers to such, so called, phenomena. I have produced it on more than one occasion when the Jehovah witnesses have come knocking at the door, as it has a list of 'end of world predictions' at the back, which included several from the Jehovah witnesses. It also includes lengthy sections devoted to such mystic luminaries as the great Uri Geller. Explaining his rise, downfall and many failures that have managed to be forgotten by the public. Even the lovable Doris Stokes gets a mention and an explanation.
As to those reviewers who complain that Randi isn't prepared to accept any of the anomalies of the paranormal etc, he has strong reason not to. They are not real, and that is what he proves to do. To offers his explanation to each from A through to Z.
In today's world, where so many are prepared to accept each and every form of paranormal hokum this is a brilliant, invaluable, much needed book.