Straightening the spoons

Press, 9 July 1983, Page 18

Straightening the spoons

Science: Good, Bed and Bogus. By Martin Gardner. Oxford U.P., 1983. 412 pp. $16.75. (Reviewed by Ken Strongman)

Martin Gardner provides a most refreshing antidote to the rash of psuedo-scientific excrescences which has broken out on the face of the world during the last couple of decades. “Science” is a collection of his articles and book reviews published in a wide range of prestigious periodicals, from the “Scientific American” to the “New York Review of Books.” He uses a thorough knowledge of scientific method, an extraordinarily calm, sensible power of judgment, and a devastating wit, to prick a stream of nonsensical bubbles.

Over the last few years, some preposterous claims have been made in the name of science, and have frequently led to their perpetrators

becoming rich. Many of them have been concerned with parapsychological phenomena such as clairvoyance and telekinesis, but the list stretches from UFO sightings, through spoon-bending and the supposed significance of biorhythms, to communicating with plants. It is not surprising that the public at large have been gulled; training in how to appraise scientific method is long and specialised. What is surprising is how many so-called experts, who should know better, have been duped. Frequently, they are physicists and mathematicians; I have no idea why. But Gardner has mounted a one-man attack. He is not simply a sceptic; he is a person who makes his own judgments on the basis of whatever facts are available. Spoon-bending and extrasensory perception are not matters of conjecture or opinion. They are empirical matters which can be judged only by the techniques of conventional science. As Gardner

convincingly demonstrates, such techniques are almost never properly used when evaluations have been made. On the rare occasions when they

have, then the supposed effects disappear over the horizon in a cloud of bulldust. One fault with “Science,” even though its over-all effect is delightful, is that it becomes a little repetitive. Gardner has had his methodological knife into some of the proponents of poor and bogus science on many occasions over a number of years. So, through the pages of his book, people such as Uri Geller, John Taylor and Lyall Watson are slated from every direction. Even historical figures such as Conan Doyle are constantly

returned to as exemplifying amazing naivety. Still, the repetition is more than recompensed by some of the ideas, however often they occur.

For example, Gardner argues that all tests of mystics, mediums and the Gellers of the world should be conducted by scientists in concert with professional magicians. The magicians know how the frauds (they would term them “tricks” or “illusions”) are mounted and could expose them by being aware of what to look for. Indeed, whenever they have been permitted access they have unremittingly exposed the sham. “Science” is well worth buying. It would be marvellous to make it required reading for the gullible, impressionable and potentially cranky, of whom there seem to be increasing numbers. Also, at times, it is very funny. For those who have wasted money on the mystical cults, Gardner suggests the regular assumption of the lotus position, in which thoughts should dwell on a favourite guru with a gradual bringing into consciousness of the mantra: “Owah — Tanah — Siam.” Say it aloud a few times, quickly.