Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions by James Randi (PDF)

Description

In this book, Randi explores and exposes what he believes to be the outrageous deception that has been promoted widely in the media. Unafraid to call researchers to account for their failures and impostures, Randi tells us that we have been badly served by scientists who have failed to follow the procedures required by their training and traditions. Here, he shows us how what he views as sloppy research has been followed by rationalizations of evident failures, and we see these errors and misrepresentations clearly pointed out. Mr. Randi provides us with a compelling and convincing document that will certainly startle and enlighten all who read it.The Kindle Edition features a new preface by James Randi.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I was admittedly bored toward the middle and struggled to finish it because the amount of shameless con artists exploiting the weak and vulnerable was near insufferable. Also all terrible hoax, frauds, charlatans and scammers exposed in this book were so acutely scrutinized to the point of extreme overkill but that is something Randi acknowledges early on because he wants no BS excuses to sound remotely believable. This book cites late 70s to early 80s fraudulent greedy tricksters but that doesn’t mean it’s irrelevant today….quite the opposite actually.

⭐Randi would roll over if he saw what conjouring these “journalists” now do .He completely changed my thinking when I saw him in 1981. I want to believe in UFO’s and dowsing etc. but in reality,not gonna happen. Saw him make grown men (my skeptical friends) swear they “see” little green men get out of space ships. Eye opening ,mind opening more precisely. Get this book and you will see how and why intelegent people lie and omit facts to fool you. Even back then NBC and most media was highly dishonest . Do you think they’ve gotten better or worse ? Yea right.

⭐Reading Randi’s writing, it’s difficult to not hear his characteristic voice in one’s mind. Still, it is always his younger, though still entirely mature voice, that comes through in this book. It is very much a retrospective piece set in the 1980s, a full 30-odd years before this review was appended to the vast repository of unsolicited opinions known as the Internet. Randi’s rich life and solid work in the interim is just as tantilizing to me as the tales of his exploits detailed in this book.It’s hard to feel slighted by missing the last three decades of his experiences, though, because the content of this book is compelling on its own. Randi’s occasionally humorous, occasionally invective, and always straightforward retelling of some of his more prominent and a few of his more obscure investigations makes for fascinating reading. Being born after this book was published, I did not appreciate either the work put into or the ultimate benefits of investigating and exposing pseudoscientific and paranormal charlatans. This book provides a sometimes visceral perspective of the harms of magical thinking in the faces of those who would exploit it for personal gain. To live at a time when such hucksterism is on its back foot is owed to Randi and all of those who helped make skeptical inquiry a more socially acceptable position, however infrequently represented at present. The book also serves, then as now, to serve as a call for vigilance against uncritical thinking and exploitative manipulators.I deducted one star for technical failings of the e-book. There are numerous errors in the scanned text, and the photographs are terrible for viewing in any detail (though I suspect the latter gripe may be the case with the print version as well).

⭐I was, frankly, a bit disappointed by this book. I entirely agree with the thrust of the book. But the problem is that it isn’t well organized. It reads like a scattershot list of Randi’s Greatest Hits. Also, his glee at defeating the charlatans and the deluded people who try to deceive us is a little too evident. Understand, I sympathize, but I would have liked more of a nod to the dispassionate and objective.

⭐James “The Amazing” Randi was one of the most important figures in modern skepticism and he fought tirelessly against charlatans, hokum, and flim-flamery for decades. This is a great look at the work he was doing in the 60s and 70s to take apart the frauds and pseudoscience of the day.

⭐What has the writer, James Randi, accomplished? If you are serious about figuring out why some allegedly paranormal effects needed to be debunked, this is the book you need to add to your collection. You will be wiser in the ways of fakers and hoaxers by the time you finish this absolute page-turner!The Cottingly Faries have never been raked over the coals so thoroughly. Levitation has never been brought down to earth so deftly. Even Stanley L. Wojcik, who is lauded in a historical post about The Old Spye Inn as a parapsychologist, in a blog posting at […], gets a drubbing for sloppy handling of dowsing rods made out of clothes hangers. The von Daniken books are held up to justifiable question — although it must be noted that this book was originally published in 1982, and other writers have come forward to answer with proper scientific research, some of von Daniken’s questions.

⭐I have dabbled in paranormal activities since I was young and have believed myself to have access to special knowledge and powers. I have been in the presence of many people who believe or at least claim the same. Randi makes a good case for being skeptical and demanding proof of such claims of special abilities. Let alone his exposure of those who are outright frauds. A good read, even though it does make me question my own beliefs.

⭐The book is a little dated in as much as Randi refers back to the 70s and 80s when lampooning the likes of the ‘magician’ Uri Geller. Having said that, discrediting charlatans and the moronic audiences that lap them up is surely a target that never goes out of fashion. With meticulous detail, James Randi takes you through the nonsense that is the world of psychics, faith healers, and other delusional weird, wonderful, and downright mendacious fantasists. His vitriol is particularly aimed at the pseudo-scientists who with transparently faulty data (often deliberately so) make grand claims in support of fads, cults and spurious phenomena that most primary age children would see through as not a ‘fair test’. He also lifts the lid on just how quickly the media, and in particular the large publishing houses who profit hugely from selling books based on absolute nonsense, jump on the bandwagon and perpetuate the myth.In short (and sorry to burst your bubbles) there are no aliens, ghosts, fairies, monsters, and no one has psychic powers that have ever been, EVER BEEN, scientifically verified. Don’t believe me? Read the book!I meant to mention that as the book delves into the stupidity that is psi, it can get very technical and delves into the world of sub-atomic physics. This will leave some readers cold but stick with it. Also, there is a whole section devoted to “What harm can these people do?” which is quite unsettling and covers everything from people losing a lot of money to these charlatans or living in the blind hope that their loved one is communicating with them, to the more sinister side of mass cult indoctrination and the enormous physical and psychological harm that this can bring. In other words, this is more than just a cynical analysis of daft ideas and ‘flammery’, it is a warning for the future.

⭐I would have given 5 stars but the conversion to digital format had cropped some of the illustrations such that part of the captions were missing. Nevertheless, the main text was easy and entertaining and a great exposure of the farce of psychic powers that reached a crescendo in the 1970s

⭐This book offers to reveal the truth and insights behind the following fascinating stories: the Cottingley fairies, the Bermuda triangle, astrology, UFOs, the Dogon tribe, transendental meditation and levitation, the Nazca lines, South American caves of gold, ESP, N rays, dowsing, spoon bending and PK / poltergeists and table tipping at seances. The book concludes with various psychics being offered the chance to win some money by proving that they do indeed possess psychic powers – they all fail.This book de-bunks the paranormal. In essence, the paranormal is, in Randi’s view, a load of nonsense.

⭐A rather old book now,but the cases illustrated clearly show that non of the fantastic rubbish claimed as supernatural etc stands up at all when exposed to solid scientifically devised lab’ testing.Randi as an amazing stage illusionist himself is ideally placed to participate ,and evaluate the tricksters, and frauds.Some of the book can (of necessity) be very detailed, explaining the processes devised to produce sound testing etc.Even members of the Scientific community have from time to time fallen for the tricksters, as Randi explains that oftenwe believe,what we “wish” to be true ,and offers psychological comfort , and that some of the self professed psychics genuinelybelieve that they have special powers, even after testing shows the contrary.Mr. Randi is not a member of the Yuri Geller fan club, as you will see from his account of this guy’s “psychic” career.

⭐I like James Randi’s work and was looking forward to this one. I understood that it would probably seem a bit dated given that it was first published nearly 40 years ago. Even so, I found it hard going. Most of the targets were not worthy of attack and the Gamaliel principle worked just fine against them. I mean, who reads or takes seriously Von Daniken today? Having said that, it is well written and worth reading if you are interested in charlatans being exposed.

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