(image from the book's Goodreads page)
When I was a kid I was hungry for magic. I read comics books & sci-fi, I watched movies like Godzilla & Planet Of The Apes, I was enamored by anything Star Trek & anything Star Wars. Mainly I just wanted there to be something, anything supernatural in the world. I did dumb things to try to achieve it. You might want to read my story about trying to astral project. Time & again, I failed to find the magic & mystery I so desperately wanted. Sometimes I was told I didn't believe enough. Sometimes I was told I doubted too much. Most of the time it seemed like someone was lying to me about the magic they claimed to have, or to have seen.
Psychics were probably the least of this - reading a mind wasn't nearly as fun as using the Force to lift an X-Wing Fighter out of a swamp - but boy I would've loved telekinesis or remote viewing. I did love Professor X & Marvel Girl of the X-Men. It never occurred to me that some people took these claims seriously in a scientific context. & that's where Martin Gardner comes in.
As happened so very often, my dear friend Russell lent me my first Martin Gardner book. It was the one above. Although the title may seem a bit pejorative, the book itself examined the claims people made about supernatural events & reported testing about them. Gardner's column in The Skeptical Inquirer would perhaps do this more thoroughly - in one column, Gardner was so even-handed I thought he actually believe in ESP! - but this book switched my disappointment into a keener understand of our world.
Psychics were probably the least of this - reading a mind wasn't nearly as fun as using the Force to lift an X-Wing Fighter out of a swamp - but boy I would've loved telekinesis or remote viewing. I did love Professor X & Marvel Girl of the X-Men. It never occurred to me that some people took these claims seriously in a scientific context. & that's where Martin Gardner comes in.
As happened so very often, my dear friend Russell lent me my first Martin Gardner book. It was the one above. Although the title may seem a bit pejorative, the book itself examined the claims people made about supernatural events & reported testing about them. Gardner's column in The Skeptical Inquirer would perhaps do this more thoroughly - in one column, Gardner was so even-handed I thought he actually believe in ESP! - but this book switched my disappointment into a keener understand of our world.
& it is a world of magic & mystery - just not the kind I was hoping for. I'm all right with that. Though man it would've been fun to astral project.
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