Martin Gardner is one of the world’s best skeptics. Along with James Randi (The Amazing Randi), and Paul Kurtz, he founded CSICOP (Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal). This group of debunkers tackle every aspect of pseudoscience and fuzzy thinking from dowsing to creationism.

Did Adam and Eve have Navels? Debunking Pseudoscience is a collection of Mr. Gardner’s essays that appeared in Skeptical Inquirer magazine (the premier skeptic’s publication in the United States). The book is divided into ten sections. Each of the first nine attacks a single topic of pseudoscience. The tenth section is a final word about epistemology and science.

Mr. Gardner uses his razor sharp insight, and his understanding of science and logic to battle such outrageous claims as Creationism (which often calls itself Intelligent Design, or I.D.), Zero Point Energy, the star of Bethlehem, egg balancing, urine therapy, and the outlandish ideas of Carlos Castaneda.

Gardner’s writing style is clear, highly concise and extremely erudite. His words burn with a high power intelligence, and he pulls no punches. This book is worth having just for the sections on Creationism, and Physics. You can consider the rest of the book a bonus.

Gardner begins his chapter on creationism with a question that is troublesome to fundamentalists: Did Adam and Eve have Navels? If not, then Gardner points out that they weren’t perfect or complete Human beings. However, if they did, then they were deceived by remnants of a past they never had. They had markers of a mother who never bore them? So, did God deceive them intentionally?

Another useful chapter discusses attempts to create “perpetual motion machines” (actually infinite energy devices), despite the fact that such an item would break the laws of Thermodynamics. Some fringe scientists believe that unlimited energy could be gained from the Zero Point Energy of a vacuum. Gardner shows the futility of this argument with little trouble.

One chapter discusses the recent wave of people who believe that the Earth will soon be destroyed by a giant Meteor, or Asteroid. He even discusses several films that have dealt with this topic.

Gardner devotes space to a whole range of paranormal beliefs. He discusses Senator Clairborne Pell, who insists on using huge amounts of our tax money to not only research psychic phenomena, but also to pay the personal psychics on his staff. Gardner discusses how the great James Randi tried to dissuade Pell from his fuzzy thinking, by performing through trickery the very feats that Pell took to be real when performed by such mentalists as Uri Geller.

One of the most interesting chapters deals with the egg balancing myth. There is a belief that eggs will balance only on the first day of spring. This is untrue. Eggs can be balanced on any day of the year. It simply takes patience and a steady hand. Try it, it’s fun.

This book is a wonderful resource for anyone who despises fuzzy thinking. Gardner exposes the basic flaws in paranormal and pseudoscientific beliefs. He does so in a style that is easy to understand, and fun to read. If the book has a flaw, it is simply that due to some overlap in subjects these essays contain a certain amount of repetition. However, this is not a serious flaw.

Highly Recommended.
I would also recommend Michael Shermer’s Why People Believe Weird Things, and Carl Sagan’s The Demon Haunted World as nice companions to this book.


Recommended: Yes