Are universes bigger than blackberries?: discourses on Gödel, magic hexagrams, Little Red Riding Hood, and other mathematical and pseudoscience topics

"In these essays, many of which originally appeared in The Skeptical Inquirer, Scientific American, and the Los Angeles Times, Gardner spans the realms of science and mathematics, literature, philosophy, religion, and mysticism. He examines influential scientific concepts, such as the possibility of multiple universes and the theory that time can go backward.cation and Primal Scream Therapy and the dubious magic of Uri Geller, who claimed to bend spoons with his mind. With a keen skepticism he skewers the practitioners of fallacious pseudoscience, from Dr. Bruno Bettelheim's erroneous theory of autism to the cruel farces of Facilitated Communication and Primal Scream Therapy and the dubious magic of Uri Geller, who claimed to bend spoons with his mind. With sympathy and a wide-ranging intelligence, Gardner analyzes the bizarre tangents produced by Freudians and deconstructionists in their critiques of the "Little Red Riding Hood" fairy tale. Offering several literary appreciations of his own, Gardner lovingly recalls the Tin Woodman from The Wizard of Oz and Chesterton's classic. The Man Who Was Thursday, and he introduces readers to Ian Stewart's popular mathematical fable Flatterworld and to the neglected mysteries of British suspense writer Edgar Wallace." "Gardner's essays are a testament to his invaluable contributions to our understanding of legitimate scientific inquiry of the past century."--Jacket.

something About Gardner's Prose—straight-ahead, Factual, Free Of Literary Pretension—is Deliciously Addictive.—michael Dirda, washington Post Book World

the Washington Post

something About Gardner's Prose -- Straight-ahead, Factual, Free Of Literary Pretension -- Is Deliciously Addictive. His Mathematical Pieces Are Often Way Beyond Me, But I've Read Virtually All His Essays On Writers And Books And Charlatans, And I Like To Reread Them. It's Good To Be In Periodic Touch With A Mind Of Such Rare Sense And Clarity. — michael Dirda

Praising rationality and common sense over superstition, the author examines a broad range of scientific topics in an attempt to debunk some of the myths that propagate in an uncritical society.