Debunked!: ESP, Telekinesis, and Other Pseudoscience by Georges Charpak (English

Description: Debunked! by Georges Charpak, Henri Broch, Bart K. Holland This lucid translation makes the arguments clear, understandable, and a pleasure to read. FORMAT Hardcover LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Publisher Description Can you walk over red-hot charcoal without burning your feet? Appear to stop the beating of your heart? Bend spoons using the power of your mind? In Debunked! Nobel Prize winner Georges Charpak and physics professor Henri Broch team up to show you the tricks of the trade and sleight of hand that keep astrologers, TV psychics, and spoon benders in business. Using only the simplest of science, the authors explore the effectiveness of horoscopes--the blander the better--and why, with a television audience in the millions, any strange, unlikely prediction is almost certain to come true. If such insider information does not impress your colleagues, why not pierce your tongue with a skewer or demonstrate your eerie powers by using telepathy and the telephone to get a distant friend to intuit the number and suit of a card picked at random. Charpak and Broch show you how. Not merely an expose of magic tricks, this book demonstrates how pseudoscientists use science, statistics, and psychology to bamboozle an audience--sometimes for fun, sometimes for profit. During the most scientifically advanced period in human history, belief in the paranormal and the supernatural is alarmingly common. Notes This books motto might have been taken from Goya: The sleep of reason produces monsters. The authors have a serious agenda-a critique of belief in the paranormal and the supernatural, and the irrational behavior of those who are taken in by such beliefs-but address it with a light and good-humored touch. The book provides entertaining and amusing reading while bringing about an understanding of how the simple application of probability theory and science explains amazing coincidences and abilities. -- John M. Charap, Queen Mary University of London, author of Explaining the Universe Back Cover Volume 26 Reviews In Computational Chemistry Kenny B. Lipkowitz and Thomas R. Cundari Donald B. Boyd, Editor Emeritus This book series contains pedagogically driven reviews of computational methods for the novice molecular modeler as well as for the expert computational scientist. Topics covered in this volume include computational methods needed to compute interactions accurately, quantum mechanical methods used for computing weakly bound clusters, computing excited state properties with time-dependent density functional theory, and methods for computing quantum phase transitions. Also covered are real-space and multi-grid methods, hybrid methods for atomic level simulations spanning multiple time scales and multiple length scales, techniques used for extending time scales in atomic level simulations, and strategies for simulating ionic liquids. From Reviews Of The Series "Reviews in Computational Chemistry remains the most valuable reference to methods and techniques in computational chemistry." -Journal Of Molecular Graphics And Modelling "One cannot generally do better than to try to find an appropriate article in the highly successful Reviews in Computational Chemistry. The basic philosophy of the editors seems to be to help the authors produce chapters that are complete, accurate, clear, and accessible to experimentalists (in particular) and other nonspecialists (in general)." -Journal Of The American Chemical Society Author Biography Georges Charpak is a physicist at the European Center for Particle Physics (CERN) in Geneva and winner of the 1992 Nobel Prize in physics. Henri Broch teaches physics and zetetics, the scientific investigation of paranormal phenomena, at the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis. Table of Contents Translators PrefacePrologue: Sorcerers and ScientistsChapter 1. The First Steps in the InitiationChapter 2. Amazing CoincidencesChapter 3. Lets Play DetectiveChapter 4. The Right to Dreams and ClarityChapter 5. A New Millennium DawnsAppendix: How to Calculate Probabilities Review Debunked! is short and highly readable. It tells good stories about human foolishness masquerading as science. It offers useful assistance to citizens trying to tell the difference between sense and nonsense... Charpak and Broch have done a fine job, sweeping out the money-changers from the temple of science and exposing their tricks. I recommend this book to believers and skeptics alike. It is good entertainment, whether or not you believe in astrology. -- Freeman J. Dyson New York Review of Books Just as James Bond needed his Q to survive his enemies, so every working scientist needs this slim volume. At some time, I am sure, everyone will have found themselves in a sticky situation in which they are trapped at a party by a boring individual endlessly droning on about astrology, telekinesis or some other form of pseudoscientific gobbledegook. Like the gadgets produced by 007s personal boffin, this book provides a means of escape. It offers a simple scientific explanation for a wide range of supposedly paranormal phenomenon. Some are shown up as mere conjuring tricks, while beliefs such as astrology can be readily demolished by anyone with a passing knowledge of probability theory, let alone astronomy. The book arms the reader with arguments that can be tossed into some future conversation, quelling such disciples of irrationality while you make for the door. -- John Bonner New Scientist Written in a jaunty tone, this excursion upon the seas of superstitious belief is a light, amusing voyage... Looking at the psychic power enabling one to levitate, walk safely across red-hot coals, or make astounding predictions, the authors point out how physics or simple probability explain things more convincingly than do amazing brain waves. Exposing the gullibility charlatans rely on, the authors sardonic spirit will amuse readers even as it inducts them into the scientific mode of thought. Booklist Delightful... [Charpak and Broch] show how the application of probability theory to such events is enlightening. -- Michael Shermer Scientific American We have here a new book by two eminent scientists-three if you count the translator-that emphatically debunkes ESP, telekinesis, telepathy, dowsing and numerous other similar magic stunts. -- John Goodspeed Easton Star Democrat The authors reasoning, which includes all kinds of theoretical subtleties (nutations, precession of the equinoxes), is quite beautiful. -- Jim Holt Wall Street Journal Entertaining and amusing. -- Elizabeth Clements Symmetry Charpak and Broch use their academic training to examine the logic and rationality of each case they dissect. Im pleased to see the excellent book theyve written... To become properly informed about a wide spectrum of paranormal and supernatural claims, one needs to be primed on the difference between real science and pseudoscience. -- James Randi Physics Today One of those books I wish Id written. -- James Randi Physics Today I enjoyed reading this book... and was particularly interested to learn about purportedly paranormal events that have not been covered elsewhere. Physics World Promotional This books motto might have been taken from Goya: The sleep of reason produces monsters. The authors have a serious agenda-a critique of belief in the paranormal and the supernatural, and the irrational behavior of those who are taken in by such beliefs-but address it with a light and good-humored touch. The book provides entertaining and amusing reading while bringing about an understanding of how the simple application of probability theory and science explains amazing coincidences and abilities. -- John M. Charap, Queen Mary University of London, author of Explaining the Universe Long Description Can you walk over red-hot charcoal without burning your feet? Appear to stop the beating of your heart? Bend spoons using the power of your mind? In Debunked! Nobel Prize winner Georges Charpak and physics professor Henri Broch team up to show you the tricks of the trade and sleight of hand that keep astrologers, TV psychics, and spoon benders in business.Using only the simplest of science, the authors explore the effectiveness of horoscopes--the blander the better--and why, with a television audience in the millions, any strange, unlikely prediction is almost certain to come true. If such insider information does not impress your colleagues, why not pierce your tongue with a skewer or demonstrate your eerie powers by using telepathy and the telephone to get a distant friend to intuit the number and suit of a card picked at random. Charpak and Broch show you how.Not merely an expose of magic tricks, this book demonstrates how pseudoscientists use science, statistics, and psychology to bamboozle an audience--sometimes for fun, sometimes for profit. During the most scientifically advanced period in human history, belief in the paranormal and the supernatural is alarmingly common. Entertaining and enlightening, Debunked! is the antidote, vigorously asserting the virtues of doubt, skepticism, curiosity, and scientific knowledge. This lucid translation makes the arguments clear, understandable, and a pleasure to read. Review Text ""I enjoyed reading this book... and was particularly interested to learn about purportedly paranormal events that have not been covered elsewhere."" Review Quote Written in a jaunty tone, this excursion upon the seas of superstitious belief is a light, amusing voyage... Looking at the psychic power enabling one to levitate, walk safely across red-hot coals, or make astounding predictions, the authors point out how physics or simple probability explain things more convincingly than do amazing brain waves. Exposing the gullibility charlatans rely on, the authors sardonic spirit will amuse readers even as it inducts them into the scientific mode of thought. Description for Sales People Nobel-prize winning author gives you a skeptical look "behind the scenes" to show how simple physics and mathematics can be used to explain the apparently paranormal, such as horoscopes, telepathy, and "super-human" feats like walking on hot coals. Details ISBN0801878675 Author Bart K. Holland Publisher Johns Hopkins University Press Language English ISBN-10 0801878675 ISBN-13 9780801878671 Media Book Format Hardcover Year 2004 Translator Bart K. Holland Imprint Johns Hopkins University Press Subtitle ESP, Telekinesis, and Other Pseudoscience Place of Publication Baltimore, MD Country of Publication United States Short Title DEBUNKED Audience Age 18 Translated from French Residence US DOI 10.1604/9780801878671 NZ Release Date 2004-06-24 US Release Date 2004-06-24 UK Release Date 2004-06-24 Pages 168 Publication Date 2004-06-24 DEWEY 133.8 Illustrations 20 Line drawings, black and white; 15 Halftones, black and white Audience General AU Release Date 2004-04-14 We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:136576564;

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