Reddit reviews Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions

You really should read Randi's book Flim-Flam. It describes how incredibly rigorous his methodology is, he uses the essence of the scientific method. Double-blinding, repeated trials, etc.

He incorporated the one thing scientists assumed they were competent in, but weren't - detecting deception.

Sure ... try "Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions"

It also has a great introduction by his friend Isaac Asimov.

Here is a link to it in Amazon, so don't take my word on this, check out the 84 reviews there. http://www.amazon.com/Flim-Flam-Psychics-Unicorns-Other-Delusions/dp/0879751983/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317469950&sr=8-1

Hey, I've never commented or anything in this sub, but your post caught my eye. I (like many redditors) consider myself a member of the skeptics community, and I mostly subscribe to this sub b/c these stories are fun to read around halloween time. The one book that I cannot recommend highly enough is James Randi's "Flim Flam". Randi is kinda considered the grandfather of the modern skeptic movement, he's an awesome dude, super nice, super funny, super smart, and this book does a great job of explaining all kinds of popular superstition from psychics to alternative healing. here's the link to the book on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Flim-Flam-Psychics-Unicorns-Other-Delusions/dp/0879751983/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1373087973&sr=1-1

but also you can check out his site randi.org or watch some of his youtube videos. Penn and Teller's show "Bullshit" also covers a lot of these topics, videos of which are also on youtube. I'm actually very much into these topics so let me know if you have any other questions or anything.

Cheers

Wow, I just started watching and one of his intro slides is, "There's lots of fiction about this stuff in movies, so there must be something to it." I can't imagine that he's going to use that as some sort of actual point, but it's kinda sad to see it even brought up...

Edti: Hrm... he's gone on to special pleading and a number of other fallacies.

I feel like a lot of this was covered in Flim Flam and elsewhere. I don't know enough about the specific stuff he's presenting as evidence to comment. It's interesting, but I'd have to look a lot further to be convinced.

James Randi, master of such topics.
http://www.amazon.com/Flim-Flam-Psychics-Unicorns-Other-Delusions/dp/0879751983/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1

Not about the topics, but on how people get scammed into them.
http://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Robert-Cialdini/dp/0688128165

Bad Science by Ben Goldacre, Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan for general science.

Stuff by James Randi, Michael Shermer for general stuff about new age crap.

The Panic Virus by Seth Mnookin and Deadly Choices by Paul Offit on the Anti-Vaccination movement.

Damned Lies and Statistics by Joel Best and How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff (Also see How to Lie with Maps by Mark Monomonier for a similar subject) for questioning stats and graphics used in the news.

Is there anything specifically you're interested in?

You may be interested in the debunking efforts of magician/illusionists like The Amazing Randi, Penn and Teller and Houdini. They explain clearly how many of these illusions are performed. My first book of this type was called Flim Flam, by James Randi. (https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0879751983/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_oCldBb1CNAYME)

You also may want to check out The Skeptical Inquirer: https://www.csicop.org/si

Good luck. Leaving a family tradition can be traumatic.

Flim-Flam by 'Amazing' James Randi.

I was given this book in college by a (physics) professor, partly in response to another (philosophy) professor's promotion of Carlos Castaneda's works. I hadn't been particularly swayed by Castaneda, but Randi opened up the world of skepticism and rationality.

>John of God will seat a subject for his "visible surgery" stunt and apparently scrape the eyeball of the patient with the edge of a knife. I believe that this is a variation of the usual trick — illustrated on page 177 of my book, "Flim-Flam!" — in which a knife-blade is inserted under the eyelid of a subject with little or no resulting discomfort. With the Brazilian faker, the "scraping" motion gives it a much more fearsome aspect, but for several good reasons I doubt that any contact takes place with the cornea.
>
>The sclera — the white section of the eye — is relatively insensitive to touch. Try touching that area with a finger or any clean object, and you'll see this is true. The cornea, however, is very sensitive — among the most sensitive areas of the body. Incidentally, it's also the fastest-healing organ, which accords very well with Darwinian standards; being able to see is one of our very best sensory means of defense.
>
>Most persons — and I'm one of them — have a difficult time watching the eye being touched. We tend to empathize with the situation, and I'm sure that some readers are at this moment involuntarily squinting in distaste as they read these words; we're that reactive to eyeball-touching. Few persons will resist looking away when John of God seems to scrape an eyeball, and I note that he's furtively watching the position of the camera as he performs this stunt, blocking the view with his body when a close-up is sought.
>
>There's also the distinct possiblity here that John of God introduces a temporary local anaesthetic — benzocaine would work — onto the eye surface, which would allow contact with the cornea. We don't know, though we could have found out....
>
>In any case, unless an anaesthetic has been introduced, it is impossible for this man to be touching the cornea of a human eye as he appears to do, without causing immediate involuntary flinching from the patient. The JREF will stake its million-dollar prize on that statement.

Reference -
From James Randi's commentary on John of God's modus operandi. James Randi is a professional magician and scientific skeptic who has offered a One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge to anyone who can demonstrate a supernatural ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria. He has written a book Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns, and Other Delusions about such fakery.

Sure!

The book basically talks about the way we come to conclusions in everyday life, the things we believe and why we believe them. The author delves into commonly held (and untrue) beliefs like the belief that there are more E.R. visits during a full moon, etc. While he does debunk some of these myths,this isn't a "debunking" book like Flim-Flam. Some of the most interesting stuff he talks about involves confirmation bias and how we evaluate inconsistent or ambiguous data. If this type of stuff interests you at all, I cannot encourage you enough to pick up this book from Amazon or your local library.

Film flam on Amazon

>able to pierce themselves with large swords / skewers, after their rituals.

Fuck that. I can do that. You can do that.

If they can do that, then anybody can do that.

If you can't do that either, then they can't do it. It's what magicians call a "trick".

>They wouldn't be able to do so before the rituals.

Bullshit.

If they can do it after the ritual, then they can do it before the ritual.

>I have seen it

I believe that.

But what you saw wasn't supernatural or paranormal.

It was just people sticking pointy objects into themselves (or pretending to.)

I've seen someone doing that too. The guy doing it specifically said that it was just a trick. I have no idea how he did it.

The most likely explanation based on what I saw is that he just stuck a pointy object into his body. I could be wrong about that.

>you are dismissing that they are illusionist who have nothing better to do but perform in temples or along the street??.

Please, please, please -

read this

Net of Magic: Wonders and Deceptions in India, by Lee Siegel

- http://www.amazon.com/Net-Magic-Wonders-Deceptions-India/dp/0226756874 -

It's a very good book about the thousands of illusionists in India who have nothing better to do but perform in temples or along the street. The author is an anthropologist and a member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, and a good friend of a lot of these street illusionists.


and read this

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

- http://www.amazon.com/Flim-Flam-Psychics-Unicorns-Other-Delusions/dp/0879751983/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1312470111&sr=1-1 -

Yes, you know what you saw. But you don't know anything else.

The people that you saw were doing magic tricks. People have been doing these tricks for thousands of years. They know how to fool people.

They fooled you.

Could it be James Randi's Flim-Flam?