What book are you reading now?

[meridannight]

I recently picked up a book in a charity shop. It was called 'A critical evaluation of relativity theory' or something like that. It was only 50p and I wanted something to read on the bus. I started reading it and it began to get a bit strange, so I looked up the author and it turns out he wasn't a physicist but a 'shaman'.

Yeah, that's what they do. They use specific well-known scientific terms or even established theories to explain their own beliefs. It's very widespread among those who believe into the paranormal, mysticism or any other such thing. They've acquainted themselves with physics, neuroscience, etc, and use the gaps in the knowledge to promote their worldview. A surprising number of people with a background in science and research have turned to paranormal and they bring their knowledge and expertise with them. So it's not always clear at first sight if it's actual science or something taking advantage of it.

Have you ever heard of the PEAR (Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research) lab? It was an actual research laboratory at Princeton run by Robert G. Jahn. Jahn was a plasma physicist and a professor of aerospace science, dean of engineering at Princeton. And the guy put together this lab to research psychokinesis and remote viewing, i.e. he ran experiments on parapsychological phenomena. PEAR claimed that they found proof of psychokinesis, but they don't publish data on their experiments, their results have not been reproduced by other researchers, and the scientific community has criticized their experiments long since (look up the details, if you're interested). The lab didn't close till 2007 and it was an embarrassment for Princeton.

http://www.skepdic.com/pear.html

http://dailyfreepress.com/2007/02/23/pse...princeton/

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/educ...-esp_x.htm

The bookstore I bought Talbot's book from shelved this edition in their 'science' section, along with Brian Greene, Carl Sagan, Michio Kaku, and Stephen Hawking, for example. And it's a respectable major store. On the back cover of this Harper Collins book it specifies ''POPULAR SCIENCE'' as the keyword or genre. That is obviously completely wrong. It's not a popular science book. It's pseudoscience. And yet, these titles are being sold and distributed as 'science'.