Re: BOOK REVIEW: Scientific Anomalies and Other Provocative Phenomena

From: Hal Finney (hal@finney.org)
Date: Tue Jun 24 2003 - 23:47:26 MDT

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    > Obligatory URL: < http://www.science-frontiers.com >
    >
    > Scientific Anomalies and Other Provocative Phenomena: An Annotated
    > Outline of 6,000 Entries
    >
    > Compiled by William R. Corliss
    >
    > The book pictured above is my first attempt to map the universe of
    > scientific anomalies in a compact format....

    I'm not sure how much of a "review" this was since it seems to be
    written by the author! But I've had one of Corliss's books for years,
    Unexplained Natural Phenomena, and it is fascinating reading. He's
    combed the literature of the last few hundred years for peculiarities,
    odd sightings, bizarre events, etc.

    The disturbing thing is that he presents each topic in order from rather
    unusual but believable events, through downright strange, to utterly
    impossible. It's obvious that many or most of the extreme observations
    are mistakes, lies, exaggerations and tall tales. But there is a huge
    gray area between the believable and unbelievable, and it is impossible
    to say where to draw the line. Ultimately the lesson is that the world
    is not as black and white as we think it is, that it is not so easy to
    distinguish the possible from the impossible.

    As Corliss mentions, he's published 37 books in this general area, so
    I'd imagine that one is much like another. If you do run across one in a
    used book store, it's probably worth reading if you like mind-stretching
    material. It's also great for those with short attention spans as you
    can open it up anywhere, read a few pages and usually find something
    interesting.

    Hal



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