Well-paced, interesting topic, with an enjoyable bitchy tone, on occasions. Well-written and enjoyable.

Un mago de renombre internacional y ganador de la codiciada Beca MacArthur, James Randi es un devoto investigador de afirmaciones paranormales, ocultas y sobrenaturales. Aquí lee el libro que ayudó a exponer docenas de engaños escandalosos ampliamente promovidos por los medios. En su enfoque sin restricciones de la verdad, Randi critica la investigación descuidada, los errores por descuido y las tergiversaciones dondequiera que ocurran. ¡Aquellos que no pueden distinguir la ciencia real de las tonterías de la pseudociencia tendrán mucho que reflexionar después de escuchar FlimFlam!

If Martin Gardner is the Godfather of skepticism, James Randi is the crude, but effective enforcer. He prefers to debunk by empirical means (as opposed to Gardner's thorough intellectual dismantling) and Randi hides no disdain, calling the "psychics" and other frauds charlatans and more while explaining how he handled the would be para-whatevers. And, he has yet to be proven wrong. Who best to out a trickster than a professional magician? ( )

Magician and skeptic extraordinaire James "the Amazing" Randi examines and debunks all kinds of way-out-there stuff, from people who claim they can levitate by means of meditation, to "psychic surgery," to the Bermuda Triangle. He also details a number of experiments he conducted to test whether people with claimed paranormal powers could demonstrate them under controlled conditions. (Spoiler alert: They couldn't.)

Parts of this book, mostly chapters that focus closely on one particular topic, are in-depth, fascinating, and entertaining to read. (Although I suspect that whether one finds the tone of humor-laced curmudgeonliness Randi takes throughout charming or irritating is likely to depend upon one's predisposition.) Other parts are rather disjointed, choose odd details to focus on, and display, perhaps, more passion than polish in the writing. It's also kind of dated, as it was first published in the 80s and features a number of subjects that were big topics then, but have been replaced with new pseudoscientific fads since. (When was the last time you heard anybody talking about biorhythms?)

Still, uneven or not, I deeply appreciate the fact that this book, and other books like it, exist, and that Randi is and has been out there doing the things he does. His book about Uri Geller, in which he devastatingly exposed all the famous spoonbender's tricks, was a real eye-opener for me as a youngster. I started reading it as someone who'd always simply accepted psychic claims (as well as any number of other dubious phenomena) at face value, and finished it as a more mature and significantly less gullible thinker. I say we need more books that can do that sort of thing. Many, many more. ( )

Sure, I'm interest in the paranormal but I also have an open, critical mind to it all. Both sides believes and views are fascinating. But the book was just boring. Nothing against the subject itself. Didn't catch my interest with the writing, is all. ( )