Rating: 
Summary: Beliefs Are NOT Delusions!
Review: While I respect the writing style and the author(s) opinions, you cannot simply "dismiss" as delusions, various cultures beliefs and experience with the paranormal.I myself have used various psychic services, including a psychic who accurately told me my past - and foretold my future! (I cannot post the url, but the title is Psychic Tarot Spells and she is coming out with a book soon!) Too many cultures around the world have certain similarities in their experiences. Yes, there are some shysters out there, but trust me, if some of it were not true, we would discard these things in the same vein with outdated beliefs that the world is "square".
Rating: 
Summary: A classic of skepticism
Review: Anyone who can believe in psychi mind-reading, spiritism, Uri Geller's spoon-bending, dowsing for water, reading auros, the efficacy of biorythyms, Erich Von Daniken's nonsense, pyramidology, and any other of a number of "supernatural" feats after reading this classic of skepticism either didn't really read it, is willfully blind, or is hopelessly duped. Randi shows not only how psychics, spiritists, and numbers other fakes ply their disgustingly deceptive wares, but also recounts numerous incidents when Randi "put up" (He is now offering not $10,000 but $1 million.) and the then-discredited fraud refused to "shut up."
Rating:
Summary: The modern Houdini fights frauds and charlatans.
Review: In this excellent work, illusionist and writer James Randi, the Houdini of modern times, exposes "psychics", "faith healers", "mind readers", and dozens of other frauds, charlatans and Gellers of the world. It's no wonder that the "psychic" scammers of the world cower in fear and flee whenever Randi shows on the horizon! (Want to see *how* frightened of Randi they are without even leaving this page? Read the rambling "review" below, "Dangerous attitudes", written by a clinical example of such a psych(ot)ic lunatic! :)
Rating:
Summary: gold... no, platinum!
Review: James Randi's writing is pure entertainment. It is quickly apparent that he is not an "academic" writer... and that makes his work that much more endearing. There were some parts of this book that absolutely left me in stitches. There are a handful of fraud cases that quickly disappeared from the public consciousness, or (as in the case of the English fairies) occurred long enough in the past to be forgotten. These make for some of the most entertaining expositions. That one word sets Randi's writing apart from many other "skeptic" writings: entertainment. Randi has a natural storyteller's flair for humor. I cant believe that publisher's tried to bury such an entertaining book.
Rating: 
Summary: Dangerous attitudes
Review: I view the efforts of people who try to de-bunk valid human experiences as being akin to using science to "prove" blacks are genetically inferior, women are weak and stupid, and the Germans are the superior race. It makes me angry. Telepathy exists. If you have never experienced it, then you are shooting blanks when you pray. There is NO PRAYER without telepathy, which is essentially communicating with your mind to someone unseen...as is telepathy. If you don't believe in prayer and haven't experienced telepathy, it is because there is something missing in your wiring, NOT because you are "smarter" or in posession of more sense than someone who HAS experienced it. Newsflash: Everyone else has a sixth sense you are personally lacking, but they aren't sharing that with you because of your attitude. Most people have psychic experiences of some kind throughout their lives, but are shamed and humiliated - or even made to think they're crazy - by people like this author. In the Land of the Deaf, the hearing are insane. That is this author's message. To challenge people who experience telepathy and psychic abilities is, at best, disrespectful and mean, and at worst is, in essence, the Salem witch hunts. There is a specific neurological basis for psychic abilities and experiences: my mother was extremely psychic for most of her life, and completely lost that ability after a small stroke. When her brain "broke", the ability went away, suggesting that there were physical reasons why she could predict events, or why she always called from 800 miles away when my children were ill to ask, "What's wrong?" before even saying "Hello." (She never did that when everything was fine.) Our energy would be better spent getting to the root source of these experiences - identifying that neurological wiring that causes it - instead of ridiculing, scorning and dismissing it, or wasting our time arguing that it doesn't exist when there is ample evidence to suggest it really does. It would be just as meaningful to argue that the earth is flat.
Rating: 
Summary: The Edge of Reason
Review: Or, how to battle the irrational and irrelevant. Flim Flam! is a fairly straightforward narrative. There is a lot of nonsense in the world, and our fearless hero, James 'The Amazing' Randi, is out to expose it. One has to ask, who exactly is the audience for this book? For skeptics such as myself, the conclusion is obvious - quacks and cheats and self-delusioned people claim that they can perform paranormal acts, but they are either lying or mistaken. For the believers, this is a book that is at best irrelevant ("Just because a, b and c can't really heal with their touch, it doesn't mean that d can't"), or at worst fraudulent ("Randi won't admit the truth" or, as one person tell asks him "Why did you do this, Mr. Randi? don't you believe in God?" p. 284) So hardly anyone can expect to come out of this book with their views radically changed. The only real target for this book would presumably be young adults and people who have yet undecided. But frankly, I think people who want to make up their mind as to the truth of the paranormal or the value of skepticism, would be much better off reading a book like Carl Sagan's THE DEMON HAUNTED WORLD, which deals with a wider areas of subjects very effectively (from personal experience, I can say that having read 'The Demon Haunted World' at age 17, I was deeply influenced, and many of my present views can be traced back to that book, which is a -flawed - masterpiece). Randi himself does not think his book is useless, obviously. Quite the contrary, he writes lengthily about Jim Jones and about expensive miracle cures which don't work. If the point is that rationality is good, then he's obviously correct. But Randi can hardly change human nature, and as he himself testifies, few of the people he exposes learn and amend their ways. True, some forms of stupidity deserve to be tarnished, and when talk show interviews a self proclaimed 'Medium' it would be a good idea to have a skeptic around as well. But Randi's subjects have, mercifully, not aged well, and as consequence, neither has his critique of them. Uri Geller nowadays is all but forgotten, and skeptics who would not give him undue publicity best ignore him. 'Transcendental Meditation', which apparently was very popular in the 70s, is even less remembered now. (A much better discussion of TM - alas within a problematic analytic framework - appears in 'The Future of Religion: Secularization, revival and cult formation' by Rodney Stark and William Sims Bainbridge). Those are the major offenders in Randi's book. For the most part, the rest are even more obscure (although Eric von Daniken might be somewhat better known). You've got a whole bunch of spoon twisters, leg pullers, faith healers and card tricksters, all or almost all of them must be well into retirement by now. One must wonder why does Randi pursue all these quarks? How appropriate is it for a grown man to expose a man who - I kid you not - believe he can 'mummify' fruits and meat with his own hands? (p. 296) At some point, Randi and company actually build and underground pipe system in order to expose 'dowsers' (people who can detect underground water). It must have cost a small fortune. Shouldn't some people be left over for the mental health authorities instead of the stage magicians? Especially considering how harmless most of them are. Ultimately, since I concluded the book is of very little importance, you are only left wondering, how well written and entertaining it is. And in this front, Randi for the most part delivers. His humorous, sarcastic tone, fits the subject matter entirely. With chapter headings such as 'The Giggling Guru: A matter of Levity', you can expect fun reading, with occasional hilarious highlights. My favorite case was a scientist, who, instead of using random numbers for a test of a psychic's abilities, put in numbers of his own choosing. When this was discovered, a colleague put on an interpretation saying that this was because of the scientists own ability to know the future "the explanation would require that [the scientist] used precognition when inserting digits into the [random] columns of numbers he was copying down, unconsciously choosing numbers that would score hits on the calls the subject would later make" (p. 234). In brief: fun and not too deep. An educational 'flight' book, if you will.
Rating:
Summary: This man is not a skeptic
Review: I read this years ago and recently, after seeing the author make a fool of himself on the Larry King show, decided to read it again. The book is good for a laugh. This man is not a skeptic, he is a debunker with a personal agenda who is a member of an organization that has not once properly investigated a case with an open minded skeptical view. The book and the author, are just sad.
Rating:
Summary: A different sort of 5 star book
Review: James Randi is not a great writer. In this book, he comes off overly abrasive at times and rambling at other times. Nonetheless, this book gets the full five stars because of the message in the book is so important. What is the message? Put in Randi-like terms, it is that psychics are frauds. The book is a three hundred page demonstration that there are no legitimate psychics, and everyone who alleges to be one is quickly shown to be a faker. Randi delves into other hoaxes as well, including UFO-sightings, the Bermuda Triangle and fairies. Randi lacks the skill of a Carl Sagan or Martin Gardener (to name two others who do similar debunkings), but the service he provides by this book cannot be overlooked. Too many people buy into these hoaxes and the harm that results is often too real; one example is a person who is conned by a psychic surgeon and hence winds up neglecting necessary medical treatment. So, although on writing merits alone, this book would get three stars, Randi gets two bonus stars because of the subject matter he covers. This book is a must-read for almost everyone: for skeptics, so they can spread the word about these hoaxes and for believers in psychic powers, so they can learn they are being conned (although this second group may not be converted by this single book).
Rating:
Summary: Randi missed the mark
Review: After reading this book, it becomes very clear the Randi has already made up his mind on the vast amount of material he tries to debunk. Instead of taking a skeptical approach, he appears to just use material that would support his own belief system. Even if it is misrepresented or twisted to support those points he makes. Randi also writes this book in a way that most people would find insulating. This book leave much to be desired.
Rating: 
Summary: So upfront!
Review: James Randi, former magician, is the great debunker and exposer or pseudoscience world wide... In "Flim Flam", Randi takes on all sorts of topics, from Kirllian photography to elves in the garden to water dowsing to spirit rappers. He doesn't just say "this is likely fake". Instead, he gives concrete reasons, proof, and photographs showing the people faking the effect. He is also very upfront. He doesn't spare people their thoughts or their reputations. You can find the information in this book other places, but nowhere else will you see it laid out in such detail to prove his case. Go Randi!!! Help educate the rest of the populace, and keep the perpetators of fraud in their place!
| 
