I aint blinking either, Mr Newman

"Voodoo Science" is an excellent, fast-paced, easy-to-read and even entertaining book about pseudoscience. The book was so easy to read, that I finished it in a day! Frankly, it's one of the best books I've read. At the time of writing it, the author was the Washington DC representative of an important scientific organization, the American Physics Association. Sometimes, he sounds like a Washington insider, as when he casually mentions a classified meeting with president Bush Senior about the Strategic Defense Initiative, or equally casually retells anecdotes about various science advisors in the White House. Who knows, maybe Mr. Park *is* a Beltway insider? At the very least, he has personal experience of many, perhaps all, of the cases he mentions in the book.

Did I say that "Voodoo Science" was entertaining? I guess I should have said: Entertaining, up to a point. Actually, the book is deeply disturbing. It seems pseudoscience is given credibility on major US news networks, in large-circulation newspapers, and even in military circles, usually behind a "top secret" smokescreen. And please note that the book *doesn't* cover creationism, Intelligent Design and Reagan's court astrologer. Thus, the real situation is even worse!

The most well-known scandal covered by Park actually involves two real scientists, Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann, the two chemists who claimed to have discovered "cold fusion". If true, humanity would have gotten access to almost unlimited amounts of free energy. It turned out that Pons and Fleischmann were wrong, and then attempted to cover their tracks. Park also mentions two amateurs who claim to have discovered free energy, James Patterson and Joe Newman. Both have been sympathetically covered by major news networks, and Newman even managed to promote his Energy Machine before a Senate committee in Washington DC. Unfortunately for him, his bluff was called by Senator John Glenn, the former astronaut. The book is worth reading simply for Park's description of the confrontation between Glenn and Newman. "I aint blinking either, Mr. Newman". Glenn sure wasn't.

As for Patterson, he claims to have invented a free energy source by placing beads in a kitchen sink, and then lead an electric current right through it. *This* was touted by ABC? He also claims that the beads can neutralize radioactivity. I'm not a physicist, but even I can sense *something* wrong about that statement. I mean, there's a reason why radioactive waste is stored underground in very deep shafts, LOL. I learned it in elementary school.

Park also covers the Roswell incident (he actually worked for the military in Roswell - is this guy for real?), alternative medicine, parapsychology, the Strategic Defense Initiative, the claim that power lines cause cancer in children, anti-gravity shields, and some kind of New Age aura therapy (the latter was exposed by a nine-year old girl working on a school science project!). There is also a chapter critical of the US space program. The chapter is interesting, and Park is probably right, but it feels out of place in a book about pseudoscience.

Park is honest enough to admit that even scientists can pass from foolishness to fraud. Indeed, the book covers both backyard quacks and respected scientists who go terribly wrong. Park is especially angry at Teller, the legendary "Father of the H-bomb". He also points out that science cannot (yet) explain all things. Park's point, however, is that the cure for all this is *more* science and *better* science, not crazy speculations about free energy, quantum healing, and what not.

Recommended. Once again: I read the entire book in just one day. Made me feel almost like Harriet Klausner! :-)