This is about as neutral a book on a number of controversial matters as
it is possible to be. The subject of the book is however, whether it is
possible to tell the difference between "real" science and pseudoscience.
The author concludes that the boundaries are not sharp and that those traits
some of us like to associate with the categories can be found in both. He
prefers the term "anomalistics" to "pseudoscience", especially as the latter
sometimes is absorbed into orthodox science, if evidence mounts. The book
goes through a number of interesting subjects such as knowledge fights,
shibboleths and fallacies, fraud and self-deception. Cases mentioned include
those of polywater, cold fusion, HTSC, Loch Ness "monsters" and others.
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