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In order to fully appreciate Flim-Flam! you have to go back to 1982 when the book was first published. Uri Geller was bending spoons on national television talk shows, In Search Of was on TV, and there was a national fascination with ESP, Big Foot, crop circles, the Loch Ness Monster, psychics, faith healers, astrology and a host of other nonsensical gobbledygook (some of which still exists today). The time was right for a healthy dose of skepticism and rationality and who better to kick off the conversation than a leading expert in the arts of trickery and deception � noted magician, mentalist and escape artist James (The Amazing) Randi.

Subjects tackled in the book include: UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle, astrology, Arthur Conan Doyle and the Cottingley Fairies, transcendental meditation, so-called ‘alien artifacts� (aka Nazca Lines, Egyptian Pyramids, or the moai of Easter Island), parapsychology studies at the Standford Research Institute in the 70s and 80s, and others. Although a deconstruction of astrology or the Bermuda Triangle may seem akin to shooting fish in a barrel, the exercise is of value since it instructs the reader on the principles of critical thinking, rationality and the many ways individuals can misinterpret evidence to produce an erroneous conclusion. Once you’ve mastered the techniques of evaluating the evidence for astrology it’s a short jump to apply the same approach to topics such as: whether vaccines cause autism, whether anthropocentric climate change is a hoax, whether high levels of gun ownership make us safe, whether trickle-down economics is effective, and whether prayer works (the evidence for each is decidedly ‘no�).

Unlike a ‘denialist� that dismisses claims out of hand or cherry picks evidence to support their position (i.e. climate change denialists, evolution denialists, holocaust denialists, HIV denialists etc.) a true skeptic investigates the evidence impartially, determines whether simpler explanations for the phenomenon exist, and whether those who promote the claims have motivations to perpetrate a hoax. In every case throughout all of history the preponderance of evidence points to explanations for these phenomenon that are decidedly non-supernatural in origin. In fact, Randi has put his money where his mouth is through the in which the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) has agreed to pay one million dollars to anyone who can demonstrate a supernatural or paranormal ability under agreed-upon scientific testing criteria. Needless to say, no one has successfully completed the test, because the paranormal doesn’t exist.

Randi is blunt with his denunciation of “woo-woo�, which is certainly appropriate when dealing with those who benefit from perpetrating dishonesty. Though I do believe he could have been somewhat more sensitive in the manner in which he addresses those who believe in such nonsense. Sure � they are gullible, credible and lazy for not bothering to critically examine the issues for themselves, but they are also victims of fraud and perhaps deserve some sympathy as such. Randi has apologized for his tone, describing it as, "killing the gnat with a sledgehammer."

Personally, I found the tone of the book appropriate. While it is indeed overkill to use a sledgehammer to dispose of a tiny insect, when it comes to a bug that is particularly irksome, annoying and carries potentially dangerous diseases � it is also very, very satisfying.