BOOK REPORT: FLIM FLAM!
Flim Flam! by James Randi.
In class we had to choose from a selection of novels that we were interested in reading. My group and I chose the book Flim Flam! by James Randi. Randi is internationally known as a magician and escape artist, but for the past 35 years of his professional life, he has also been active as an investigator of the paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims that have impressed the thinking of the public generation: ESP, psychokinesis, psychic detectives, levitation, psychic surgery, UFOs, dowsing and more. This book explores the topics which he says that scientists and the media are too willing to promote without skepticism and proper expertise.
Randi talks about fairies and whether they're real or not. He quickly claims that there is no such thing as fairies. Growing up, many children may believe in fairies because of the media and how they portray them. Disney is a huge reason why the belief in fairies are real because they made about seven movies on Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell lives in a hidden village and was only able to be seen by children. Although I know that fairies are not real, when I was younger I believed in them.
Another topic in Randi's novel is the Bermuda Triangle. The Bermuda Triangle is a well-known mystery that leads to the disappearance of airplanes and ships. The Triangle is believed to be located between the three points of Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Randi claims that most of these disappearances are not mysterious in the slightest, and most of them do not even happen near the Triangle. He once again makes a point that using evidence and analyzing the situation can make it clear that some myths are debunked.
The one chapter that I was most interested in was Chapter 4: Into the Air, Junior Birdmen. The main topic discussed in this chapter was the idea of Astrology and how it is anything but evidence. Many people believe in the Moon and Sun determining the week that they will have, and to me, I just never understood the correlation. There is also the belief that people Zodiac signs can prove their personalities and attitudes towards life and relationships. Randi says that this may not be a completely definite way of determining what a person may be like. Still, people continue to base their every day lives off of their signs and what is in store for them in the week. There are many websites on which you can read what your signs horoscope will be like, I will link it here: https://www.horoscope.com/us/index.aspx
Overall, I was not the biggest fan of James Randi's book. I think that his theories were very repetitive and it was a little bit boring to read. Although I may not be a huge believer in all of the theories he tries to prove wrong in his novel, I still think that people are entitled to their own beliefs, and as long as their beliefs are not hurting themselves or others, there's no reason for someone to necessarily prove them wrong.
In class we had to choose from a selection of novels that we were interested in reading. My group and I chose the book Flim Flam! by James Randi. Randi is internationally known as a magician and escape artist, but for the past 35 years of his professional life, he has also been active as an investigator of the paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims that have impressed the thinking of the public generation: ESP, psychokinesis, psychic detectives, levitation, psychic surgery, UFOs, dowsing and more. This book explores the topics which he says that scientists and the media are too willing to promote without skepticism and proper expertise.
Randi talks about fairies and whether they're real or not. He quickly claims that there is no such thing as fairies. Growing up, many children may believe in fairies because of the media and how they portray them. Disney is a huge reason why the belief in fairies are real because they made about seven movies on Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell lives in a hidden village and was only able to be seen by children. Although I know that fairies are not real, when I was younger I believed in them.
Another topic in Randi's novel is the Bermuda Triangle. The Bermuda Triangle is a well-known mystery that leads to the disappearance of airplanes and ships. The Triangle is believed to be located between the three points of Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Randi claims that most of these disappearances are not mysterious in the slightest, and most of them do not even happen near the Triangle. He once again makes a point that using evidence and analyzing the situation can make it clear that some myths are debunked.
The one chapter that I was most interested in was Chapter 4: Into the Air, Junior Birdmen. The main topic discussed in this chapter was the idea of Astrology and how it is anything but evidence. Many people believe in the Moon and Sun determining the week that they will have, and to me, I just never understood the correlation. There is also the belief that people Zodiac signs can prove their personalities and attitudes towards life and relationships. Randi says that this may not be a completely definite way of determining what a person may be like. Still, people continue to base their every day lives off of their signs and what is in store for them in the week. There are many websites on which you can read what your signs horoscope will be like, I will link it here: https://www.horoscope.com/us/index.aspx
Overall, I was not the biggest fan of James Randi's book. I think that his theories were very repetitive and it was a little bit boring to read. Although I may not be a huge believer in all of the theories he tries to prove wrong in his novel, I still think that people are entitled to their own beliefs, and as long as their beliefs are not hurting themselves or others, there's no reason for someone to necessarily prove them wrong.
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