Biography of martin gardner

Martin Gardner (1914–2010) was a American writer and critic of paranormal claims. Amherst, New York, USA: Prometheus.

From the Wandering Jew to William F. Buckley (2000).

Upon returning to civilian life, he placed several short stories with Esquire magazine, including what he termed his best-known science-fiction yarn, "The No-Sided Professor," which reflected his growing fascination with topology.

After a half century based in New York and then Hendersonville, NC, he relocated to Norman, OK, following the 2000 passing of his wife.

From keen magician to world-renowned author

Martin's first publication was a magic trick for the Sphinxin May 1930. New York Times (May 23) (Subscription required).

Randall, J.L.

(1983-1984). Beloff added:

It seems the author simply cannot restrain himself from lashing out recklessly at various paranormal claims which he regards as having been exploded but which in fact are still wide open to discussion … even before Gardner entered the fray, the data from this case was no longer necessary to establish the case for ESP.

One can only suppose, therefore, that the reason why Gardner went to all the trouble of writing this book was not so much to demolish Stepanek as to discredit parapsychologists.13

In another review of the same book, parapsychologist Jürgen Keil writes, ‘The whole purpose of his book is to misrepresent a period of careful research’.14 Keil makes a strong supporting case for Stepanek, in the course of which he exposes factual errors by Gardner.

Milan Ryzl, the main experimenter with Stepanek, revealed that Gardner had written to Stepanek suggesting that Stepanek ‘write an article or give an interview in which he would reveal how he cheated’.

‘I managed to retain faith in a personal God and a hope for an afterlife’,3 he wrote, but added that he was certain that there were no proofs for either and that his beliefs in them were emotionally based. Abington: Helicon, 2014. In the Name of Science was published by Putnam in 1952. His first book, In the Name of Science (1952), sounded another of his favourite themes – his exposure of cults, fads, and fallacies in the sciences over the centuries.

Amherst, New York, USA: Prometheus.

On the Wild Side: The Big Bang, ESP, the Beast 666, Levitation, Rainmaking, Trance-Channeling, Seances and Ghosts, and More (1992). Amherst, New York, USA: Prometheus.

Weird Water & Fuzzy Logic: More Notes of a Fringe Watcher (1996).

Skeptical Inquirer (July/August).

Martin, D. (2010). He had a short flirtation with Seventh-Day Adventism after a book by Adventist geologist George McReady Price convinced him the world was 10,000 years old and another book convinced him that the Second Coming was imminent. During World War II he served in the Navy for four years, mostly in writing and public relations jobs; after his service he began selling short stories, then moved to New York City and worked for eight years for a children’s magazine.

Not a single conceivable normal cause has been cited (Gardner’s does not qualify, being ad hominem) in the decade since it occurred.17

George P Hansen observed that, where psi research was concerned, Gardner attacked individuals who claimed to possess psychic gifts rather than the ordinary people who were the subjects in most psi testing.

The book attacked UFOs, dowsing, Atlantis, Lemuria, naturopathy, chiropractic, Edgar Cayce and other unconventional healers, vegetarianism, organic farming, anthrosophy, psychodrama, palmistry, graphology, JB Rhine, Upton Sinclair, unconventional sexual theories, the Bridey Murphy reincarnation case, and many other topics.

In 1975, Gardner wrote a short satirical book under the pseudonym ‘Uriah Fuller’ entitled Confessions of a Psychic, poking fun at the celebrity psychic Uri Geller.

He also edited The Wreck of the Titanic Foretold?