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Spontaneous Combustion: Amazing True Stories of Mysterious Fires
Book by Wilson, Damon
- GenresNonfiction
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 3, 2019
Too many cases. Took a weird turn in the end.
November 14, 2022
This book was so fun, such an exciting guide to learn about spontaneous combustion . . . until it wasn't.
The book starts out with a series of examples of the phenomena of humans burning alive with no apparent cause, first with a single well documented tale from the 1950s. Then a handful of other less-documented tales. And from there the book circles in a downward spiral more twisted than the pathways taken by ball lightning described in chapter 6, with no possibility to recovering any level of dignity.
The Oxford Dictionary defines "non-fiction" as "prose writing that is based on facts, real events, and real people, such as biography or history." This work being classified as "non-fiction" by the Dewey Decimal system raises questions as to what level of fact checking, if any, is required to obtain the title.
Many of the author's stories of sudden immolation had classic red flags of the American urban legend: an unidentified source, a partial name, or a reference to a person or place so vague that it could potentially refer to any number of specific individuals. In absence of a bibliography, I began to research the stories early in the book, and found few to be verifiable, and the sources that could be traced went back to such sources as the 1980s fiction tabloid Weekly World News.
As though this is not bad enough, the author then shifts the focus from chemical and physiological theories of spontaneous combustion into poltergeists, UFOs, and human magnets. The Great Chicago Fire, Hindu chakras and meteors? All related. All there. All part of the conspiracy theory grid this book manages to weave together in a mere 170 pages.
It is disjointed, poorly researched, and frankly, about 120 pages too long. A pity. The author had the potential to bring true science to a phenomena frequently debunked, but missed the mark by such a wide margin that it would hurt the subject matter more than bring veracity to it.
There are unexplainable cases of what pseudoscience has labeled "spontaneous human combustion," such as the example at the beginning of this review. I read this book hoping to shed light and insight to cases such as those. I left disappointed.
I considered giving the book 2 stars, based on the merit that it is a fun, if untruthful, book to read. That said, in an age of pseudoscience and conspiracy theories where individuals have been led to believe there are microchips in vaccinations and that the Earth is flat, I see this book as having the potential to do more harm than good. Until the label "non-fiction" is removed and it is re-labeled "science fiction", I have to give it a one star review.
The book starts out with a series of examples of the phenomena of humans burning alive with no apparent cause, first with a single well documented tale from the 1950s. Then a handful of other less-documented tales. And from there the book circles in a downward spiral more twisted than the pathways taken by ball lightning described in chapter 6, with no possibility to recovering any level of dignity.
The Oxford Dictionary defines "non-fiction" as "prose writing that is based on facts, real events, and real people, such as biography or history." This work being classified as "non-fiction" by the Dewey Decimal system raises questions as to what level of fact checking, if any, is required to obtain the title.
Many of the author's stories of sudden immolation had classic red flags of the American urban legend: an unidentified source, a partial name, or a reference to a person or place so vague that it could potentially refer to any number of specific individuals. In absence of a bibliography, I began to research the stories early in the book, and found few to be verifiable, and the sources that could be traced went back to such sources as the 1980s fiction tabloid Weekly World News.
As though this is not bad enough, the author then shifts the focus from chemical and physiological theories of spontaneous combustion into poltergeists, UFOs, and human magnets. The Great Chicago Fire, Hindu chakras and meteors? All related. All there. All part of the conspiracy theory grid this book manages to weave together in a mere 170 pages.
It is disjointed, poorly researched, and frankly, about 120 pages too long. A pity. The author had the potential to bring true science to a phenomena frequently debunked, but missed the mark by such a wide margin that it would hurt the subject matter more than bring veracity to it.
There are unexplainable cases of what pseudoscience has labeled "spontaneous human combustion," such as the example at the beginning of this review. I read this book hoping to shed light and insight to cases such as those. I left disappointed.
I considered giving the book 2 stars, based on the merit that it is a fun, if untruthful, book to read. That said, in an age of pseudoscience and conspiracy theories where individuals have been led to believe there are microchips in vaccinations and that the Earth is flat, I see this book as having the potential to do more harm than good. Until the label "non-fiction" is removed and it is re-labeled "science fiction", I have to give it a one star review.
September 9, 2019
Great read, details some historic cases of SHP.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews