Far Out: 101 Strange Tales From Science's Outer Edge

by Mark Pilkington

Mark Pilkington charts some of the more curious byways, scenic detours, and inspired failures of scientists, inventors, and, yes, crackpots, over the past few hundred years. From the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis to zeropoint energy, via the Hieronymous Machine and Phlogiston, Far Out tells the stories that are all too often ignored, lost, or simply forgotten by conventional science books. Some of them are perhaps best left languishing in the margins of history, but others may yet change our future. Entries cover physics, chemistry, biology, archaeology, parapsychology, psychology, and other areas yet to be inducted into mainstream science, including radionics, keranography, erotoxin, and remote viewing. Written in a succinct and engaging style, each piece provides a useful, selfcontained introduction to its topic, and provides enough information to allow readers to discover more if they so desire. Far Out is the latest in the unique CDsized book format from Disinformation, following the bestselling 50 Things You're Not Supposed To Know series by Russ Kick. Once again, the book is printed in two colors, with the entries arranged into sections, many with appropriate illustrations, diagrams, or photographs.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, History

240 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2007

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were some interesting bits of information in this book, but the author seemed overly credulous toward the claims of paranormal researchers. He did provide counter-evidence and tried to seem neutral and even-handed in his conclusions, but the overall tone bothered me. It's one thing to be open-minded, but you don't want to let your brain fall out along the way. His attempt at even-handedness is akin to people who want to present Creationism alongside evolution as equally plausible explanations, both deserving equal space in textbooks. Also, there were no full citations, nor was there a reference section.

Despite these flaws, I did pick up some new and interesting information. Two of my favorite tales involved ghosts and rats. The one about ghosts includes the idea that infrasound waves, or sounds in the frequency just below the range of human hearing, can cause discomfort, dizziness, blurred vision, hyperventilation, and fear. These sounds could potentially explain ghost sightings and the associated creepy feelings people report when they think they've seen ghosts. In a supposedly haunted venue in Coventry, England, where many people had reported seeing a ghostly gray lady, such sound waves were discovered. However, some scientists think that electromagnetic forces induced by infrasound vibrations are actually responsible for ghost sightings, and not the sound waves themselves. I'm hoping the people on the Ghost Hunter tv show read about this research and stop being so douchey.

Secondly, much of the research on addiction has apparently centered around the way addicted rats behave in typical (i.e., boring and sterile) laboratory conditions, in which rats will take drugs as long as they're available and are impelled to seek out more drugs to continue their habit. However, when rats were kept in a rat paradise with food, toys, areas in which to dig, abundant mating opportunities, and comfortable bedding, they avoided drugs altogether, refusing morphine-laced water in preference to plain water. Rats with low quality of life gulp down the morphine-water and start jonesing for more, but happy rats don't want it. According to the author of the book, this rat research has largely been ignored in the treatment of drug addiction and in the creation of public policy relating to drugs.

[Holden Attradies · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is an amazing premiss for a book here, and I remember being blown away by it the first time I read through it.

I've matured a lot, grown up a lot, and learned a lot since my first reading of this book and I have to say I was pretty disappointed my second read through. I have two main complaints: it's too brief and it buy's into to too much woo (Woo is a word that means "made up bull shit").

First about it being too short: Almost every topic in here is covered in a page or less and has the word count of a small wiki article. I think with just a little bit more research time and a slightly bigger page size this book could have had the information included flushed out way more. I was left wanting to know more about almost all of these subjects. I know the book was meant to be a short romp through these things, but I guess I just felt it didn't' need to be quite this short.

My second, and last complaint was the inclusion of a very un-skeptical view of things. The most annoying thing about this is in most entries in the book this non-reality based point of view was placed in one single last paragraph. So the author would spend two pages talking about some scientific theory dis-proven 100 years ago only to spend the last sentence saying "but some nuts still think it might be true, so who knows?" I felt it REALLY took away from the enjoyability and credibility of the book.

[Willy Boy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Diverting casual read - good value considering that some publishers would probably spin a padded out paperback (with generously-spaced type) out of a couple of these anecdotes ... Not as 'edgy' as one might expect from Disinfo ...

[Joshua · Rating 3 out of 5]

This small, vignette-style book has much breadth but little depth, but in that there are likely stories told in its pages that will be new to you. I picked it up from the bargain bin at the American Museum of Natural History and was moderately amused by the writing style of Pilkington who seems to take the detached and amused banter of the Forteana journalist as a serious writing style. Of course, the problem with this style is that it lends itself to bold, unsubstantiated claims and facile interpretations that can sometimes seem way too credulous, but striking the right balance between exposition and keeping the interest of the reader is extremely difficult in this subject area.

Where the book shines is in explaining the connections between incredulous claims and the real world (e.g. spontaneous human combustion as instead an example of wick action and the smoldering capabilities of animal fat or discussion as to how debunking perpetual motion machines were a direct impetus for codifying the Laws of Thermodynamics which has lead to great breakthroughs in physics). These little bits are practically worth the book itself, though one will have to wade through a fair share of "maybe it's true" platitudes to get at them. This is very much in the style of Charles Fort or James Ripley who took pleasure in making bold claims and letting the reader sit with the ambiguity of whether the thing claimed true was true or not. (Believe it OR not!)

In short, don't read this book expecting a well-researched, in-depth account. Don't expect a reasoned explanation, debunking, or a careful telling of the full number of anecdotes associated with each of the 101 outlandish claims documented. Instead, read it as a gateway to more interesting topics. It is a simple book that is able to keep your attention, but probably doesn't deserve a second read.

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mostly a collection of 'old' science which of course sounds crack-potty today (not sure how 2013 will fare in a century) but also a few modern bizarro theories.

Overall the tone is humorous and skeptical although at times the author laments the 'giving up' of research of some oddball areas. Other reviewers mention lack of in-depth discussion, but I liked the flighty articles that were brief enough not to offend or bore.

[Tone · Rating 3 out of 5]

An index of weird science.
I was disappointed to learn tat the Aquatic Ape Theory has no fossil evidence to support it.

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book of scientific oddities. Fun to read and well paced.

[Jaime · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's fun for what it is, which is basically a bathroom book.

[Andy Hickmott · Rating 2 out of 5]

An entertaining little book with short chapters. Good for reading on the toilet, but little else.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was just ok