Science Or Pseudoscience ─ Magnetic Healing, Psychic Phenomena, And Other Heterodoxies

Although many pundits attempt to draw a clear line separating the endeavors of science from those of "pseudoscience," Henry H. Bauer's Science or Pseudoscience reveals that the distinction is both equivocal and misleading. Setting aside science's snowy mantle of truth, pseudoscience - or anomalistics - is presented not as the opposite of science, but as something that develops parallel to it.
Science or Pseudoscience explores the diffuse and porous borders between orthodoxy and scientific heresy. A scientist himself, Bauer points out that some phenomena that have turned out to be spurious, such as polywater, were for a time taken quite seriously by respected members of the scientific community. Other anomalies, such as ball lightning and meteorites, were dismissed by many scientists but turned out to be legitimate discoveries.
Reminding us that geniuses are cranks who happen to be right while cranks may be geniuses who happen to be wrong, Science or Pseudoscience offers a measured and thoughtful assessment of many volatile debates.

Henry H. Bauer is professor emeritus of chemistry at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.