The Dictionary of Fashionable Nonsense


Book Description

Two of Britain's leading cultural commentators provide a hilarious guide to the various trendy discourses that academics have churned out for decades. Covering such schools of thought as difference feminism, deconstruction, and the sociology of knowledge, the author reveals that clotted jargon, tortured syntax, and unreadable style hides the fact that nothing new is being said. This ironic guide offers an array of ludicrous, exaggerated, self-contradicting definitions and explanations of popular intellectual jargon, poking witty fun at postmodern theorists from Adorno to Jacques Derrida and Michel Foucault, and arming the reader with enough knowledge to salt them into the conversation if ever trapped at a party with a crowd of trendy academics.




Fashionable Nonsense


Book Description

In 1996 physicist Alan Sokal published an essay in Social Text--an influential academic journal of cultural studies--touting the deep similarities between quantum gravitational theory and postmodern philosophy. Soon thereafter, the essay was revealed as a brilliant parody, a catalog of nonsense written in the cutting-edge but impenetrable lingo of postmodern theorists. The event sparked a furious debate in academic circles and made the headlines of newspapers in the U.S. and abroad. In Fashionable Nonsense: Postmodern Intellectuals' Abuse of Science, Sokal and his fellow physicist Jean Bricmont expand from where the hoax left off. In a delightfully witty and clear voice, the two thoughtfully and thoroughly dismantle the pseudo-scientific writings of some of the most fashionable French and American intellectuals. More generally, they challenge the widespread notion that scientific theories are mere "narrations" or social constructions.




The Sokal Hoax


Book Description

Med udgangspunkt i fysikeren Alan D. Sokals videnskabelige nonsens-artikel i det amerikanske tidsskrift Social text (Spring/Summer 1996) er her samlet et udvalg af artikler fra aviser og tidsskrifter.




The Skeptical Inquirer


Book Description




The Designer's Dictionary of Color


Book Description

A guide to the cultural, historical, and social meanings of twenty-seven colors, plus examples of successful usage of each as well as options for palette variations. The Designer’s Dictionary of Color provides an in-depth look at twenty-seven colors key to art and graphic design. Organized by spectrum, in color-by-color sections for easy navigation, this book documents each hue with charts showing color range and palette variations. Chapters detail each color’s creative history and cultural associations, with examples of color use that extend from the artistic to the utilitarian—whether the turquoise on a Reid Miles album cover or the avocado paint job on a 1970s Dodge station wagon. A practical and inspirational resource for designers and students alike, The Designer’s Dictionary of Color opens up the world of color for all those who seek to harness its incredible power.




50 Voices of Disbelief


Book Description

50 Voices of Disbelief: Why We Are Atheists presents a collection of original essays drawn from an international group of prominent voices in the fields of academia, science, literature, media and politics who offer carefully considered statements of why they are atheists. Features a truly international cast of contributors, ranging from public intellectuals such as Peter Singer, Susan Blackmore, and A.C. Grayling, novelists, such as Joe Haldeman, and heavyweight philosophers of religion, including Graham Oppy and Michael Tooley Contributions range from rigorous philosophical arguments to highly personal, even whimsical, accounts of how each of these notable thinkers have come to reject religion in their lives Likely to have broad appeal given the current public fascination with religious issues and the reception of such books as The God Delusion and The End of Faith




Qualitative Research in the Health Sciences


Book Description

There is a growing interest in, and acceptance of, qualitative research approaches in the health science disciplines, both as standalone methodologies and integrated with quantitative designs in mixed methods approaches. This comprehensive text provides deeper knowledge and application of a wide range of methodologies, methods and processes, enabling readers to develop their qualitative research skills. Divided into two parts, focusing first on methodologies and then on methods and processes, the text also includes revision of essential aspects of quantitative research as they apply to mixed methods research and a discussion of the uptake of qualitative research in the health sciences. The methodologies covered include: Grounded Theory; Historical Research; Ethnography; Phenomenology; Narrative Inquiry; Case Study Research; Critical Ethnography; Action Research and Mixed Methods. The methods and processes covered include: Interviewing and Analysis; Group Work and Analysis; Narrative Analysis; Discourse Analysis. Using accessible language to help extend readers’ practical research skills, this is a thorough and reliable text to guide advanced students and researchers from all health-related disciplines – including nursing, midwifery, public health and physiotherapy – to the best use of qualitative research.




The Skeptic's Dictionary


Book Description

A wealth of evidence for doubters and disbelievers "Whether it's the latest shark cartilage scam, or some new 'repressed memory' idiocy that besets you, I suggest you carry a copy of this dictionary at all times, or at least have it within reach as first aid for psychic attacks. We need all the help we can get." -James Randi, President, James Randi Educational Foundation, randi.org "From alternative medicine, aliens, and psychics to the farthest shores of science and beyond, Robert Carroll presents a fascinating look at some of humanity's most strange and wonderful ideas. Refreshing and witty, both believers and unbelievers will find this compendium complete and captivating. Buy this book and feed your head!" -Clifford Pickover, author of The Stars of Heaven and Dreaming the Future "A refreshing compendium of clear thinking, a welcome and potent antidote to the reams of books on the supernatural and pseudoscientific." -John Allen Paulos, author of Innumeracy and A Mathematician Reads the Newspaper "This book covers an amazing range of topics and can protect many people from being scammed." -Stephen Barrett, M.D., quackwatch.org Featuring close to 400 definitions, arguments, and essays on topics ranging from acupuncture to zombies, The Skeptic's Dictionary is a lively, commonsense trove of detailed information on all things supernatural, occult, paranormal, and pseudoscientific. It covers such categories as alternative medicine; cryptozoology; extraterrestrials and UFOs; frauds and hoaxes; junk science; logic and perception; New Age energy; and the psychic. For the open-minded seeker, the soft or hardened skeptic, and the believing doubter, this book offers a remarkable range of information that puts to the test the best arguments of true believers.




Papers ...


Book Description




Beyond the Hoax


Book Description

In 1996, Alan Sokal, a Professor of Physics at New York University, wrote a paper for the cultural-studies journal Social Text, entitled 'Transgressing the Boundaries: Towards a transformative hermeneutics of quantum gravity'. It was reviewed, accepted and published. Sokal immediately confessed that the whole article was a hoax - a cunningly worded paper designed to expose and parody the style of extreme postmodernist criticism of science. The story became front-page news around the world and triggered fierce and wide-ranging controversy. Sokal is one of the most powerful voices in the continuing debate about the status of evidence-based knowledge. In Beyond the Hoax he turns his attention to a new set of targets - pseudo-science, religion, and misinformation in public life. 'Whether my targets are the postmodernists of the left, the fundamentalists of the right, or the muddle-headed of all political and apolitical stripes, the bottom line is that clear thinking, combined with a respect for evidence, are of the utmost importance to the survival of the human race in the twenty-first century.' The book also includes a hugely illuminating annotated text of the Hoax itself, and a reflection on the furore it provoked.