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From: carnes@gargoyle.UUCP (Richard Carnes)
Newsgroups: net.origins
Subject: Re: Crank Science (the Velikovsky controversy)
Message-ID: <147@gargoyle.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 13-Aug-85 15:33:56 EDT
Article-I.D.: gargoyle.147
Posted: Tue Aug 13 15:33:56 1985
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Reply-To: carnes@gargoyle.UUCP (Richard Carnes)
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[This program posts news from many hundreds of machines throughout
the world.  Are you absolutely sure that you want to read this?]

Both Bill Jeffreys and Ted Holden are probably aware of this book,
but I would just like to mention *Beyond Velikovsky:  The History of
a Public Controversy* by Henry Bauer.  This is a historical and
sociological study, somewhat similar to Nelkin's study of the
creationism controversy.  Bauer concludes that Velikovsky was a crank
(a term he defines), but blames scientists for mishandling the
controversy.  I can't pass judgment on the book's scholarship, but it
looks very interesting.  Bauer discusses Velikovsky's book *Cosmos
Without Gravity* (1946) to show how amazingly incompetent V. was in
matters of basic physics.  

I'd like to thank Bill Jeffreys for his well-written debunkings of
pseudoscience -- must be something good in the water in my favorite
town of Austin.  Also let me thank Pat Wyant for his fine article on
cultural differences.

Richard Carnes, ihnp4!gargoyle!carnes