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Author: Gordon Stein
Publisher: Gale Cengage
Published: 1993
Total Pages: 384
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Looks at scams, shams, and flim-flams that have been perpetrated in almost every field including art, business, entertainment, politics, and more.
Author: Ian Tattersall
Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal
Published: 2018-03-20
Total Pages: 256
ISBN-13: 0316503703
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →An entertaining collection of the most audacious and underhanded deceptions in the history of mankind, from sacred relics to financial schemes to fake art, music, and identities. World history is littered with tall tales and those who have fallen for them. Ian Tattersall, a curator emeritus at the American Museum of Natural History, has teamed up with Peter Névraumont to tell this anti-history of the world, in which Michelangelo fakes a masterpiece; Arctic explorers seek an entrance into a hollow Earth; a Shakespeare tragedy is "rediscovered"; a financial scheme inspires Charles Ponzi; a spirit photographer snaps Abraham Lincoln's ghost; people can survive ingesting only air and sunshine; Edgar Allen Poe is the forefather of fake news; and the first human was not only British but played cricket. Told chronologically, HOAX begins with the first documented announcement of the end of the world in 2800 BC and winds its way through controversial tales such as the Loch Ness Monster and the Shroud of Turin, past proven fakes such as the Thomas Jefferson's ancient wine and the Davenport Tablets built by a lost race, and explores bald-faced lies in the worlds of art, science, literature, journalism, and finance.
Author: Edward Steers (Jr.)
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2013-03-07
Total Pages: 250
ISBN-13: 0813141591
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Investigates six of history's biggest frauds, looking at how the hoaxes were carried out and what continued belief in them reveals about society's understanding of history.
Author: Rex Sorgatz
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2018-03-27
Total Pages: 422
ISBN-13: 1683352343
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →“In an era of ‘alternative facts,’ Rex Sorgatz’s The Encyclopedia of Misinformation helps put things in perspective.” —Fast Company This compendium of misinformation, deception, and self-delusion throughout history examines fakery in the context of science and advertising, humor and law, sports and video games, and beyond. Entries span eclectic topics: Artificial Intelligence, Auto-Tune, Chilean Sea Bass, Clickbait, Cognitive Dissonance, Cryptids, False Flag Operations, Gaslighting, Gerrymandering, Kayfabe, Laugh Tracks, Milli Vanilli, P.T. Barnum, Photoshopping, Potemkin Villages, Ponzi Schemes, Rachel Dolezal, Strategery, Truthiness, and the Uncanny Valley. From A to Z, this is the definitive guide to how we are tricked, and how we trick ourselves. “Occasional salty language and pop-culture references make this compendium of 300 short entries a delightful mix of high- and lowbrow.” —Booklist
Author: James Randi
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Published: 1997-03-15
Total Pages: 336
ISBN-13: 9780312151195
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Covers illusions, psychics, mystics, clairvoyants, and frauds
Author: Edward SteersJr.
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2007-10-12
Total Pages: 283
ISBN-13: 0813172756
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →In the more than 140 years since his death, Abraham Lincoln has become America's most revered president. The mythmaking about this self-made man began early, some of it starting during his campaign for the presidency in 1860. As an American icon, Lincoln has been the subject of speculation and inquiry as authors and researchers have examined every aspect—personal and professional—of the president's life. In Lincoln Legends, noted historian and Lincoln expert Edward Steers Jr. carefully scrutinizes some of the most notorious tall tales and distorted ideas about America's sixteenth president. These inaccuracies and speculations about Lincoln's personal and professional life abound. Did he write his greatest speech on the back of an envelope on the way to Gettysburg? Did Lincoln appear before a congressional committee to defend his wife against charges of treason? Was he an illegitimate child? Did Lincoln have romantic encounters with women other than his wife? Did he have love affairs with men? What really happened in the weeks leading up to April 14, 1865, and in the aftermath of Lincoln's tragic assassination? Lincoln Legends evaluates the evidence on all sides of the many heated debates about the Great Emancipator. Not only does Steers weigh the merits of all relevant arguments and interpretations, but he also traces the often fascinating evolution of flawed theories about Lincoln and uncovers the motivations of the individuals—occasionally sincere but more often cynical, self-serving, and nefarious—who are responsible for their dispersal. Based on extensive primary research, the conclusions in Lincoln Legends will settle many of the enduring questions and persistent myths about Lincoln's life once and for all. Steers leaves us with a clearer image of Abraham Lincoln as a man, as an exceptionally effective president, and as a deserving recipient of the nation's admiration.
Author: James Randi
Publisher:
Published: 1995
Total Pages: 312
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →An encyclopedia of the occult and supernatural, covering such topics as astrology, the Bermuda Triangle, crystal power, the Shaman, and tarot cards.
Author: Robert Silverberg
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
Published: 2007-06-01
Total Pages: 282
ISBN-13: 9780803259898
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →As if history and nature had not provided wonders enough, through the ages humans themselves have contrived more marvels to deceive one another. Sometimes they have concocted evidence when none was available to prove pet theories; sometimes their intention has been to impress or defraud; sometimes they have acted merely for sport. ø Robert Silverberg tells the stories of a baker's dozen of these scientific hoaxers in a lively, good-humored book that ranges through time and across continents. Here are perpetual-motion machines and space rockets, men on the moon and serpents in the sea. The rogues? gallery is a varied one: Dr. Mesmer, who cast his hypnotic spell on eighteenth-century Paris; Charles Dawson, whose Piltdown Man challenged evolution; Dr. Cook, with his tale of ?discovering? the North Pole; and many others. ø These are fascinating stories and more than just entertainment. The author explains the scientific background against which the hoaxes appeared and the detective work that led to their exposure. The schemers teach us to be alert, to challenge the evidence, and to appreciate the healthy skepticism that characterizes the scientific method.
Author: Gordon Stein
Publisher:
Published: 1996
Total Pages: 902
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal contains over 90 articles by more than 50 experts on topics including the strictly paranormal (psychokinesis, channeling, levitation, astrology, phrenology, palmistry); the historical (mediums, psychic research, alchemy, Houdini); the philosophical (miracles, survival of death, reincarnation); and work on investigatory photography, statistics, the media and the Bermuda Triangle. In his foreword, Carl Sagan says, "I wish [this book] were on the shelves of every newspaper editorial desk and every television newsroom, to encourage more skeptical backbone in reporting . . . . [I]n school libraries so that children would have some counterbalance to the many paranormal and mystical claims in our society."
