Are Universes Thicker Than Blackberries? by Martin Gardner, W. W. Norton, $25.95, ISBN 0393057429 Reviewed by Hazel Muir
CELEBRATED writer Martin Gardner must be losing count 鈥� after all he has written more than seventy books to date. His latest is a compilation of articles he penned for The Skeptical Inquirer, deftly debunking everything from bogus medicinal remedies to psychic charlatans.
Gardner grapples with the notion of whether or not there are zillions of other universes, giving cosmologists a rap on the knuckles for their wilder speculations, and whether time can run backwards. One chapter rips apart absurd claims about Freudian sex symbolism in fairy tales like 鈥淟ittle Red Riding Hood鈥�.
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Are Universes Thicker Than Blackberries? also recycles Gardner鈥檚 articles from other publications, such as book reviews he wrote for the Los Angeles Times. Then there is short fiction, mathematical puzzles, essays on religion and even parodies of poems. They are all nice to dip into, and Gardner鈥檚 insight and clarity across the huge range of topics is awesome. But why lump these articles together, without any attempt to weave in some kind of thread? Random recycling might be irresistibly easy, but unfortunately it doesn鈥檛 make for unforgettable books.