Review by Choice Review
Randi, a magician who has devoted much effort to attacking contemporaries he sees as pandering to human credulity, turns here to a much earlier case. Nostradamus (1503-1566) was a French physician and astrologer whose predictions gained him great fame during his lifetime, so that a surprising amount of detail is available about his career. Randi presents a picture of Nostradamus as employing techniques of confusion and deception familiar to critical observers of present-day prognosticators. A sample of Nostradamus's supposed longer-term predictions, taken seriously by many "Nostradamians" even today, are carefully analyzed. The outcome is a persuasive picture of Nostradamians as deceiving themselves in their interpretation of obscurities. The book should be a valuable antidote for this variety of irrationality, and is accessible to all lower-division undergraduate readers. -I. L. Child, Yale University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this breezy but effective biographical study, magician and self-appointed debunker Randi takes aim at Michel de Notredame, better known as Nostradamus, the famous 16th-century French physician, astrologer and seer. Commentators claim that Nostradamus's cryptic verses accurately prophesied such events and personalities as Napoleon, Hitler, the French Revolution, the Great Fire of London and the invention of the Montgolfier balloon. Nonsense, argues Randi, and his meticulous readings of key quatrains make a potent case for his contention that the seer's alleged clairvoyant abilities rest on translators' embellishments, interpreters' excessive reliance on anagrams and ``hidden'' names, distortions and wishful thinking. Despite its overkill in challenging all prophecy and the occult in general, this hard-hitting critique throws down a gauntlet that no one with a serious interest in Nostradamus can ignore. Photos not seen by PW. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
In the 16th century, Michel de Notredame (i.e., Nostradamus) captivated the Queen of France with some 940 prediction-packed quatrains, and these predictions continue to intrigue. Randi thinks he used ``time-honored rules'' like these: Describe things that have happened in the past. Make them a little vague. Put the date in the future. Something like them will happen again. Add some events everyone knows are very likely. Then add many, many highly improbable events; one or two will come true. Randi is a magician and an old hand at debunking who knows that supermarket tabloid seers do well when just over one percent of their guesses are right. He also tells us a lot--and tells it amusingly--about 16th-century medicine, the Inquisition, and all sorts of soothsayers. There is lots of fun in this book, something most of its numerous competitors lack, but readers may still wonder why Nostradamus triumphed over his rivals (who numbered 30,000, according to Randi), how a lightly converted Jew escaped the prophet-hating Inquisition, and how he still manages to stay ahead of the others.-- Leslie Armour, Univ. of Ottawa (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by School Library Journal Review
YA-- An in-depth analysis and research into the writings of Nostradamus and his followers. Randi investigates and exposes the questionable and sometimes fraudulent claims of those who profess to possess supernatural powers and/or perform supernatural works. He explores the life and times of Nostradamus, examining the conditions that pervaded the lives of ordinary people and of the nobility. He discusses how the belief in astrology became widespread and popularized. The integration of the historical perspective makes the book interesting and informative. In addition to examining the writings pertaining to Nostradamus, the author references other seers throughout history.-- Jeanette M. Lippencott, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
The legend of the renowned 16th-century prophet is permanently debunked by master debunker, prestidigitator, and author Randi (Flim-Flam!, 1980). Gleeful is the word to describe Randi's enthusiasm as he leads the reader on a merry chase through the library stacks in a search for the origins and validity of the Nostradamus legend. Establishing the seer's credentials as a bright student and capable physician in 16th-century Provencal, Randi then describes the growth of Michel de Notredame's fame--from his publication of a series of popular almanacs to that of Centuries, the predictive poetry that earned him a place in Queen Catherine's protected circle of astrological advisors and has kept ""Believers"" searching for hidden prophetic messages to this day. Avoiding the issue of whether or not Nostradamus was a deliberate poseur, Randi prefers to pounce on the prophet's admirers for embroidering on the original verse, inventing new quatrains, and otherwise imposing their own interpretations on highly ambiguous phrases in an effort to force them to match up to actual, later events. Randi points out that only if one believes hard enough can ""Hister""--a region of Provence mentioned in one quatrain--become ""Hitler""; Mont Gaulsier become the hot-air-balloon-inventor Montgolfiere; and the entire Quatrain 2--51, which probably refers to Queen Mary's contemporaneous burning of Protestants in England, instead predict the 18th century's Great Fire of London. Randi's lists of Believers' heavily altered anagrams and impossibly convoluted mathematical equations make for particularly high comedy, as does his advice on how you, too, can become a prophet in eight easy steps. Randi's own conjurer, style razzle-dazzle aside, he convinces--in this case at least--that Nostradamus' sleeve, not his own, needs checking. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Library Journal Review
Review by School Library Journal Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
