Did Adam and Eve Have Navels? Subtitled: “Discourses on Reflexology, Numerology,
Urine Therapy, and Other Dubious Subjects.” By Martin Gardner; published by
Norton in 2000. Copies are readily available at $10 to $20.
Martin Gardner (born
21 October 1914, in Tulsa, Oklahoma; died 22 May 2010, in Norman, Oklahoma) was
the long-time (25 years) author of the Scientific
American column “Mathematical Games.” He was also a frequent contributor to
The Skeptical Inquirer. Gardner was a prolific
writer and there are numerous books by him. This book collects a number of his
columns, mostly from The Skeptical
Inquirer. One of his long-term missions in life was to debunk bogus science
and expose frauds, such as the famous spoon-bender, Uri Geller. This book is
wide-ranging, and I especially enjoyed: “The Great Egg-Balancing Mystery”; “Zero-Point
Energy and Harold Puthoff”; “Claiborne Pell, Senator [Rhode Island] from Outer
Space”; “Thomas Edison, Paranormalist”; “Isaac Newton, Alchemist and
Fundamentalist.” It is interesting that while Senator Pell was a believer in
psychic phenomena and had a Geller-bent spoon hanging on his office wall, he
was also a six-term Senator and introduced the bill that led to Pell Grants. I
picked this book up to read and its next stop will be in a donation to our local
Friends of the Library.
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Blues of a Lifetime Subtitled: “The Autobiography of Cornell
Woolrich.” Edited, annotated, and with an introduction by Mark T. Bassett;
published by Bowling Green State University Popular Press in 1991. The book was
simultaneously issued in hardback and trade paperback. The print run of hard
covers was probably small, and this is a difficult book to find in collectible
condition. Copies have probably gone to the libraries of collectors of
Woolrich's books.
Woolrich (born
Cornell George Hopley-Woolrich on 4 December 1903 in New York City , died there on 25 September
1968) lived a strange and somewhat mysterious life. Except for a period spent
in Mexico
with his father during his youth, he lived much of his life in NYC. He was a
long-time resident of several hotels and lived with his mother until she died
in 1957. He attended Columbia
University Hollywood
but the exact dates are not clear. He wrote as Cornell Woolrich, William Irish,
and George Hopley. Many of his short stories and mysteries were adapted into film noir screenplays. A short story,
“It Had to be Murder,” led to Hitchcock’s movie Rear Window. His “Black” novels are the most coveted by collectors
and include: The Bride Wore Black, Black
Alibi, The Black Angel, and three others. Collectible copies of the early
“Black” mysteries, in original dust jackets, are scarce and usually command
prices of $1000 and up.
