Books: Voodoo Science By Robert Park

Not one to suffer fools gladly, Park takes aim at what he calls "pathological science, junk science, pseudoscience and fraudulent science." He has targets aplenty. From homeopathy to therapeutic touch, from UFO myths to cold fusion, from self-deluding scientists to scientifically illiterate legislators, all are subjected to his penetrating critiques. A physics professor at the University of Maryland, and director of the Washington office of the American Physical Society, Park has honed his expository skills in a host of newspaper articles and TV appearances, as well as in his influential weekly e-mail newsletter, What's New. His lucid and often amusing analyses make a powerful case for rational thinking.

--By Leon Jaroff