alas, some are not ready to be confronted w/ such challenging ideas. fort's response from the literati of the time was not so different as some of those nay sayers here. i certainly don't *believe* fort's ideas (and neither did he - he says so). it is very difficult to grasp what he is getting at, but oh so hilarious (though subtly).

fort's point, if i can be so bold, is summed up perfectly in the quote from heisenberg, "not only is the universe stranger than we think, its stranger than we can think"

how much of the universe do we understand? 95% or 5%? from what i understand, "dark" matter and "dark" energy make up 95% of the known universe.

fort's point was to show how limiting the *established, scientific dogma* can be in allowing new perspectives into the fold. and 'damning' data that doesn't fit the current model to a limbo of nonexistence.

the world is stranger than we think. a LOT stranger. we surround ourselves with comfortable assurances and wrap ourselves in a contemporary cosmology that excludes what came before in favor of the current fad. we believe this 'fad' is IT. this time we have got it all figured out...and whatever doesn't fit this model is excluded. he's not down on science, scientists or the scientific method. he's down on BELIEF.

forts books are as much about the pathology of human belief as they are about reality.

CAVEAT LECTOR

the reading of this book will change the way you think. still, it is possible to read it wrongly. i would recommend, that an ernest reader approach fort w/ a mind open, yet critical mind. w/ that, i assure you will find a sly, subtle whit, tongue deeply enmeshed in cheek and much writ between the lines.

"Best books ever," indeed. Way more than a collection of anomalous facts (which is more than can be said for FT, unfortunately). Brilliant satirical exposition on the constraints of western scientific materialism. Required reading! Watch out for crumbling paradigms...

"My own acceptance is that ours is an organic existence, and that our thoughts are the phenomena of its eras, quite as its rocks and trees and forms of life are..." CHF