Author: Henri Broch (Translated from the French by Bart K. Holland)
ISBN: 978-0-8018-9246-2
Publisher: The John Hopkins University Press

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In all likelihood many of us have witnessed or heard about so-called gifted individuals who have supernatural or paranormal powers and can perform all kinds of miracles including healing, communicating with the dead, seeing ghosts, predicting the future, dowsers,who have the power of wave detection, clairvoyants, who claim to have extrasensory perception, and many more. We also have probably heard about the Holy Shroud of Turin which is a linen cloth about 3'7” by about 14'2” that, according to tradition, was Christ's shroud after his crucifixion. Apparently, by some kind of a miracle, it has two imprints-front and back-of Christ. What is the truth behind these phenomena? How are so many seduced into believing this balderdash?

In order to be enlightened, I would strongly suggest you pick up a copy of Henri Broch's Exposed: Ouija, Firewalking, and Other Gibberish. Broch is a professor at the University of Nice, and he is also the co-author with Georges Charpak of Debunked! ESP, Telekinesis and Other Pseudoscience. According to Charpak's Forward to Exposed, Broch modus operandi is to “hunt down obscurantism in field of physical science,” and he goes onto to state that this is a great advance toward the preservation of the inherent right to human reason.

Throughout the book, Broch gives natural explanations for the so-called supernatural events and explains how these individuals are able to bamboozle and deceive their followers. His arguments are based on two principles of scientific examination of a phenomena. Firstly, he reminds us that the burden of the proof relies solely on the person who claims to have these extraordinary powers. It is not up to the critic or sceptic to prove that the claim is false. The claimant must prove his or her assertions is valid, however, very often he or she fails because he or she did not follow a rigorous protocol, or because the results did not show significant effects. And then again, we may be dealing with just plain fraud because the phenomena is fraudulent in the first place. Secondly is the principle of “Occam's razor,” that was established by a Franciscan professor of logic at Oxford, who set forth the requirement that “entities explaining a phenomenon must not be multiplied unnecessarily,” or as Broch explains, the simplest adequate explanation must be used. The result is that Broch presents valid arguments showing how supernatural or paranormal phenomena have ordinary, natural explanations.

What stands out in this book is that Broch allows the facts of his arguments to impress on their own, and they are impressive. Moreover, readers will be wowed by what he has dug up, although there will probably persist to exist hardcore believers in the supernatural, and I doubt very much if these individuals will ever be convinced otherwise. As for the structure of the book, it certainly is packed with details written by someone who knows what he is talking about. However, one comment I do have is that I believe the translation could use some work, as from time-to-time I had some difficulty in understanding the text. This may have been also due to my lack of a more profound understanding of science, which would probably have helped.