Provides an overview of over 100 assessment instruments in the area of child health psychology. Domains include General Illness, Stress & Coping, Attitudes & Beliefs, Pediatric Pain and Childhood Injury, Quality of Life, Health-related Knowledge, and Parent/Family/Healthcare Professional. For each item, information is provided on format, administration, scoring, psychometrics, how to obtain a manual, and comments from professionals. A well-written, useful tool by Drs. Rodrigue, Geffken, and Streisand. Necessary for researchers in pediatric psychology research.

This is a good book if you are into this sort of thing. Especially if you are a beginer.

Have you ever noticed those documentary style shows on The History Channel or watched an NBC special on the supernatural or something of the sort and noticed the lack of any objective or sceptical voice when it comes to the supposed prophecies of Nostradamus?Of course any sceptical or reasonable voice would expose the patent nonsense for what it is and that would not make good television,now would it?This state of things has gone on far too long and it is about time someone peeled back the layers of nonsense that has enveloped Nostradamus over the centuries.It is fairly obvious from the get go when you read Nostradamus that the man was as all the other jokesters,hucksters and frauds before him,but since his death he has been credited for predicting every major happening of the last 400 years.Randi makes it very apparent that every generation takes old prophecy and applies it to contemporary events without the least bit of intellectual honesty.Ultimately though I don't think this book or a 100 others like it will make the least bit of difference.People want to believe that they are living at a turning point in history, and whatever prophecy they have to wildly and laughably misinterpret in order to convince themselves of it cannot and will not be swayed by any rational arguments.I'm afraid the irrational is something we just have to accept as an unvanquishable part of the human psyche.

As the reviewers below note, anyone who has ever read a magazine article or watched a TV documentary about "the uncanny predictions of Nostradamus" should be handed a copy of this book. What's more, any library that stocks Nostradamus' quatrains or literature that credulously promotes him as a magical seer has a positive duty to set this book alongside them as a rational antidote. The evidence Randi sets forth devastates sixth centuries of myth, hype and propaganda surrounding Nostradamus' supposed prognosticatory gifts, and convincingly delineates him as the canny con artist he was.

Think you know Nostradamus? Think again. A great deal of research went into writing this book, and it shows. Randi provides an exhaustive history of Nostradamus (and his time) as both a healer and a prophet. Randi informs readers how astrology and magic influenced royalty and peasants alike during Nostradamus' time. Randi provides his own interpretations of the 10 most famous quatrains, and see how other "expert" interpreters wildly alter the meaning to fit major events. Don't buy any other Nostradamus book until you've read this one. It's a real eye opener.

Ambivalence surrounds me when I attempt to review this book. As someone who learned arithmetic in the pre-calculator days, many of the ideas in this book bring back deep memories. One of my favorite things to do when in my teen years and later was to keep track of the items in the grocery cart and estimate the total cost. It was considered a failure when the guess and true total differed by more than $0.25. While this skill did succeed in amazing people, I cannot recall a single instance where it actually was financially beneficial. And eventually I gave it up, going on to mathematics and computers.
But those days are gone, and calculators (computers) do free the mind for other things. So the question becomes, is it beneficial to read books of this type and learn the "lost" art of estimation? The history of mathematics informs us that early mental manipulation of numbers is a strong indicator of the future development of mathematical ability. Gauss and Hardy are two excellent examples of this. However, in later years Hardy in particular looked down on those who were mere number crunchers.
Which leads to the clearest use for the techniques demonstrated in this book, namely to instruct children in the mental manipulation of symbols. By having young minds compete against a calculator, mental techniques are developed that most likely cannot be created any other way. And those methods are excellent training for future careers in the quantitative sciences. And this book does an excellent job in introducing these "tricks." All are clearly explained and detailed solutions to the problems are in the back of the book. Anyone wishing to learn how to perform efficient mental computations will find what they are looking for.
If your goal is to teach or learn how to perform calculations in your head, then this book is for you. However, one should make an effort to keep everything in perspective. The ability to perform mental arithmetic should be considered as a step toward mathematical ability and not a stand-alone indicator of such skill.

(Published in "Journal of Recreational Mathematics" - reprinted with permission.)

He encontrado el libro muy útil , entretenido , y facil de leer.
Muy recomendable para iniciarse en el cálculo mental.

A truly amazing insight into various ways to mystify others with seemingly impossible mathematical challenges. Learn how to determine the day someone was born on, or guess the missing number in the answer to a multiplication problem. This book provides you with insight to the fun (yes... fun) side of math. You will be greatly impressed by the tricks to amaze your friends and make math interesting

The world of faith healing is a con man's paradise. The potential clients are already fervent believers in miracles and the supernatural as it is; when they fall sick, they have the additional psychological need to believe they can be cured.

It is a small wonder that, with such a willingness to believe in miracles, the "faith healers" can get their gullible public to believe anything. Randi shows with great detail, documenting every step with evidence, what such gullibility does. Here some of the examples (the details, names, and dates are all in the book:)

1) The healer can easily get them to believe that they knows their name, occupation, and medical condition because God told them this information. In reality, they get the information by a variety of other methods, including the use of a tiny radio operated by the healer's wife, as in the case of Peter Popoff.

2) The healer can get them to believe the blind people "seeing" and the lame people "walking" were healed by miracelous means. In reality, they are shills, or plants, paid by the "healer" to pretend to be "cured".

3) The healer can get them to believe that, if they send him money and a request for a prayer, he will pray for them personally. In reality, the money is pocketed by the healer and the request for prayers thrown in the garbage.

4) The healer can get them to believe that buying "blessed" water, or earth, or communion wafers from him for a 10,000% markup will grant them health and good luck.

5) Worse of all, the healer can get them to believe that they are "healed" of cancer, or diabetes, or whatever, so they can discontinue their conventional treatement. So they do so - and, of course, they die.

All this, and much more, is documented in great detail in this chilling book. Peter Popoff, in particular, is shown to be not only a con man, but a stupid and vengeful con man. After Randi exposed the fact that his "information from God" actually comes from his wife backstage, Popoff hatched a "cunning plan" to get Randi in jail. He would send a few of his goons to break into his (Popoff's) warehouse, "steal" books, and them Popoff would blame Randi for the crime. Well, they tried to do this... but the people Popoff sent to "rob" the warehouse couldn't break the warehouse windows by throwing stones at them. So these rocket scientists went inside and *broke the windows from that direction*, so that *all the broken glass was on the outside of the warefhouse*. So much for framing Randi! As he notes in his book, "the three stoogers couldn't have done it better".

The one problem with this book is that it needs updating: it ends in the mid-eighties. But except for that, it is highly recommended.

One thing about a con game, the people who fall for them get very defensive. They refuse to believe the man outside the bank with the bank examiner's badge stole the money they withdrew from their account, thinking the Feds needed it for evidence against a bank employee. Faith healing is a con game, with the same willing victims. Even honest people think that giving a woman dying of stomach cancer hope is a good thing (because some cancers do reverse themselves when the immune system kicks in, and the immune system is controlled by our beliefs/attitudes in ways that can't be written down in textbooks.) Randi did some personal investigation. He interviewed the woman who stood up from her wheelchair and started to walk, and found she had walked into the crusade on her own. An usher thought she looked unsteady and asked her to sit in the wheelchair. Outside, Randi found a truck full of wheelchairs that the Faith Healer drove to every crusade, pulling the same scam. Whenever people ask us to have an open mind about "miracles," I would simply hand them Randi's book and ask them to learn some facts about how prevalent scams are in society. If you are sick and you have money, at some point you will be offered a miracle, providing you part with some cash. Yes, these guys are slick. They smile, quote the bible, and they seem more honest than average folks. If they didn't, they couldn't make a living as con men, could they?

It is almost impossible to read this book and not be outraged by the callous and reprehensible behavior of the so-called "faith healers." Not only does Randi reveal the methods and tricks used by these charlatans, but he provides example after example, including actual documents, to back up his findings. He demonstrates just how disgracefully these individuals use every underhanded trick they can come up with to wring money out of people who honestly believe that their hard-earned dollars are going to support a good cause; they believe they are doing the right thing, when in actuality their donations are used to purchase sports cars, clothes, and new homes for these supposed "men of God."

It is unfathomable how someone like the previous reviewer can accuse Randi of being jealous of the money earned by the "faith healers." Randi is unfailingly respectful of those whom he sees as honestly pursuing their convictions, even though he feels they are misguided; for example, he bears no ill will towards Earnest Angley, one of the most famous faith healers of all, because he feels that Angley is sincere. But as for the charlatans and deceivers who prey upon the weak, Randi spares none of his wrath, and rightfully so. Why shouldn't he take off the kid gloves when dealing with people so vile that they would exploit the honest religious faith of good people for their own monetary gain?

Does the previous reviewer feel that it is legitimate for a minister to mail out packages of kool aid, call it the "blood of Christ," and ask for donations in excess of $100 from simple, hard-working people? Is it legitimate for them to concoct one so-called "crisis" after another in their ministry, in order to solicit funds which will go not towards any good cause, but rather, to support the extravagant lifestyle of the "minister?"

This book has nothing to do with "the power of faith;" it is about dishonesty and criminal behavior being perpetrated by frauds. And in spite of what the reviewer below has to say, Randi shows very clearly, with exhaustive examples, that such faith healing does NOT work.

Thanks again, Randi, for having the courage to stand up to evil.

I agree with James Randi's train of thought. It's not that I'm saying that unusual phenomenon doesn't exist, its just that I think that in a lot of cases, there are more likely reasons for certain occurrances than, say, the ghost of a thirteenth century slave. I am certainly pleased that there are people like James Randi out there who have studied the tricks that many people who claim to have special powers employ to fool people who, in many cases, are desparate people looking anywhere to find certain information about missing family members and loved ones. I feel that this unfortunate group will be even more expoited, especially in light of the 911 attacks.
That being said, however, I have to say this is a poorly written book. People who agree with Randi's position will probably give it a high rating, but even these people will probably agree that the book is heavily biased. He basically calls people who doesn't see his point of view stupid. It seems he has a great deal of anger against these flim-flam artists, and he is lasing out at them in this book. If I were a person who believed in the supernatural, I would probably get tired of being called stupid and wouldn't finish the book.
What I am really looking for from someone like James Randi is a book that would be psychic friendly, a book that I could give to my friends who believe in the supernatural for them to read without getting offended. This is where this book fails MISERABLY, and this is why I give it only three stars. People who are confused and looking for some helpful information to guide them in one direction or the other simply won't read this book. They will immediately tune out the name calling.
There was actually a TV program(Nova or Discovery) with Randi in it that was incredibly well balanced and fair. Perhaps in the future, with the goal of luring more people over to his unique stand on this topic, he could write a book like that TV program.

Randi is not only a professional conjurer, but also serves as an individual dedicated to exposing the illegitimacy of parapsychology, and other forms of pseudoscientific/supernatural beliefs held by people. Confidence in his affirmation that any form(s) of parapsychology, and many other unexplainable phenomena that are widely believed to be true are in fact not, is backed up by his offer of now $1 million. This book is a collection of Randi's encounters of that very group of individuals that claim to posses the supernatural abilities in question. The basic thesis of this book is that these supernatural phenomenas do not exist and their occurrences are quite explainable. The responsibility then, is rests on both the scientific community and ourselves, to not fall victim to their ability to deceive.

Randi does well in keeping the content light and relatively easy to read. His light sarcasm well reflects his lack of respect for false claims of the supernatural and other pseudoscientific beliefs. While the book consists mostly of accounts of objective observation, there are modest stints of ideas and opinions of the author, which keeps the book accessible to readers not looking to have to bore through only scientific account and analysis. The loose usage of the word(s) damn/damning to present ideas of the corruption of scientific ideals was amusing. Randi also does well in keeping his book for the most part, free of religion and its influence in science; rather, he chooses to focus on scientific explanation of respective phenomena.

A problem with the book was that Randi did not delve very deeply into the reasons behind the phenomena of those purporting evidence of the supernatural. Sparsely inserted throughout the book, the rest of reading consists of the actual encounters and experiments of Randi to discount the claims. When Randi does make a point to examine the reason behind some of the fallacies, they are short and concise. Some of these points include the need of the individual to believe in his/her's or other's "powers", economic attraction, or poor scientific investigation.

Another problem had of the author was his tendency to indulge in complicated details of the experiment. While one versed and knowledgeable in statistical charting and mathematical analysis may have understood the chapter on the fallacies of biorhythms in one reading, I found it difficult to fully grasp the ideas presented. The same went for the analysis of the Cottingley Fairies, where his careful explanation of the different uses of cameras and effects got to be drudging to read. Sometimes, the technical analysis of the many cases encountered by Randi were too drawn out and detailed, or boring, for an average reader to follow. Some are looking for more of a quick overview along with basic explanations of the hoaxes.

It is in these point that this book may not be for everyone. Detailed descriptions of procedures and outcomes of experiments impedes the flow of the book as a whole. Also a lack of psychological and social explanations and ramifications of such pseudosciences and paranormal phenomena may leave some desiring a reallocation of emphasis; from the book's strong emphasis on detail of the actual experiments to a more balanced approach, covering more explanation of root causes, and the ramifications of these delusions. As a whole, the book is witty and informative. It is amusing to read of failed ploys of trickery and manipulation. Essentially, we a have a text that serves as a directive for us to think for ourselves, and be skeptical and examine information that is given to us everyday. Yet, the book is written as if we think and know as Randi does, and this is where it fails to appeal and be accessible to everyone.

In this book, James Randi investigates claimed "paranormal" events from Uri Geller's "psychic" ability to UFOs, from astrology to dowsing, from spiritualism to remote viewing.

He shows conclusively and clearly what REALLY is behind these "paranormal" claims. There are the relatively innocent cases of wishful thinking, self-delusion and faulty experiments. But there are also the out-and-out frauds who use lies and trickery in an attempt to scam money from the gullible public.

Randi's book is both entertaining and educational: fun to read due to the author's brilliant style and dilligent research, and important to know for all of us who want to avoid ending up scammed - or, as Jonestown and Heaven's gate show, ending up dead.

James "The Amazing" Randi does not have much good to say about the charlatans who pedal their supernatural wares before the public. Unlike the books written by the credible, Randi provides many valuable accounts of how famous seers and magicians have hoodwinked the public.

Randi's research is sometimes flawed and his accounts sketchy, which leads me to reduce the rating I give for this book. For example, he does not realize that the Necronomicon was a Twentieth Century invention of horror author H.P. Lovecraft and he falsely implicates Increase Mather as a proponent of the Salem Witchcraft trials. (Increase was off in England when the whole thing started and was shocked to find it underway upon his return.) He is also coy about revealing details of certain trade secrets used by stage magicians and bunko spiritualists. These flaws detract from an otherwise marvellous and valuable reference.

James Randi is one of the most respected writers giving a skeptical view of claims of the paranormal. In this book, he covers a huge range of topics and hence cannot do any in detail. But there's enough on each topic so you have a single reference where you can do a quick check and then go to more detailed books (like some of Randi's others) for the topics about which you want more. This knowledge needs to get out - or people will go on believing the pseudoscience because there is a lack of alternative explanations. I hope Randi keeps writing and making a noise around the world on this crucial topic.

James Randi's encyclopedia is a fun, fun read. It's virtually a history of superstitious beliefs, as well as an overview of conjuring ("the art of seeming to perform genuine magic") and the basics of applying logic to illogical claims. The entries range from "Nessie" to "crop circles" to "thoughtography," and they are often peppered with hilarious asides. The entry on "om," for example, cites the Hindu notion that "whoever knows this syllable obtains whatever he wishes." "Well, now YOU know it, too," writes Randi. "Good luck." To be sure, the volume gets a bit tedious at times, but this has much more to do with the silly and unsubstantial nature of the subject matter than with Randi. In fact, it's almost a miracle that anyone can so entertainingly present material so inherently dry and silly. I say "almost" because, of course, miracles don't really exist. Oh, and Randi provides the best explanation of "parsimony" I have ever read. This perpetually maligned concept, better known as "Occam's razor," is here defined with clarity and completeness. Those who take this concept to mind and heart will have a kind of real-life talisman against irrational nonsense. The concept describes precisely what credulous believers in the occult do NOT do.

Rest assured that James Randi's curmudgeon persona is purely an act. A couple years ago, I had the pleasure of meeting this charming and gracious man in person, and I'm happy to say that a good amount of that charm finds its way into the entries. Very highly recommended!

Read my lips: "NON-TEACHING". Yeah! This book tells you some conjuring tricks (how they supposedly appear before the audience) used by who and when but it does not provide adequate information sufficient to know how to perform the tricks. In other words, this is a "ZERO SECRETS revealed" book.

Read the whole book and you will still unable to learn any secrets, unable to perform the tricks mentioned in the book. This is more like a story book.

Lots of people write better stories than Randi. Pretty useless book. Don't waste your time and money on this one. If I could, I would give ZERO stars for this book.

There are no tricks in this book, but lots of great information about magic and magicians. It is beautifully illustrated to boot.

... I bought this book about six or seven years ago after reading it at the library. It is honestly one of the best books EVER written on the subject. The people that didn't like it were expecting James Randi to give out the secrets of magic, which understandably (and I believe correctly), he does not do because of the nature of his profession. I agree with him not to give out the secrets of many years of hard work, and commend him on his knowledge of magic, both past and present.

This book is meant as a history of the craft and not as a "learn magic tricks book". If you would care to look at the cover of the book, in not so small print it states "Being a Definitive History of the Venerable Arts of Sorcery, Prestidigitation, Wizardry, etc.." In no place on the cover does it mention learning magic tricks or revealing the secrets of the trade.

So please, for all the conjurers, magic historians, and anyone else who enjoys the craft in this world. You CAN learn about magic and enjoy this book immensely. I think it's safe to say that you will.