Still ‘Amazing’: A Conversation with James Randi

Part 2

Part 2: The famous conjuror, investigator, and author—and founding fellow of CSICOP—sat down with Skeptical inquirer Editor Kendrick Frazier at CSICon Las Vegas 2016 for a live, ninety-minute onstage conversation. Here are excerpts.

Which of all of your books is your favorite and which is most successful?

Flim-Flam! was probably the most successful. Yes, with an exclamation point, please, and a hyphen. It’s very important. Yes, Flim-Flam! really is the most general book on my investigations of the paranormal and the supernatural claims that are still infesting our society today. It sold very, very well. And The Faith Healers was a great success for me too.

Tell us about your book that is completed, I understand, but not yet published, A Magician in the Laboratory. What is that about?

It’s going to deal with my visits to laboratories all over the world in almost every country in the world over these many years that I’ve had traveling. Where these scientists thought they had something discovered, something paranormal, something supernatural, whatever, I would go into the laboratories and show them where their errors were. They were not very happy about it.

Particularly in Russia. They were not happy about it at all, and I came in for all kinds of scolding. I was told by two of the scientists who were present, young fellows, months afterward I got letters from them saying that the man in charge of the whole thing said they would never let a magician in the laboratory again.

I showed them where they were so wrong. A magician showing scientists where they’re wrong? Come on, that’s not very logical at all. But I knew enough about science and about the way it works and doesn’t work. That’s the second thing you’ve got to know, is how it doesn’t work.