Essays debunk science fraud; Science Good, Bad and Bogus, by Martin Gardner. New York: Avon Books. 408 pp.

Martin Gardner, everybody's favorite mathematical puzzle spinner, has collected a number of his essays written over the past three decades. He is a member of a volunteer group known as the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Para-normal. Both the committee, and Gardner, make a valuable contribution to society in debunking pseudoscientific frauds and delusions through careful investigation.

While most of the essays deal with pseudoscience, a few tilt their lances against what Gardner considers to be exaggerated or distorted popularization of straight science. Here Carl Sagan, among others, takes a dubbing.

In short, Gardner shines a light of reason on a variety of fallacies, adhering to his dictum that the best antidote for nonsense is often just a good horse laugh.