I’m sure he has a lot of fans here
Very sad news. His lectures, his books, his exposes of all the fakers out there-he was a positive force in the world. I wonder how long it will take for one of the many frauds he exposed over the years try to claim they predicted his death?
I called it.
Where’s my prize money?
Someone’s going to have to go back and get a whole shitload of dimes.
I met him a long time ago at Delicious Orchards. He was a very nice guy from my brief meeting. He lived a few towns over from where I grew up.
I love the fact that he encouraged us to look upon charlatans for what they were.
(I moved this to the Cafe from MPSIMS)
Yeah he changed my life when I was just a kid. I’m glad he got to live so long and he seemed to live so honestly even when it made life harder for him.
The Abe Vigoda of the Illusionist set.
RIP.
Damn.
I grew up watching him first as a magician and escape artist on Wonderara. In those days he still had a Mephistophelean black goatee.
I next encountered him as the author of The Magic of Uri Geller, a book i re-read frequently. By now, he was white haired with a big bushy white beard.
Shortly afterwards I encountered him as a member of CSICOP, a contributor to Skeptical Inquirer, and author of Film Flam!
Ever since, I’ve caught him in The Skeptic, his website, his famous challenge, and in general skeptical events. A fascinating guy. I knew he was getting on in years, but he seemed capable of going on forever.
1.) Darn.
2.) Moving to CS was a bad call.
I like to think he’s looking down on us right now and…
Kidding, this really hit me. He taught me to think critically.
I admired him greatly, both for his intelligent skepticism, and his engaging personality.
Penn Jillette @pennjillette 3h
Goodbye to the truly Amazing James Randi, our inspiration, mentor and dear friend. We will love you forever.
Dude had a good run and I appreciate him going after those flim flam artists who preyed on others.
I have been a fairly confirmed skeptic since I was about 20, when the more I read about UFOs or Bigfoot, the less convinced I became there was any substance to it. I then discovered the group of scientists, magicians, and sci-fi authors, Randi amongst them, who regularly shot down all the pseudo-scientific nonsense.
Then I had my own experience that felt supernatural to me, which I couldn’t explain (an apparent shared dream) and emailed James Randi about it. Though he had no time for my nonsense, I nonetheless got a personal response from him. Terse in nature, but clear where I should look for explanation, that direct genuine response from the man himself was a new experience for me, which I have never forgotten.
Sad to see, but he had a good run. I went to a few TAMs and he was always an engaging presence. He played no small part in my skeptical mindset. There was something special about his simple methods of exposing charlatans. Although it makes sense in retrospect, it is counter-intuitive that magicians are the people best equipped for detecting and exposing frauds, even more so than scientists.
I’m sorry that he’s gone. He did a lot of good in this superstition-ridden world.
(In re the venue for this thread: though I guess he did do a fair amount of entertaining in his day, I’m skeptical (!) that he will be remembered primarily as an entertainer.)
I guess that depends on how you knew it? (I think the esteemed late Randi would’ve appreciated that comment.)
I saw him give a lecture a few years ago. He signed a role playing book for me. The page he signed was about Randi “The Amazing” James, who debunked phony psychics and trained the real ones to fight evil.
I met him on several occasions. He autographed one of his books for me at the 2006 TAM, and I interviewed for the position of executive director of JREF. (I didn’t get the job.)
A great man who did good work.
Saddened to hear this. An amazing guy.