12 h 26 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 305 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 305 pagesAbout this book
What happens to the strange reports that science leaves outside the door?
In The Book of the Damned, Charles Fort gathers reports of coloured rain, unexplained lights, and objects falling from the sky. He draws them from newspapers and scientific journals, calling them the “damned”: the excluded. His question reaches beyond each odd event. Who decides which observations deserve a place in our picture of the world?
Fort turns this parade of puzzles into a sharp, often funny argument about knowledge and dogma. He offers guesses, including a place above us where lost things collect, but admits he does not fully believe his own explanations. The challenge is not to accept every strange report. It is to notice the habit of deciding what can count before looking.
What you’ll discover
- Rain that raises questions Explore reports of red, black, and other coloured rains, alongside the explanations offered for them.
- The excluded evidence Follow Fort through printed reports that challenge the boundaries of accepted scientific discussion.
- A strange place above Meet the Super-Sargasso Sea, Fort’s guess at a place where lost things gather.
- Doubt with a grin Enjoy a straight-faced joker whose sarcasm reaches even his own attempts at explanation.
- No final dividing line Consider intermediatism, Fort’s philosophy that questions sharp boundaries between the explained and unexplained.
Is it for you?
This book suits curious readers who enjoy odd facts, sceptical argument and playful prose, and anyone who wonders how experts decide what to ignore. It may frustrate readers who want tidy proof or a single clear theory.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Science works by excluding what does not fit
- Gather the data that others throw away
- Strange things fall from the sky
- A place above where lost things collect
- Nothing is final, not even Fort
- How the book has lasted and been judged
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The Book of the Damned
by Charles Fort· 1919
Reports of strange events challenge the boundaries of scientific knowledge.
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Language: Italiano
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
Science works by excluding what does not fit
Fort opens with the idea that gives the book its name. Every system of thought, he says, has a procession of things it refuses to admit. Science is no different. When a report does not fit the accepted picture, it is called a mistake, a hoax or a delusion, and it is dropped from the record.
He does not claim that scientists are fools or liars. His point is about how any large body of belief protects itself. A new fact that clashes with many old facts is easy to dismiss, because the old facts are well supported and the new one stands alone. So the odd report is shelved, and over time it is forgotten.
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The author
Charles Fort
1874–1932 · American writer on unexplained phenomena
Charles Fort was an American writer born in Albany, New York, in 1874. He lived in New York City and London. He collected reports of unexplained events and wrote The Book of the Damned (1919), New Lands (1923), Lo! (1931), and Wild Talents (1932). He died in New York City in 1932.
“A procession of the damned. By the damned, I mean the excluded.”
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What is The Book of the Damned about?
It is a collection of reports of strange events, such as coloured rains, falling objects and unexplained lights, that science had excluded. Fort uses them to question how scientific explanations are chosen and defended.
What does damned mean in The Book of the Damned?
Fort uses damned to mean excluded. The damned are facts and reports that did not fit accepted scientific views and were therefore dismissed, forgotten or explained away rather than examined.
Is The Book of the Damned a true story?
It is nonfiction, published in 1919, drawing on printed reports from newspapers and journals. Many of the reports were later explained or doubted, and Fort himself said he did not fully believe his own theories.
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