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Skeptical Fiction

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  • 22-12-2008 11:54am
    #1
    pH
    Registered Users Posts: 4,188 ✭✭✭


    I'm reading and enjoying Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Duck by Christopher Brookmyre, and while Brookmyre is never going to win the Booker prize for his writing, it's an enjoyable skeptical romp. (I've no problem with paranormal elements in fiction, I'm a great fan of various horror genres, science fiction and fantasy. However it's refreshing once in a while to read something that appears to be set in this universe).

    [Spoilers - I guess even mentioning that some book or film has a "rational" explanation could be construed as a spoiler, but apart from putting the whole post in spoiler tags I really can't see any way to avoid this]

    So I guess what I'm looking for is more Scooby-Doo, less X Files - the opposite to stuff like "The Prestige".

    So what TV/Films/Books can people recommend? Has anyone seen any of The Mentalist?

    I know there's lots of stuff that is strictly rational and contains no supernatural elements, what I'm looking for is stuff with paranormal elements but with a rationalist/skeptical undercurrent.


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    #2
    King Mob
    Registered Users Posts: 25,236 ✭✭✭✭King Mob


    Jonathon Creek sorta does that in a way.

    Impossible crimes that have a rational explanation.


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    #3
    davros
    Closed Accounts Posts: 857 ✭✭✭davros


    I know it's really obvious... Sherlock Holmes. Ironically written by a believer in all sorts of claptrap. The makers of the House, MD TV series took Holmes and recast him as a medical diagnostician. I can recommend House for fans of the rational.


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    #4
    King Mob
    Registered Users Posts: 25,236 ✭✭✭✭King Mob


    davros wrote: »
    I know it's really obvious... Sherlock Holmes. Ironically written by a believer in all sorts of claptrap. The makers of the House, MD TV series took Holmes and recast him as a medical diagnostician. I can recommend House for fans of the rational.
    I heard that Aurthur Conan Doyle wrote Holmes as a caricature of people who are too logical. I may be wrong though.


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    #5
    davros
    Closed Accounts Posts: 857 ✭✭✭davros


    King Mob wrote: »
    I heard that Aurthur Conan Doyle wrote Holmes as a caricature of people who are too logical. I may be wrong though.
    If he is a caricature, he is one who is always proved right in the end. As I heard it, Conan Doyle based the character on someone he knew from the medical profession.

    The Father Brown stories by G.K. Chesterton also celebrate the power of intelligent deduction.


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    #6
    Hivemind187
    Registered Users Posts: 5,021 ✭✭✭Hivemind187


    The Hippopotamus by Stephen Fry. It also happens to be hilarious.

    The Liar by Stephen Fry. It too happens to be hilarious.


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