As science progresses, anomalies inevitably arise -- phenomena that mainstream science has difficulty explaining and that sometimes run distinctly counter to established beliefs.
In this well-reasoned survey of the borderland regions of science, Henry Bauer shows that while many anomalous claims have proven spurious, some phenomena that most scientists scoffed at turned out to be genuine, like ball lightning and meteorites.
According to Bauer, science has progressed largely because of the recurrence of anomalies and the willingness of investigators to pursue unpopular areas of inquiry.
"Science as a whole can benefit from serious anomalistics, if only through making clearer in which areas our knowledge remains notably incomplete," he explains.
"Scientists and students of science know the truth of the aphorism that it is less important for science to find answers than to find the right questions to ask. Anomalistics, through its persistent attention to what science does not yet know, offers a rich collections of intriguing questions."