Probability proves your horoscope correct

A Nobel prize may not be essential to becoming a modern mystic, but it helps. Georges Charpak, the physics prizewinner in 1992, has co-authored a rapid guide to becoming a fakir or astrologer and making a fortune by bamboozling a gullible public.

His co-author, Henri Broch, who runs a paranormal research unit at Nice University, went through sessions of firewalking and tongue-piercing to prove that all mystic arts were based on trickery, natural circumstances or mathematical probability.

Devenez Sorciers, Devenez Savants (Become Wizards and Wise Men) is a best seller because so many want to learn telepathy, levitation, horoscope-casting, water divining and metal-bending.

Mr Charpak said his attempt to debunk mysteries by applying the laws of probability had left many unconvinced.

"I have been inundated with letters saying I interviewed the wrong astrologers from people who claim their personal fortune tellers had been right."

Fooling people is easy, he said: just generalise. When a single astral chart was used to define the "individual characters" of students, 69% were convinced it was accurate: a better result than analyses by professional psychologists.