New Books and Media

From the publisher's website: In Martial Arts and the Paranormal, Melvyn J. Willin, PhD, brings together decades of research to examine one of the most intriguing—and controversial—areas of martial arts. Drawing on historical sources, scientific studies, eyewitness testimony, and the experiences of practitioners, he explores the relationship between martial arts, consciousness, spirituality, and claims of paranormal phenomena.

The book investigates topics ranging from ESP, psychokinesis, meditation, qigong, acupuncture, and altered states of consciousness to stage deception, suggestion, placebo effects, and the psychology behind remarkable demonstrations. It considers the teachings of traditions such as Zen Buddhism, Taoism, Shinto, and Yoga alongside modern neuroscience, parapsychology, and experimental research.

Further information at the publisher's website: White Crow Books.

From the publisher's website: What is consciousness? Is it merely a product of the brain or might it pervade the fabric of the universe? Could quantum mechanics, higher dimensions or even the entire cosmos hold the key to understanding this most fundamental of mysteries? And what of phenomena that seem to challenge our conventional view of reality? While sceptics dismiss experiences like telepathy, reincarnation and even free will as mere illusions, mounting evidence suggests they may offer a glimpse into a deeper and interconnected mind.

What is Your Mind? offers a tour of the most groundbreaking theories of consciousness from fields such as neuroscience, mathematics and physics. With a foreword by leading noetic scientist Dean Radin this book explores a range of eclectic ideas – from the scientific to the spiritual – that promise to redefine how we understand our very existence. More than just a roadmap to the future of mind, this is an examination of the profound implications of a shared consciousness to the survival of our species.

Further information at the publisher's website: Imprint Academic.

From the publisher's website: From the spectral raps of the Fox Sisters to the rise of the Ouija board, Brandon Hodge guides readers through two centuries of spiritual innovation—exploring the haunted technologies born from our longing to pierce the veil between life and death. A unique fusion of esoteric history, visual culture, and ghost story, this richly illustrated, large-format volume reveals the occult ingenuity of mediums, inventors, and mystics who crafted writing planchettes, talking boards, spirit trumpets, and other strange apparatus to reach beyond the grave. With original photography, archival ephemera, and gripping historical narratives, Supernatural Machines brings to light a forgotten chronicle of technological mysticism. Each of its 14 chapters is a portal to the past, a captivating read accompanied by stunning photographs, detailed illustrations, and haunting accounts that breathe life into the arcane artifacts that have captivated the imagination of our ancestors and ourselves.

Further information at the publisher's website: Insight Editions.

From the publisher's website: Exploring the frontier where mind and matter converge. Keith Thompson investigates apports—objects that appear, vanish, or move without known cause—and situates them within a broader landscape of paranormal events. Through archival research, eyewitness accounts, and case studies, he explores materializations, ancestral dreams, healing visitations, intelligent UFOs, and guiding apparitions, suggesting a reality where mind, meaning, and matter intimately intertwine.

Further information is available at the publisher's website: Bear & Company,

From the publisher's website: Neuroscientist Richard Silberstein surveys cutting-edge research on telepathy, precognition, and other psi phenomena that defy materialist explanations. Introducing neutral monism, he proposes that consciousness and physical reality arise from a deeper, unified substrate, showing how focused intention, collective mind, and anomalous cognition can influence events and transform approaches to healing and global challenges.

Further information at the publisher's website: Park Street Press.

From the publisher's website: The disciplines of psychiatry, psychology, psychical research and parapsychology have emerged from the same foundational roots of Euro-American philosophy and science. Dr. Carlos S. Alvarado's work presents a unique glimpse into the pre-history, foundations and evolution of these disciplines before developing their distinctive identities as we know them today.

Further information at the publisher's website: Bloomsbury Academic.

From the publisher's website: Telepathy in the Clinical Process explores telepathy as it appears in the psychoanalytic process, both in contemporary practice and in historical contexts.

The contributors explore striking dynamic and clinical data in considering how telepathy can express itself in transference and countertransference, its profound effect on psychoanalysts, and its frequent role in helping patients in treatment. From a wide range of theoretical persuasions – relational, Bionian, Winnicottian, contemporary Freudian – each author explores this phenomenon. Focused on the clinical process, the book contains examples from the contributors’ own practice throughout.

Telepathy in the Clinical Process will be of great interest to psychoanalysts in practice and in training. It will also be relevant to academics and students of psychoanalytic studies and parapsychology.

Further information at the publisher's website: Routledge.

From the back cover: It’s the strangest true story ever told — kept secret for more than a century. In 1901, over the course of three days, the inhabitants of a small French town saw extraordinary anomalies in the sky — a spectacle more astounding than any UFO sighting, a phenomenon so inexplicable as to make the so-called “miracle of Fatima” seem comparatively mundane. A respected scholar took depositions shortly after the events. The witnesses were numerous, and their testimony provided strong evidence that a paranormal event of unprecedented scope had occurred in Normandy. But when the story became linked to an explosive spy scandal, the authorities hid the facts.
 

From the publisher's website: From the author-illustrator of the bestselling The League of Lady Poisoners, this lavishly illustrated treasury considers these haunting questions: What are spirits? Where can we find them? And how can we contact them? In answer, Lisa Perrin recounts, with respectful sincerity and a healthy dose of humor—complemented by clever Victorian-inspired portraits, icons, and lettering—the advent of Spiritualism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The book spotlights the era's larger-than-life characters who, unlike many Spiritualist mediums who shared their gifts privately with clients, found their way onto stages and into newspaper headlines, and ultimately explores the deeper question of why the living world is endlessly trying to connect with the dead.

Further information at the publisher's website: Chronicle Books.

From the publisher's website: Join paranormal researcher Richard Estep as he plunks you into the middle of the unsettling action of captivating true ghost stories and encounters with the supernatural from throughout American history. From 1776 and Boston’s Granary Burying Ground to the spirits that arose after the brutality of the Civil War, the whispered voices heard in the White House, and eerie tales of dead celebrity sightings, United States of Ghosts: A History of America’s Hauntings delves into the true eerie tales from both historical documents and personal accounts...

Further information at the publisher's website: Visible Ink Press.

Review by Karen Stollznow.

From the publisher's website: Silver Birch’s Medium emerges as a vivid, deeply researched portrait of Maurice Barbanell, the journalist‑turned‑medium whose voice helped shape twentieth‑century Spiritualism. Drawing on years of dedicated research, archivist and historian Nick Richbell reconstructs Barbanell’s journey from East London idealist to the steady hand behind Psychic News and the earthly channel for Silver Birch. Despite his profound influence, Maurice Barbanell has remained an overlooked figure in the development of Modern Spiritualism.

Further information at the publisher's website: White Crow Books.

From the publisher's website: Explore the space between full paranormal belief and cynical skepticism in this thought-provoking compendium of supernatural theories and ideas. The concept of and the belief in ghosts transcends every culture and tradition, leading one to suspect there may be some underlying fact behind the mythology. Rather than prove or disprove the existence of ghosts, J. Allan Danelek gives you a better perspective from which to consider the issue and decide for yourself.

Featuring case studies, hypotheses, and in-depth research, this book explores a wide variety of topics: the source of consciousness, the complex definitions of interactive and non-interactive manifestations, the psychology of ghosts, and the mechanics of a haunting. Discover tools of the ghost hunter's trade, delve into spirit communication techniques, and learn how to protect against evil entities. Along the way, you'll gain a greater appreciation of our mysterious world.

Further information at the publisher's website: Llewellyn.