New Books and Media

From the publisher's website: Over the past century and a half, a wealth of evidence has emerged that is consistent, at least, with the hypothesis of life after death.

• Near-death experiences
• Deathbed visions
• Mediumship
• Apparitions
• Past-life memories, and memories of a between-lives state

Yet even those who are inclined to take this evidence seriously may struggle to make sense of it. How can the idea of an afterlife be integrated into our everyday experience? How can we connect the seemingly nebulous notion of postmortem survival with the hard, tangible reality of life on earth?

Through metaphors, images, and analogies—illustrated with dozens of documented cases drawn from the literature of parapsychology—this book suggests ways of looking at life beyond death, not as a baffling anomaly, but as a logical extension of our experience of reality here and now.

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

From the publisher's website: Premonitions of death, near-death experiences, and afterlife communication are common, but they can be difficult to talk about and understand. Dr. Kenneth Doka—a world-renowned expert on death, dying, and bereavement—explores hundreds of real-life examples as well as fascinating research on unusual phenomena related to the dying process. Sharing stories from his own practice as a counselor and minister, as well as stories from friends, colleagues, and clinicians, Dr. Doka helps you come to your own understanding of what these experiences mean. With in-depth examinations of death coincidences, terminal lucidity, reincarnation, and more, this book provides meaningful answers for anyone who has struggled with the grief of losing a loved one. With a deep sense of empathy and compassion, this book's insights support you as you integrate these phenomena and cope with the profound emotions that accompany life's final transition.

Further information at the publisher's website: Llewellyn.

From the publisher's website: Outlining the scientific evidence behind psi research, Dark Cognition expertly reveals that such anomalous phenomena clearly exist, highlighting that the prevailing view of consciousness, purely as a phenomenon of the brain, fails to account for the empirical findings.

David Vernon provides essential coverage of information and evidence for a variety of anomalous psi phenomena, calling for a paradigm shift in how we view consciousness: from seeing it as something solely reliant on the brain to something that is enigmatic, fundamental and all pervasive. The book examines the nature of psi research showing that, despite claims to the contrary, it is clearly a scientific endeavour. It explores evidence from telepathy and scopaesthesia, clairvoyance and remote viewing, precognition, psychokinesis, fields of consciousness, energy healing, out of body experiences, near-death experiences and post death phenomena, showing that not only do these phenomena exist, but that they have significant implications for our understanding of consciousness.

Featuring discussion on scientific research methods, reflections on the fields of dark cognition and end-of-chapter questions that encourage critical thinking, this book is an essential text for those interested in parapsychology, consciousness and cognitive psychology.

Further information at the publisher's website: Routledge. 

From the publisher's website: London, 1938. Alma Fielding, an ordinary young woman, begins to experience supernatural events in her suburban home. Nandor Fodor – a Jewish-Hungarian refugee and chief ghost hunter for the International Institute for Psychical research – begins to investigate. In doing so he discovers a different and darker type of haunting: trauma, alienation, loss – and the foreshadowing of a nation's worst fears. As the spectre of Fascism lengthens over Europe, and as Fodor's obsession with the case deepens, Alma becomes ever more disturbed. With rigour, daring and insight, the award-winning pioneer of historical narrative non-fiction Kate Summerscale shadows Fodor's enquiry, delving into long-hidden archives to find the human story behind a very modern haunting.

Further information at the publisher's website: Bloomsbury.

From the back cover: This book is about the nature of extrasensory perception, and is based on a 25-year investigation into the physical and biological principles underlying its occurrence. Jon Taylor has carried out a careful examination of the case histories and laboratory research. He concludes that precognition is the fundamental phenomenon of ESP, and that it occurs when people connect with their future experience of an event. The precognition is due to a transfer of information from the brain in the future to the brain in the present, just as telepathy is due to a transfer between different brains. Taylor rejects the clairvoyance interpretation—direct connection with the event—and suggests that acceptance of this interpretation by a majority of parapsychologists has led to an important misunderstanding about the nature of ESP.

Review by Nemo C. Mörck.