New Books and Media

From the publisher’s website: Why is it that incredibly unlikely phenomena actually happen quite regularly and why should we, in fact, expect such things to happen? Here, in this highly original book – aimed squarely at anyone with an interest in coincidences, probability or gambling – eminent statistician David Hand answers this question by weaving together various strands of probability into a unified explanation, which he calls the improbability principle. This is a book that will appeal not only to those who love stories about startling coincidences and extraordinarily rare events, but also to those who are interested in how a single bold idea links areas as diverse as gambling, the weather, airline disasters and creative writing as well as the origin of life and even the universe. The Improbability Principle will change your perspective on how the world works – and tell you what the Bible code and Shakespeare have in common, how to win the lottery, why Apple's song shuffling was made less random to seem more random. Oh and why lightning does in fact strike twice...

Review by Robert A. Charman.

From the publisher's website: Gibt es wissenschaftliche Beweise für Außersinnliche Wahrnehmung, Psychokinese oder Präkognition? Zu diesen Fragen werden seit über 100 Jahren systematische Experimente durchgeführt. Dieser Band gibt eine detaillierte und kritische Übersicht über den aktuellen Kenntnisstand der experimentellen Parapsychologie. Es werden zusammenfassend die Befunde zu den Themenbereichen Telepathie, Hellsehen, Präkognition, Blickwahrnehmung, direkter mentaler Interaktion und Psychokinese anhand von Metaanalysen vorgestellt und erläutert. Ergänzt wird diese Übersicht mit einer Darstellung theoretischer Ansätze. Dabei geht der Autor auch auf die speziellen methodischen Anforderungen an die experimentelle Parapsychologie ein und thematisiert die besondere Stellung dieser oft umstrittenen Disziplin.

From the publisher’s website: Christian mystic, astrologer, and spiritualist, Charles Carleton Massey (1838–1905) underwent an eclectic spiritual journey that resulted in a series of articles, letters, and booklets that have largely been neglected by modern society. Massey was a child of privilege formally trained as a barrister of law at the Westminster School and the son of the English Minister of Finance for India. He devoted his life to solving the metaphysical mysteries of existence leading him into the world of religious philosophy that placed him in the middle of a crossroads between Victorian science, religion, and philosophy. Beginning his journey as a Spiritualist, Massey continued on a course that brought him into the Theosophical Society, eventually becoming the founding president of its British branch, going through the ranks of the Society of Psychical Research and ultimately into his final role as a Christian mystic.

This indispensable work combines Massey’s collected writings with never before published letters organized topically in order to define Massey’s unique world-view for a new generation of readers. This book covers a range of topics from the “nature of God” to the “microcosm and macrocosm” to “Satanism” and “reincarnation” all the while allowing the reader a rare glimpse into Victorian England and the social and religious issues of this time period. The recollections recorded in this book though written over a hundred years ago, are dealt with in such a simple yet profound way that remain relevant to modern spiritual seekers of all types.

From the publisher’s website: This groundbreaking – and sure to be controversial – book is a collection of statements about life hereafter as made between 1852 and 2001 by spirits who speak from experience. The editor has examined and reviewed 50 different sources and selected, collated, and critiqued nearly a thousand descriptions that provide a fascinating and enlightening multifaceted picture of the heavenly and hellish realms that face us all when we leave the physical world. Intimate relations truly can be experienced in the hereafter, so be prepared for some intriguing information that you won't find in any other contemporary book.

Review by Tom Ruffles

From the publisher’s website: ‘Psi’ is the term used by researchers for a variety of demonstrable but elusive psychic phenomena. This collection of essays provides a detailed survey of the evidence for psi at the level of scientific examination. Key features of apparent psi phenomena are reviewed, including precognition and remote perception (knowledge of future or distant events that cannot be inferred from present information), presentiment (physiological responses to stimuli that have not yet occurred), the effects of human emotions on globally dispersed machines, the possible impact of local sidereal time on psi performance, and the familiar feeling of knowing who is calling on the phone. Special attention is given to those phenomena that make it difficult for scientists to get a clear understanding of psi. The body of psi research, while complex and frustrating, is shown to contain sufficiently compelling positive evidence to convince the rational open-minded observer that psi is real, and that one or more physical processes probably underlie observed psi phenomena.

Review by Robert A. Charman.

From the publisher’s website: In the second half of the twentieth century, a small number of doctors in the United States found themselves, quite independently from one another, undertaking what turned out to be pioneering research on unusual phenomena. The phenomena included claims of having lived before, or reincarnation, out-of-body and near-death experiences (OBEs and NDEs). These phenomena encompassed the three realms that, according to the Ancients, were inherent in human beings: body, mind and spirit. Their research opened up new fields of enquiry in medicine.

The doctors and their original publications are known globally and include: Ian Stevenson, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Raymond A. Moody, Bruce Greyson, Michael Sabom, Kenneth Ring and Melvin Morse.  What prompted the researchers along the new paths were people’s accounts of a previous life; patients’ reported observations of resuscitation attempts by medical staff; and accounts of having gone some way into ‘the beyond’ while close to death. The researchers’ initial reaction to such reports ranged from surprise to bewilderment, even disbelief. Nevertheless, they listened to patients and started investigating the phenomena. This was no easy task, since their research took them well beyond the comfort zone of classical medical assumptions in which they had trained.

Born in Spain, Carmen Gleadow has lived most of her life in England, where she gained her PhD from King’s College London, University of London.

From the publisher's website: We live in an environment permeated by both natural and artificial sources of electromagnetic energy, while we ourselves are electromagnetic beings. As we continue to pollute and thereby alter our electromagnetic environment, we are also altering ourselves. In particular, these changes infringe on the psychic side of our being.

This exciting and controversial new title shows how all things, from the mundane to the mysterious, are tied together by a vast—and largely invisible—electromagnetic web. It examines ESP, poltergeist disturbances, psychokinesis, electric people, UFOs, and other paranormal phenomena from an electromagnetic perspective. It also reveals how the artificial, alien energies we’ve been introducing into our environment shape the way we experience the paranormal.

Strange Electromagnetic Dimensions explores such questions as:

• Do human beings possess a magnetic “sixth sense” similar to that of homing pigeons?
• Are artificial electromagnetic fields, such as those emitted by power lines, gradually destroying our health?
• Can being struck by lightning or suffering a severe electric shock result in the development of psychic abilities?
• What do scientists make of the fact that ball lightning can pass through walls, enter rooms by squeezing through keyholes, and display seemingly intelligent behavior?

Sometimes natural phenomena have supernatural consequences.

From the publisher’s website: A Rollicking Assault on Science's Inability to Answer Life's Most Important Questions Alex Tsakiris has interviewed many bestselling authors and dozens of world-class academics on his popular science podcast Skeptiko.com. In this book he shares with us what he's learned through his 200 plus interviews with some of the world’s leading consciousness researchers and thinkers. In doing so, he reveals what the best research is saying about 'big picture' science questions and the limits of science in general. What's he's learned, in short, is that science-as-we-know-it is an emperor-with-no-clothes-on proposition. It mesmerizes us with flashy trinkets, while failing at its core mission of leading us toward self-discovery. Science is wrong about almost everything because science depends on our consciousness being an illusion—and it’s not! About the Author: ALEX TSAKIRIS is a successful entrepreneur turned science podcaster. In 2007 he founded Skeptiko.com, which has become the #1 podcast covering the science of human consciousness. Alex has appeared on syndicated radio talk shows both in the US and the UK. He lives in Del Mar, California.

Visit the author's website

Review by Tom Ruffles

From the authors’ website: Objects thrown by invisible hands, showers of stones that pass through solid walls and ceilings, sudden, inexplicable fires, wall-shaking raps and thumps, creepy voices from nowhere…. welcome to the wonderful, weird world of the poltergeist!

Mind-boggling poltergeist events have occurred all over the world for hundreds of years. While many books have been written about notable foreign cases and about the phenomenon in general, this is the first book to focus entirely on the Australian experience, with cases from every state in the nation.

Some of the most famous Australian ghost stories are investigated, with some surprising new information revealed. These stories are incredible... but true.  The book also contains a comprehensive catalogue of other true-life cases.

About the Authors

PAUL CROPPER and TONY HEALY have investigated all manner of strange phenomena, both in Australia and overseas, since the mid-1970s and have collaborated on many projects, notably in co-authoring Out of the Shadows: Mystery Animals of Australia (1994) and The Yowie (2006).

Since witnessing the amazing Humpty Doo, Northern Territory, episode of 1998, they have visited other polt-infested sites and interviewed many people who have lived through similar weird and wonderful experiences.

In Australian Poltergeist they cover in detail eleven of this country’s most remarkable episodes and, in a comprehensive Catalogue of Cases, document every other incident in their Australian files, some dating from as far back as 1845.

Website

From the authors’ blurb: Was there really a government-sanctioned psychic programme in the US? What were their goals? Were they successful? Were there fights in Congress about the programme? Did our Military support it fully? Was the US programme set up in response to a Soviet programme? Did the Soviet Union actually create psychic (psychotronic) weapons and generators? What was the involvement of the KGB? Have psychics had any influence over politics and decisions in the US? In the Soviet Union? In Russia? Has Russia continued with psychic espionage even as the US shut down its programme? Has there been a psychic arms race…a series of ESP Wars?

Read the real stories of the American and Soviet/Russian ESP programmes and how ESP was used in intelligence gathering and other applications.  Learn the greater story of why these major powers saw fit to put stock in something so many academics dismiss out of turn and what practical value was found for Military and Intelligence operations. Delve into the politics that led to, supported, and eventually shut down the psychic espionage programmes – and why the US programme, at least, has not been resurrected in light of the events of the first decade of the 21st century.

With commentary and insights from the former US programme director (Edwin C. May), the Army’s remote viewing agent 001 (Joe McMoneagle) and several Russian military/former KGB officers and experts, ESP WARS gives you an insiders’ view of what really went on, how it happened, and why. This book will be of interest to anyone interested in ESP (especially Remote Viewing), as well as how ESP has been successfully applied in missions of last resort for the Defence Department, CIA and other agencies. The book will especially be of interest to those looking for material on the politics and funding of classified projects, as well as the people participating in them, supporting them, and those with an axe to grind.

The Russian (and Soviet) sources present readers with a narrative of the place of psychic abilities in their society and politics, how the KGB was (and was not) involved, how psychics were brought into political decisions and even how psychics ended up in tanks on the front lines in the war in Chechnya. Those interested in international politics will find much to chew on here as well, especially insight into what went on during a number of difficult political situations at the end of the reign of the Soviet Union. Also of great interest is the perspective (and experiences) of our high-ranking Russian sources with regards to the KGB. For a story that transcends merely dealing with the “psychic” in “psychic spying,” for a narrative of politics and classified projects, ESP WARS will hold your attention from start to finish. As a bit of a tease at the end is an appendix with declassified material from the US Star Gate Programme.

From the publisher's website: Heads-Up Dreaming is a book about Dr. Smith’s personal discovery of the ability to have dreams that seem to portray future waking events. While other writers have noted this before, what makes Smith’s book unique is his thorough overview of the nature and characteristics of these kinds of dreams and how they differ from more ordinary ones.

Through his research, he has discovered that people he knows (family, friends, and students) can also access “heads-up” dreams, suggesting this is a normal biological activity. Although it is an activity that appears to defy the rules of classical physics, it does not violate the rules of quantum physics. While some folks may be more accomplished at it than others – for example, he describes the dreams of one very talented individual who uses her dreams to guide her medical practice – it is an exercise available to all of us.

Some of our most important decisions including choosing a life partner, buying homes or cars, changing jobs, are often made with partial information under considerable stress, using emotional rather than logical thinking. With Smith’s process as a guide, you have the ability to eliminate some of life’s uncertainty by interpreting your heads-up dreams – some or all of them will most likely have a thing or two to do with major decisions. In his experience, he’s found these unique dreams often arrive in a timely manner and are typically neutral or positive. With this in mind, anyone concerned with only receiving negative predictions, should rest assured.

From the publisher’s website: In this unprecedented work, the story of the 1974 Bridgeport, Connecticut poltergeist is at last revealed. A crowd of more than 2,000 onlookers gathered. National media reported jumping furniture, floating refrigerators, and attacking entities.  Decades after the publicity quieted, more than 40 hours of never-before-released interviews with police officers, firefighters, and others tell the story as it actually unfolded:

Relive the experience, the terror, the rampant emotions, and the unexplainable events that took place in that house as they happened.  Have access to revealing excerpts from actual interviews, police reports, and rare documents.  Access unreleased audio, poltergeist sounds, and an old radio broadcast.

Return to 1974 and feel the Lindley Street experience from the inside. Find out why it is deemed the haunting that should have brought the paranormal into mainstream science. For more info about the book and author, go to: www.worldsmosthauntedhouse.com  

William J. Hall was born and raised in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where the events of this book took place. He watched the news coverage of the Lindley Street haunting on TV when he was 10 years old. Hall is professionally equipped to recognize trickery. After more than 25 years as a performing magician, he knows how to create and recognize illusions. He is experienced in researching the unexplained, from folklore and urban legend to fortune telling, the pyramids, and other mysterious tales. His syndicated 1990’s column ‘Magic and the Unknown’ ran for six years in multiple local papers in his home state. Hall has two sons and resides in Plainville, Connecticut.