New Books and Media

Review by Gregory M. Westlake

From the publisher's website: In the year 1900, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was at the height of his success as a qualified doctor, keen sportsman, writer of historical novels, champion of the oppressed and, most notably, the creator of that honourable, fearless, and eminently sensible master-detective Sherlock Holmes.

Every new Holmes story was greeted with great anticipation and confidence in the knowledge that, however complex the crime, the supremely intelligent and logical detective would solve it. But in 1916 Conan Doyle surprised his readers by declaring that he believed in spiritualism. And when, in 1922, Doyle published a book in which he professed to believe in fairies, his devotees were nonplussed. How could the creator of the inexorably logical Sherlock Holmes claim to believe in something as vague, esoteric, and unproven as the paranormal?

In this fascinating study of the life of the creator of one of the greatest detectives of all time, Dr Andrew Norman traces the origin of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s strange beliefs. Can it be that Doyle’s alcoholic father holds the key to the unanswered questions about his son? What was Doyle’s involvement in the notorious ‘Cottingley Fairies’ affair?

By delving into medical records and the writings of Doyle himself, Dr Norman unravels a mystery as exciting as any of the cases embarked upon by the great Sherlock Holmes!

Further information at the publisher's website: White Owl.

This is a reprint of Arthur Conan Doyle: Beyond Sherlock Holmes

Review by Christopher Pittard.

From the back cover: Do you wonder sometimes how and why you’re here? What ‘here’ even is, and who ‘You’ are in the greater scheme of things? If these questions resonate with you – then this is THE book that finally explains it all ...

Review by Michael Daw.

From the publisher's website: Historically, children’s inexplicable experiences -- from telepathy and conversing with deceased relatives to out-of-body- or near-death experiences, and more -- have been theorised through traditional scientific lenses that may not have the explanatory power to account for such experiences. In Children’s Unexplained Experiences in a Post Materialist World, Donna Thomas shares research that she and other scholars, past and present, have conducted with children and young people across the world.

Further information at the publisher's website: Essentia Books

Review by Athena A. Drewes.

From the publisher's website: Following Robert A. Charman’s previous book Telepathy, Clairvoyance, and Precognition, The Psi Mind in Action explores the extraordinary powers of the human mind in interacting with the physical world in the form of hands-on and distant healing, psychokinesis, poltergeist activity, clairvoyant map dowsing and more.

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

Review by Robert McLuhan.

From the publisher's website: The Great War haunted the British Empire. Shell shocked soldiers relived the war's trauma through waking nightmares consisting of mutilated and grotesque figures. Modernist writers released memoirs condemning the war as a profane and disenchanting experience. Yet British and Dominion soldiers and their families also read prophecies about the coming new millennium, experimented with séances, and claimed to see the ghosts of their loved ones in dreams and in photographs. On the battlefields, they had premonitions and attributed their survival to angelic, psychic, or spiritual forces. For many, the war was an enchanting experience that offered proof of another world and the transcendental properties of the mind. Between 1914 and 1939, an array of ghosts lived in the minds of British subjects as they navigated the shocking toll that death in modern war exerted in their communities.

Further information at the publisher's website: Manchester University Press

From the publisher's website: In this engaging book, diverse phenomena associated with death, such as apparent after-death communication and near-death experiences, are examined through a scientific lens and evaluated for the degree to which they offer evidence for the survival of consciousness after death.Is death the end of everything? Is life after death really possible? Considerable scientific support has emerged in recent years for the idea that death is best described as an altered state of consciousness. This survival hypothesis contrasts with predominant materialist thinking, which holds that there is only oblivion upon death.

Further information at the publisher's website: American Psychological Association.

The science behind the writers’ experience of characters developing their own will and taking objective forms. Many writers have the experience that their characters have evolved their own personalities. They start to tell their own stories, and sometimes they could even rebel against the author’s ideas for them and change the course of the whole plot. That is not all, though. Sometimes, literary characters assume objective appearances which are visible not just to the creators, but also to others and manifesting in the real world. These experiences raise several interesting philosophical and scientific questions. Have the writers unwittingly created quasi-conscious entities by the power of their minds? Can thoughts manifest as something tangible that can be seen, heard, or even touched? How genuine are the contents of the mind? Embodied Imaginations explores these questions, highlighting the results of an investigation on this fascinating topic, stemming from personal anecdotes of many writers. Providing scientific evidence for the existences of these mental constructs, the goal is to collect robust and reliable building blocks that may help to deconstruct perceptions and provide answers to this phenomenon. The book attempts to give modern science a place where spiritual, philosophical and mystical threads can be interwoven. Efforts have been made to corroborate theoretical claims with experimental evidence, contributing to research in cognitive psychology to determine the role of imagination in creating external reality. This book will introduce you to the mysterious and profound part of creative writing that you never knew existed before.

From the publisher's website: Friedel’s Conversations with the Dead is the story of the Swedish painter and opera singer Friedrich Jürgenson, who pioneered the discovery of Electronic Voice Phenomena, in which deceased people appear to be able to make contact with the physical world utilising electronic devices such as radios, tape recorders, computers and televisions.

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

Review by Edgar E Müller.

From the publisher's website: In the spring of 1983, a thirteen-year-old Polish schoolgirl named Joasia Gajewski suddenly began to exhibit astounding paranormal abilities (often beyond her conscious control) that mystified and frightened the people around her. The inexplicable, often destructive psychokinetic effects she randomly generated (even in her sleep!) met with disbelief, exasperation, and superstitious fear. Attempts by local authorities to ascribe these puzzling events to physical causes (settling of walls, geopathic anomalies, etc.) proved superficial and unsatisfactory. Eventually Joasia's plight caught the attention of several courageous, open-minded Polish scientists. Over a period of forty months, they administered tests and conducted numerous experiments with her under controlled laboratory conditions. Their detailed studies, though ultimately inconclusive, did succeed in confirming the girl's remarkable powers, which she continued to manifest long after the end of puberty-a singular case in the annals of parapsychology.

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

From the back cover: Sitting back in a comfortable armchair.Eyes covered by goggles such that only a diffused red haze is visible. Ears covered by headphones playing static noise. In this audio-visual fog, is it possible that the faint telepathic signal from another person can be detected? Since the 1970s researchers around the world have been trying to answer that question. This is the story of their work. Their theories, their failings and their one-in-a-million successes.

Review by Nemo C. Mörck.

From the publisher's website: Trauma and the Supernatural in Psychotherapy explores how traumatic experience interacts with unconscious phantasy based in folklore, the supernatural, and the occult.

Drawing upon psychoanalysis, anthropology, the arts, and esoteric philosophy, Alex Monk presents examples from folklore and literature to enrich his case illustrations which offer therapists important clinical perspectives on ways of working with clients who feel cursed and repeatedly manifest self-sabotaging states. The book examines the challenges that can arise when working with this client population and illustrates how to work through them while navigating potent transferences and projective identifications. Monk illustrates the way in which clients with developmental trauma may experience the supernatural and its psychic representatives as persecutory and/or a source of empowerment and healing. Trauma and the Supernatural in Psychotherapy also considers the historically conflicted relationship between psychoanalysis and the supernatural and proposes treatment perspectives which are not implicitly dependent upon a materialist paradigm.

This book will be of great interest to psychotherapists and counsellors who have an interest in clinical work concerning the connection of relational trauma to unconscious forms of communication and uncanny phenomena arising between therapist and client.

Further information at the publisher's website Routledge.