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The Supernatural in Society, Culture, and History, edited by Dennis Waskul and Marc Eaton

Publication Details: Temple University Press, ISBN: 9781439915257.
Publish Date: July, 2018

From the publisher's website: In the twenty-first century, as in centuries past, stories of the supernatural thrill and terrify us. But despite their popularity, scholars often dismiss such beliefs in the uncanny as inconsequential, or even embarrassing. The editors and contributors to The Supernatural in Society, Culture, and History have made a concerted effort to understand encounters with ghosts and the supernatural that have persisted and flourished. Featuring folkloric researchers examining the cultural value of such beliefs and practices, sociologists who acknowledge the social and historical value of the supernatural, and enthusiasts of the mystical and uncanny, this volume includes a variety of experts and interested observers using first-hand ethnographic experiences and historical records. 

The Supernatural in Society, Culture, and History seeks to understand the socio-cultural and socio-historical contexts of the supernatural. This volume takes the supernatural as real because belief in it has fundamentally shaped human history. It continues to inform people's interpretations, actions, and identities on a daily basis. The supernatural is an indelible part of our social world that deserves sincere scholarly attention. 

Further information about the book can be found at Temple University Press.

Review by Eva Kingsepp.

A Walk On The Wild Side: One Man's Experiences With Psychic Phenomena, by Gary Williams

Publication Details: Sixth Books, ISBN: 9781785357763.
Publish Date: June, 2018
Cover of Walk On The Wild Side

From the publisher's website: A Walk On The Wild Side is a compilation of Gary Williams' experiences with paranormal and psychic phenomena over a fifty year period. It includes his involvement with the UFO phenomena, predictions of the future made to him by psychics that came true years later, and his encounters with ghosts and poltergeists.

Review by Robert A. Charman.

Psience Fiction: The Paranormal in Science Fiction Literature, by Damien Broderick

Publication Details: McFarland, ISBN 9781476672281.
Publish Date: June, 2018

From the publisher's website:

Science fiction has often been considered the literature of futuristic technology: fantastic warfare among the stars or ruinous apocalypses on Earth. The last century, however, saw through John W. Campbell the introduction of “psience fiction,” which explores themes of mind powers—telepathy, precognition of the future, teleportation, etc.—and symbolic machines that react to such forces.The author surveys this long-ignored literary shift through a series of influential novels and short stories published between the 1930s and the present. This discussion is framed by the sudden surge of interest in parapsychology and its absorption not only into the SF genre, but also into the real world through military experiments such as the Star Gate Program.

The Prophetic Imagery of Anthony Quinn: A Study of Surrealism and Precognitive Art, by Glenn Harte

Publication Details: BookBaby, ISBN: 9781483598338.
Publish Date: June, 2018
Cover of The Prophetic Imagery of Anthony Quinn: A Study of Surrealism and Precognitive Art

From the publisher's website: 

In 2003, as the author browsed through the warehouse of the deceased actor and artist, Anthony Quinn, he saw a painting, which depicted the events of September 11th, 2001. The painting was signed by Anthony Quinn himself, but this was impossible. He had died three months before the events of 9/11 had even occurred. Research of the painting disclosed that Anthony Quinn had painted the painting, called "Facets of Liberty" in 1985 and produced lithograph copies a year later in 1986. Not only had he died before 9/11, but he had painted the amazing montage a full 16 years before the fateful day. This book reflects the search for understanding and studies the circumstances and personality of the man, Anthony Quinn and how his entire life was a foundation for the science that made this painting possible. Quinn tells us in his own words of his dreams and life circumstances that produced the unique ingredients for precognitive thought and set the stage for a painting of historic proportions.

The Star Gate Archives. Volume 1: Remote Viewing, 1972–1984, compiled and edited by Edwin C. May and Sonali Bhatt Marwaha

Publication Details: McFarland, ISBN: 978-1-4766-6752-2
Publish Date: June, 2018
front cover of The Star Gate Archives. Volume 1: Remote Viewing, 1972–1984
From the publisher's website: During the Cold War, the U.S. government began testing paranormal claims under laboratory conditions in hopes of realizing intelligence applications for psychic phenomena. Thus began the project known as Star Gate. The largest in the history of parapsychological research, it received more than $20 million in funding and continued into the mid–1990s. This project archive includes all available documents generated by research contractor SRI International and those provided by government officials.

Remote viewing (RV) is an atypical ability that allows some individuals to gain information blocked from the usual senses by shielding, distance or time. Early work benefited from a few “stars” of RV who were successful at convincing investigators of its existence and its potential as a means of gathering intelligence. Research focused on determining the parameters of RV, who may have the ability, how to collect and analyze data and the best way to use RV in intelligence operations. Volume 1 Remote Viewing (1972–1984) and Volume 2 Remote Viewing (1985–1995) include laboratory trials and several operational results.

Table of Contents

Review by Nemo C. Mörck

Our Secret Powers: Telepathy, Clairvoyance and Precognition, by Terje G. Simonsen

Publication Details: Pari Publishing, ISBN: 978-8895604336
Publish Date: May, 2018
Cover of Our Secret Powers: Telepathy, Clairvoyance and Precognition

From the publisher's website: Is the paranormal normal?

Many readers will be surprised when learning that reputable scientists, among them several Nobel laureates, have claimed that telepathy is a reality. Their curiosity will increase when reading that Cleopatra’s lost palace and Richard III’s burial place were recovered by means of clairvoyance. And some will think it to be science fiction when finding out about Stargate––the espionage program where the American military and CIA engaged in the development of psychic spies!

Simonsen, a Norwegian historian of ideas, introduces an array of entertaining paranormal tales from history, archaeology, anthropology and psychology, and presents scientific research that has provided fascinating results. He argues that the stories we hear about telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition ought not to be dismissed as superstition

In step with spiritual and occult traditions, the author suggests that consciousness is not limited to our own head. Rather he thinks that all humans (and perhaps all living beings) are linked together in a “Mental Internet.’ Via this network we may exchange ‘telepathic emails’ with friends and family and make clairvoyant ‘downloads’ of information.  Thus perhaps what we usually call ‘supernatural’ is completely natural but little understood communications via this Mental Internet?

Our Secret Powers gives us a thoughtful and critical analysis of a controversial subject and would make an excellent travel companion.

Review by Nemo C. Mörck

Engaging the Anomalous: Collected Essays on Anthropology, the Paranormal, Mediumship and Extraordinary Experience, edited by Jack Hunter

Publication Details: White Crow Books, ISBN: 9781786770554
Publish Date: April, 2018

From the publisher's website:

Engaging the Anomalous is a collection of essays written by Jack Hunter between 2010-17. Together, the essays push toward the development of a non-reductive, participatory and experiential anthropology of the paranormal. Over the course of the book, Hunter surveys:

• Trends in anthropology’s engagement with the paranormal

• The anthropology and neuroscience of spirit possession

• The history of Spiritualism and the phenomena of physical mediumship

• The overlaps between mediumistic practices and other mind-body phenomena

Hunter also poses serious questions about consciousness, experience, spirits, mediumship, psi, the nature of reality, and how best to investigate and understand them. In addition, the book features a selection of illuminating interviews with the author, as well as an original Foreword by leading parapsychologist and trickster theorist George P. Hansen. Engaging the Anomalous is a bold contribution to Anomalistic literature.

An extract from the book is available here: White Crow Books.

Medjugorje and the Supernatural, by Daniel Maria Klimek

Publication Details: Oxford University Press, ISBN: 9780190679200
Publish Date: April, 2018
Cover of Medjugorje and the Supernatural

From the publisher's website: 

  • Challenges the widely-held belief that religious and mystical experiences can be explained naturally or pathologically.

  • Synthesizes a huge body of over 30 years of research on the visionaries of Medjugorje.

  • Proposes a holistic hermeneutical model for understanding supernatural experiences.

 

Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe, by Dean Radin

Publication Details: Harmony Books, ISBN: 978-1524758820
Publish Date: April, 2018
front cover of Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe
From the publisher's website: The chief scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) turns a critical eye toward such practices as telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and psychokinesis. Are such powers really possible? Science says yes. According to noted scientist and bestselling author of The Conscious Universe, Dean Radin, magic is a natural aspect of reality, and each of us can tap into this power with diligent practice.

But wait, aren’t things like ESP and telepathy just wishful thinking and flights of the imagination? Not according to the author, who worked on the US government’s top secret psychic espionage program known as Stargate. Radin has spent the last forty years conducting controlled experiments that demonstrate that thoughts are things, that we can sense others’ emotions and intentions from a distance, that intuition is more powerful than we thought, and that we can tap into the power of intention (think The Secret, only on a more realistic and scientific level). These dormant powers can help us to lead more interesting and fulfilling lives.

Beginning with a brief history of magic over the centuries (what was called magic two thousand years ago is turning out to be scientific fact today), a review of the scientific evidence for magic, a series of simple but effective magical techniques (the key is mental focus, something elite athletes know a lot about), Radin then offers a vision of a scientifically-informed magic and explains why magic will play a key role in frontiers of science.

About the author:

Dean Radin, Ph.D., is Chief Scientist at the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) and Distinguished Professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies. For nearly four decades he has been engaged in consciousness research. Before joining the research staff at IONS in 2001, he held appointments at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Princeton University, and several Silicon Valley think tanks, including SRI International, where he worked on a classified program investigating psychic phenomena for the U.S. government.

Review by Nemo C. Mörck

The Entity Letters: A Sociologist on the Trail of a Supernatural Mystery, by James McClenon

Publication Details: Anomalist Books, ISBN: 9781938398797.
Publish Date: April, 2018

A Host of Phenomena that Boggle the Mind

The Entity Letters describes a years-long sociological investigation of a sitter group that witnessed table movements, table levitations, poltergeist phenomena, earthquake effects, and other startling physical events. The group was known as the Society for Research on Rapport and Telekinesis (SORRAT), founded in 1961 by John G. Neihardt, the famous poet and author of the best-selling book Black Elk Speaks. SORRAT hoped to replicate Spiritualist phenomena to increase scientific understanding of psychokinesis (mind over matter). After meeting weekly for a few months, the group heard rapping sounds, seemingly from Black Elk and other spirits. The phenomena grew to include ostensibly spirit-written messages found within a sealed container called a mini-lab specially designed to preclude the possibility of fraud. Eventually, the “spirits” began communicating by mail with dozens of S0RRAT members, describing life after death, the nature of time, and spiritual development. The Entity Letters explores the idea that these kinds of experiences shaped ancient religions.

About the Author:

James McClenon, Ph. D., a sociology professor and licensed clinical social worker, has written three books: Deviant Science: The Case of Parapsychology (University of Pennsylvania Press), Wondrous Events: Foundations of Religious Belief (University of Pennsylvania Press) and Wondrous Healing: Shamanism, Human Evolution, and the Origin of Religion (Northern Illinois University Press).

Further information about the book (including table of contents) can be found at Anomalist Books

Credulity: A Cultural History of US Mesmerism, by Emily Ogden

Publication Details: University of Chicago Press, ISBN: 9780226532332.
Publish Date: March, 2018
Cover of Credulity: A Cultural History of US Mesmerism

From the publisher's website: From the 1830s to the Civil War, Americans could be found putting each other into trances for fun and profit in parlors, on stage, and in medical consulting rooms. They were performing mesmerism. Surprisingly central to literature and culture of the period, mesmerism embraced a variety of phenomena, including mind control, spirit travel, and clairvoyance. Although it had been debunked by Benjamin Franklin in late eighteenth-century France, the practice nonetheless enjoyed a decades-long resurgence in the United States. Emily Ogden here offers the first comprehensive account of those boom years.

Further information at the publisher's website: University of Chicago Press.

Der Welt-Geist: Wie wir alle miteinander verbunden sind, by Roger D. Nelson and Georg Kindel

Publication Details: edition a, ISBN: 9783990012505,
Publish Date: March, 2018

From the publisher's website:

An der Universität Princeton war er als Forschungskoordinator des Labors für technische Anomalien für alles zuständig, was sich die Wissenschaft nicht erklären konnte. Danach widmete sich Roger D. Nelson dem Global Consciousness Project, bei dem über 100 Wissenschaftler weltweit den Fragen nachgehen, ob alle Menschen über ein gemeinsames Bewusstsein miteinander verbunden sind, und wenn ja, was das bedeutet. Die Antworten, die er durch seine Forschung inzwischen liefern kann, verändern das Bild des Menschen. Es besteht kein Zweifel: Wir sind alle miteinander verbunden.

Der Autor:

Roger D. Nelson forschte und lehrte an der Universität Princeton und war von 1980 bis 2002 Forschungskoordinator des Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Lab (PEAR). 1997 gründete er das Global Consciousness Project.Schwerpunkte seiner Arbeit sind die Erforschung des gemeinsamen Bewusstseins und die Rolle des Geistes in der physischen Welt.

Review by Gerhard Mayer