New Books and Media

J.B. Priestley is considered by many to be an old-fashioned playwright whose work is locked in a pre-war world of provincialism and whose ideas are way past their sell-by date. In Time and the Rose Garden, internationally recognised author Anthony Peake re-assesses the plays and novels of this fascinating writer. In doing so, Peake argues that Priestley should be recognised as one of the most prescient of all middle century playwrights and that his ideas on time, consciousness and mortality can be found in hugely popular blockbusters such as The Matrix, Vanilla Sky, Deja Vu, Sliding Doors, Butterfly Effect and many others.

Review by Robert A. Charman

From the publisher's website: "This book tells the incredible story of the cross-correspondence automatic writings, described by one leading scholar of the field, Alan Gauld, 'as undoubtedly the most extensive, the most complex and the most puzzling of all ostensible attempts by deceased persons to manifest purpose, and in so doing to fulfil their overriding purpose of proving their survival'. It is an intensely personal and passionate story on so many levels: May Lyttelton trying to convince her lover Arthur Balfour of her continued existence; Frederic Myers with indomitable persistence trying to produce evidence to prove survival generally; Edmund Gurney and Francis Balfour striving from beyond the grave to influence the birth of children who would work for world peace; Gerald Balfour and his lover Winifred Coombe-Tennant believing that their child, Henry, would be the Messianic leader of this group of children."

Further information about the book can be found on Imprint Academic's website:

http://books.imprint.co.uk/book/?gcoi=71157100349240

Trevor Hamilton has produced an entry on the cross-correspondences in the SPR's online Psi Encyclopedia:

https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/cross-correspondences

Review by Donald J. West

From Dr. Pallikari’s website: The present volume contains 23 articles based on the memoirs of Dr. Angelos Tanagras, edited, annotated and translated from the original Greek into English by Fotini Pallikari. They describe the life, work and personality of Tanagras: his childhood, when he was serving as adoctor in the Greek Royal Navy, and later when he established and ran the Greek Society of Psychical Research.

These selected stories aim to offer a valuable source of information on the cultural heritage not only of Greece, but also of those countries Tanagras visited or just interacted with during the time from the late 19th and up to the middle 20th century. The material presented here should be of interest to historians, psychologists, parapsychologists and humanities scholars.

Further information can be found on Dr. Pallikari's website: 

http://users.uoa.gr/~fpallik/tanagras.htm

and on her Linkedin page:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/angelos-tanagras-my-memoirs-collection-short-stories-pallikari-viras/?published=t

Review by Tom Ruffles

From the publisher's website: In the 1920s and ’30s, people gathered in darkened rooms to explore the paranormal through seances. Science of the Seance resurrects the story of a select transnational group and their quest for objective knowledge of the supernatural world, casting new light on empiricism and its relationship to gender, sexuality, and the body in this era.

Drawing on publications, correspondence, seance notes, and photographs from Canada, the UK, and the US, Beth A. Robertson draws back the curtain to reveal a world inhabited by researchers, spirits, and spiritual mediums, including the notorious Mina “Margery” Crandon. Representing themselves as masters of the senses, untainted by the effeminized subjectivity of the body, psychical researchers believed that machines and empirical methods could transform the seance from an isolated spiritual encounter into a transnational empirical project. The laboratory of the spirits that they created, however, opened up a space where mediums and ghostly subjects could and did challenge their claims to exclusive scientific expertise and authority.

This innovative reassessment of paranormal investigation and the transatlantic ties of the seance reveals how science, metaphysics, and the senses collided to inform gendered norms in the interwar era.

This book will be of interest to historians of science, medicine, and religion and technology, as well as feminist scholars and cultural theorists.

Review by Tom Ruffles

From the publisher's website:

You’ve just laid down for the night when suddenly doors slam and the curtains shift. The lights begin to flicker and a white mist forms in front of you. You shut your eyes and keep muttering, “ghosts aren’t real.” But then you open your eyes and realize that “harmless” mist has shifted into the form of a man, staring intensely at you, as he floats above your bed.

What causes ghostly experiences?

Are ghosts real?

Why do certain people report numerous ghostly encounters and others none?

For centuries these questions have intrigued, puzzled, and bedeviled science, skeptics, and even believers. Based on cutting-edge research and new theories, The Ghost Studies provides insight into some of life’s greatest mysteries.

This fascinating book is far more than a compilation of ghost stories. The Ghost Studies provides scientific explanations for paranormal occurrences, including: New and exciting scientific theories that explain apparitions, hauntings, and communications from the dead. The latest research on the role of energy and electricity in hauntings. The role that emotions, bioenergetics, and the environment play in supernatural phenomena. New research into why some individuals are more prone to ghostly encounters.

Brandon Massullo is a clinical therapist and parapsychologist residing in Medina, Ohio. Fascinated by paranormal phenomena for more than 20 years, Massullo has been a participant in and featured speaker at numerous paranormal forums and events. He studied psychology and parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. His research has been cited in numerous parapsychological 
journals, articles, and mainstream books.

Listen to a sample on Brilliance Audio

From the publisher's website: Scotland is known as one of the most haunted countries in the world, with many haunted hotspots in both Edinburgh and Glasgow. In this new book, author and paranormal researcher Gregor Stewart, covers both Edinburgh and ventures away from the main cities to explore many of the less well know locations across the country, giving not just details of the ghost stories but also the history behind the haunting.

Hailing from St Andrews in Fife, Gregor has been surrounded by tales of ghosts from a young age. His interest was sparked when his parents subscribed for him "The Unexplained" magazine. He is widely read on the supernatural, and has amassed a substantial library on the topic. He has written a number of his own books, both fiction and non-fiction, including the Witch Hunter series, Haunted Explorer Series, Haunted Kirkcaldy, Supernatural St Andrews and Glasgow Ghost Stories. He is also an active paranormal researcher and investigator, with a growing collection of haunted items. 

Review by Tom Ruffles

First English translation of the life of St. Joseph of Copertino, mystic famous for his ecstasies, levitations, bilocations, mind-reading, miraculous healings, and other extraordinary phenomena. The Vita is followed by a Commentary that details the evidence for these claims, and discusses their implications for human potential and human evolution; offering new perspectives on our understanding of the nature of mind and spiritual life. This book is unabashedly conscious of itself as a challenge to reductive scientific materialism.

From the publisher's website:

Bruce Siegel was a longtime denier of all things paranormal or spiritual, and a passionate one. Then something extraordinary happened. He noticed that many of his nightly dreams were coming true. The predicted events were odd, even bizarre, and happened quickly-often just minutes after awakening.

Reluctant to believe what he was seeing, Siegel conducted an experiment that would ultimately span years and involve hundreds of dreams. The result: fully one in four have proven to be precognitive, anticipating future events with striking precision.

A skeptic no longer, the author explains why, for decades, he failed to take the clues within his dreams seriously, and shows why and how you may be doing the same. To prove his point, he helps you carry out your own dream explorations.

Siegel is particularly interested in the larger meaning of his experiment. He says:

The true gift here is the surprising-and surprisingly friendly-universe such dreams suggest. This more expansive reality is the real subject of my book. By validating psychic ability, dreams like mine shatter the myth that we are purely physical beings, fixed in time and space within a mechanical universe. Clearly, we are more.

Scientific experiment, spiritual odyssey, and how-to manual rolled into one, Dreaming The Future is a remarkable addition to the literature on the paranormal.

Bruce Siegel lives, writes, and dreams in Southern California, where he is also known as a pianist and music educator. His passion is exploring the larger meaning of psychic ability-what it says about who and what we really are. Follow his blog at http://brucesiegel.net; contact him at [email protected].

From the publisher's website: Most of us have heard stories of these unusual phenomena, as told by millions of people throughout history and across cultures. Or perhaps we have experienced them ourselves, and we are still grappling with their validity in a world of empirical science and psychiatry that deems anything unseen or spiritual as impossible, weird, or even disturbed. The stigma surrounding the paranormal prevents us from exploring the possibility that there are, perhaps, events that occur outside the realm of human comprehension, inoculating us against the lessons and spiritual significance these events might hold. As an experienced psychiatrist, Dr. Manuel Matas is very familiar with the science of the human brain—as well as the possibilities that exist beyond the known borders of consciousness. He has never been a classic rationalist, as he himself has experienced phenomena that defy logic and the explanations of Western medicine. In The Borders of Normal, Dr. Matas reveals just how accepted (and studied) many of these phenomena are, providing a compelling overview of influential thinkers who have, over the years, recognized events and experiences that fall outside the realm of current scientific thought. As a proponent of a nuanced, respectful approach that lies between belief and scepticism, Dr. Matas helps us to view paranormal experiences as normal and indeed endemic to the human species, for it is in this space of the unknown that we may learn more about ourselves, each other, and the bodies and worlds that we inhabit.

Further information at the publisher's website: Friesen Press.

From the publisher's website: The science of DNA has a problem; the book of instructions for life is nowhere to be found. This book suggests that DNA is all passcodes, accepting only the correct instructions to build anything from a fish to an elephant. Information flows from the species and family to build a body and mind, creating instinctive knowledge and behaviour with a control system. That same system occasionally allows information flow from mind to mind, which we call telepathy. This revelation answers unsolved questions relating to heredity, evolution and psychic experiences; making sense of life and consciousness.

About Richard Alabone:

Richard has been studying psychic experiences for more than 60 years, and is a member of the Society for Psychical Research, and the Scientific and Medical Network in the U.K. He is retired from a career as a research and development engineer on radar and television equipment, and also spent nine years as a Civil Service technical manager. During 40 broadcasts, entitled Paranormal is Normal; he spoke to many interesting people who explained the psychic side of life.

From the publisher's website: This book explores the phenomenon of second sight in nineteenth-century literature and culture. Second sight is a form of prophetic vision associated with the folklore of the Scottish Highlands and Islands. Described in Gaelic as the An-da-shealladh or ‘the two sights’, those in possession of this extraordinary power are said to foresee future events like the death of neighbour, the arrival of strangers into the community, the success or failure of a fishing trip. From the late seventeenth century onwards, rumours of this strange faculty attracted the attention of numerous scientists, travel writers, antiquarians, poets and artists. Focusing on the nineteenth century, this book examines second sight in relation to mesmerism and phrenology, modern spiritualism and anthropology, romance literature and folklorism and finally, psychical research and Celtic mysticism. Tracing the migration of a supposedly ‘Scottish’ tradition through various sites of nineteenth-century popular culture, it explores questions of nationhood and identity alongside those posed by supernatural phenomena.

Further information at the publisher's website: Palgrave Macmillan.