New Books and Media

From the publisher's website: A singularly powerful and rigorous argument in favor of modern substance dualism In The Substance of Consciousness: A Comprehensive Defense of Contemporary Substance Dualism, two distinguished philosophers deliver a unique and powerful defense of contemporary substance dualism, which makes the claim that the human person is an embodied fundamental, immaterial, and unifying substance. Multidisciplinary in scope, the book explores areas of philosophy, cognitive science, neuroscience, and the sociology of mind-body beliefs.

Further information at the publisher's website: Wiley-Blackwell.

From the publisher's website: Our thoughts are known to us, and us alone. But for a brief period in the 1960s, Ted Serios (1918–2006) attempted to prove that his inner reality could be documented. Serios demonstrated an ostensibly psychic act termed “thoughtography,” involving the transfer of mental images onto undeveloped Polaroid film. In studies supervised by respected Denver-based psychiatrist Dr. Jule Eisenbud, Serios produced over 1,000 anomalous photographs, a feat that has never been fully dismissed or wholly verified. Existing as an uncomfortable knot in time, the details of the Serios phenomenon can’t be disentangled without questioning the social conditions that produced it in the first place.

Further information at the publisher's website: Atelier Éditions

From the publisher's website: One of the last criminal trials using the 1735 Witchcraft Act was, improbably, in London in 1944. The accused was Helen Duncan, a middle-aged Scotswoman. This is her extraordinary story. Helen Duncan - known since childhood as 'Hellish Nell', for her uncontainable nature - was one of the most popular mediums of the twentieth century, holding seances around the country where she was believed to manifest the spirits of the dead.

Further information at the publisher's website: Penguin

From the publisher's website: The early nineteenth century witnessed the birth of psychiatry, a new medical science that fundamentally changed how mental illness was labelled and understood. Troubled by Faith explores how psychiatrists not only thought they were agents of modernity but that they could also explain the occult mysteries of the past. They bristled with confidence that, in an era of unprecedented change, unlocking the secrets of the mind was essential to an ordered and progressive society. And a progressive society was one that did not believe in witches, ghosts, and fairies, and did not exhibit excited religious emotions and divine communications. 

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

From the publisher's website: Accounts of seemingly impossible phenomena abounded in the early modern era—tales of levitation, bilocation, and witchcraft—even as skepticism, atheism, and empirical science were starting to supplant religious belief in the paranormal. In this book, Carlos M. N. Eire explores how a culture increasingly devoted to scientific thinking grappled with events deemed impossible by its leading intellectuals. Eire observes how levitating saints and flying witches were as essential a component of early modern life as the religious turmoil of the age, and as much a part of history as Newton’s scientific discoveries. Relying on an array of firsthand accounts, and focusing on exceptionally impossible cases involving levitation, bilocation, witchcraft, and demonic possession, Eire challenges established assumptions about the redrawing of boundaries between the natural and supernatural that marked the transition to modernity.

Further information at the publisher's website: Yale University Press,

From the back cover: The United Kingdom is claimed to have the highest population of ghosts in the world, a fair proportion of which "inhabit" its hostelries. Presented in this volume are over 800 spectrally afflicted alehouses and drinking dens. Within this book are details of these locations, hailing from nearly every region in the UK; while many public houses and clubs have a definite paucity of details, the owners and staff of some others are quite garrulous, even proud, when discussing their otherworldly guests.

From the back cover: West Norfolk provides a rich bounty of hitherto unknown ghost stories. While many of the more famous hauntings, such as Sandringham, Castle Rising and the various tales from King's Lyn are rightfully famous, there is an abundance of other tales. 

From the publisher's website: Wales is a land with a vast wealth of ghost stories, including fantastical animals, flickering death omens and unseen things that go bump in the night. Whether these tales are based on true events, or are the creations of active imaginations, is known only to those who have experienced them – but what is certain is that their power to delight and scare us remains undimmed to this day.

From the publisher's website: Into the Uncanny is the story of ordinary people who have experienced extraordinary things and want to make sense of them. Each one is a brand-new case never shared before; modern day, real-life ghost stories that will make your blood run cold. It is also a journey of self-discovery, as Danny explores what the paranormal means to us and the exciting and terrifying prospect that we are not alone. From poltergeists and apparitions, to UFOs and messages from beyond the grave, Into The Uncanny is a thrilling, adrenaline-filled supernatural adventure. Whether you're Team Believer or Team Sceptic, all you need is an open mind and a bit of courage. So, are you ready to investigate?

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

Review by Fred Andersson. 

From the back cover: The paranormal is more than just scary. It threatens our normal perceptions of reality and cuts to the core of human experience. This book and each individual chapter, in its own unique way, make this case by bringing together scientific research and scholarship from cultural and critical studies. Indeed, if the paranormal terrifies you even a little bit, imagine the impact on society if some of these exceptional experiences turn out to be true. Truth, as we will see, is often times stranger than fiction and is not so easily assured in our modern world of advancing technology and social change. Often relegated to myths or tall tales, the paranormal is rather already here among us, summoning and sometimes bedeviling us to reconsider our usual ways of understanding. This book is an invitation to just such a journey.

From the publisher's website: Terminal lucidity is a relatively common but poorly understood phenomenon. Near the end of life, many people--including those who have suffered brain injuries or strokes, or have been silenced by mental illness or deep dementia--experience what seems a miraculous return. They regain their clarity and energy, are able to talk with families and caregivers, recall their lives and often appear to be aware of their nearing death.

In this remarkable book, cognitive scientist and Director of the Viktor Frankl Institute Dr. Alexander Batthyány offers the first major account of terminal lucidity, utilizing hundreds of case studies and his research in the related field of near-death studies to explore the mind, the body, the nature of consciousness, and what the living can learn from those who are crossing the border from life to death.

Further information at the publisher's website: St. Martin's Essentials

From the back cover: The companion volume to the first in the "UK Haunted Hospitality" series, this work focusses on more than 800 spectrally infested hotels, bed and breakfast venues, camping and glamping sites etc. It would seem that some people enjoyed their stay so much they could not be coerced to leave in the afterlife, much to the bewilderment of staff and guests. From all areas of the UK, the quantity and quality of the haunted locations vary from simple - and sometimes vague - descriptions through to very detailed accounts from the proprietors themselves. Some managers were reluctant to speak of their phantom guests, while others proudly talked about their otherworldy visitor