Reviewed by Nemo C. Mörck
By now Russell Targ barely needs an introduction. He is well-known for his involvement in the research on remote viewing (RV) at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in the 1970s. Targ has taught RV, written several books, and has appeared on New Thinking Allowed a number of times, hence there is plenty of easily accessible material for readers eager to learn more. Targ’s latest book is Third Eye Spies: Learn Remote Viewing from the Masters.
Paul H. Smith, a remote viewer and author (Smith, 2005, 2015) has provided an appropriate Foreword to the book, written with newcomers in mind: “It’s best if you think of Star Gate as two parallel, yet connected efforts—two forking trunks of the same tree, if you will. The first trunk was Star Gate’s research arm” (p. xvii). The second trunk was the psychic spying conducted by remote viewers at Fort Meade, though this is an oversimplification. Targ was mainly involved with the former.
Targ provides an Introduction and boldy claims:
One of my purposes here is to correct the misconception that psi, a more modern term for ESP, is weak and unreliable. On the contrary, in our laboratory experiments and classified operational tasks, psi was found to be surprisingly reliable, accurate, and useful (p. xxii).
The first chapter is devoted to the psychic Ingo Swann, regarded as the father of RV. Targ briefly covers Swann’s and Patrick Price’s accidental psychic spying of the NSA Sugar Grove station: “... our great success at Sugar Grove was the key to getting our first contract with the CIA. They funded us for the next twenty-two years.” However, as Smith explains in the Foreword the CIA only provided funding for a couple of years. The chapter ends with some recollections of Swann by Stephan Schwartz, also known for his research on RV. Schwartz notes that at the time he met them Harold Puthoff, Swann and (to a lesser extent) Edwin May were scientologists. Scientology offered a framework in which psychic abilities made sense. However, needless to say critics of the research would highlight the association to Scientology.
Targ, in contrast, was a member of the Theosophical Society. He joined the New York City branch in 1956. Targ writes about the founder of Theosophy, Helena Blavatsky, in the second chapter and also covers what may be called Extrasensory Perception of Quarks (Phillips, 1995).
The third chapter is devoted to the psychic Patrick Price (also a scientologist). Since Price contributed trials to the rather famous article published in Nature (Targ & Puthoff, 1974), one might be forgiven for expecting at least some commentary on the criticism that followed (e.g., see Marks, 2020 for a summary). However, it is not even mentioned once! Instead we get a story about Price’s involvement in locating the kidnappers of Patricia Hearst. It sounds like something out of a movie, but Targ writes: “We received a letter of thanks and commendation from the Berkeley Police Department for our efforts during the several days we worked with them” (p. 27) but does not publish this letter. One day Price did not show up when he was supposed to and Targ himself decided to act as the remote viewer: “I include this trial to illustrate that remote viewing is so easy and natural that even a scientist can do it” (p. 28).
Some of the research with Hella Hammid is covered in the fourth chapter. She was originally meant to serve as a non-psychic control subject, but turned out to be a good remote viewer. Once again, Schwartz shares some personal recollections before Targ takes over and describes some of the research with her. He then remarks: “... success is derived from the rapport between the remote viewer and interviewer—acting together as a single information-gathering team” (p. 37).
The fifth chapter is devoted to Gary Langford. He became involved after having told Targ about his many psychic experiences, and the results of his remote viewing trials suggests that he had some ability. In addition to being involved in research Langford was also one of the two remote viewers that tried to locate a crashed Russian airplane in Zaire. In an earlier book, Targ wrote that Joseph McMoneagle was involved by mistake (see Targ, 2012, p. 116).
Incidentally, the sixth chapter covers RV by McMoneagle. Targ writes that McMonealge had many psychic experiences during the war in Vietnam, but does not elaborate. By now McMonealge is certainly one of the most well-known remote viewers. However, the RV by “a cheerful young woman from the CIA” (p. 51) is as interesting, though the story has been told before. Targ claims: “The agency was very impressed with her success, and she became co-manager of a stand alone remote viewing program at CIA after the program at SRI was shut down” (p. 52). Needless to say, this claim is not supported by anything.
The eight chapter is devoted to precognition. Targ notes awareness of future events is provocative. However, he himself has had precognitive dreams. Targ writes that “... precognitive dreams tend to have (a) an unusual clarity and (b) often contain bizarre and unfamiliar material” (p. 61). Targ considers a precognitive dreams to provide a “forecast of events to come about in the future unless you do something to change them” (p. 66) and comments on the intervention paradox. Eventually, he covers the research by Bem (2011) but writes nothing about how it was received!
Finally, chapter nine, Learning How to Do Remote Viewing, is perhaps what prospective remote viewers will appreciate the most. Targ has taught RV for decades and generously shares his thoughts. He also recalls a meeting with Sidney Gottlieb, known for having headed the CIA’s notorious project MKUltra. In vain Gottlieb urged the researchers to give the remote viewers LSD – Targ did not regard that as a good idea! Targ also writes about the relation between RV and out-of-body experiences (OBEs). There are no sharp boundaries between them, but:
From my personal experience, OBEs are much more realistic, lifelike, and cinematic than the more diaphanous flickering in and out of most remote viewing experiences (p. 95).
Chapter ten is titled Incorporating Psychic Abilities into Your Life, but to a large extent it concerns Targ’s upbringing. Targ relates how he became interested in magic and in psychic abilities. He also recalls that it was a lecture by Morey Bernstein (known for The Search for Bridey Murphy) that drew him to the Theosophical Society. Through it he began to learn how to mediate and became interested in kundalini meditation. Eventually, Targ relates how he in 1972, at a conference on St. Simons Island, met the NASA chief administrator, James Fletcher. Targ’s account makes is sound as if he alone secured funding for psi research then and there! However, he wrote a proposal together with Harold Puthoff. They got funding, according to a Foreword attached to the final report (Targ, Cole & Puthoff, 1974) NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory initiated a contract with SRI in April 1973. It also states that “NASA has concluded that there is currently no basis for support of further investigations.” Before NASA provided money a bit of psi research had already been carried out at SRI on behalf of the CIA.
Targ then jumps from 1972 to 1982 when he was forced to leave SRI International. He then founded Delphi Associates with the psychic Keith Harary and the businessman Anthony White. Naturally, Targ covers the “Delphi Silver-Futures trials” - briefly put, RV was utilized to make money on the stock market. However, Targ does not mention the subsequent falling out with Harary (see Harary, 1991a, b, 1992a, b, 1994; Targ, 1992). He does however relate that he himself was involved in a successful replication attempt (i.e.,Targ et al., 1995).
Chapter ten is followed by an appendix titled Padmasambhava that ends with a comment from Targ: “I hope that you can make use of the techniques described in this book, that you have learned a little something from the masters, and that you, too, can do as they do” (p. 131). Personally, I fear that Targ has not provided enough for prospective remote viewers, but I could be wrong. Unfortunately, I found this book rather sketchy. I get that Targ did not wish to delve into technical details, but it seems fair for a reader to at least expect references to criticism. This book is frustrating reading for someone familiar with the literature. In addition, almost everything has been covered before, including by Targ. I am not the right person to recommend books about how to learn RV, but I am confident that there are more informative books on the market.
References
Bem, D. J. (2011). Feeling the future: experimental evidence for anomalous retroactive influences on cognition and affect. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 100(3), 407-425.
Harary, K. (1991a). [Letter to the Editor]. Skeptical Inquirer, 15(3), 331.
Harary, K. (1991b). Unfinished buisness. Skeptical Inquirer, 16(1), 87-88.
Harary, K. (1992a). The goose that laid silver eggs: A criticism of psi and silver futures forecasting. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 86(4), 375-409.
Harary, K. (1992b). [Letter to the Editor]. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 86(4), 436-437.
Harary, K. (1994). Confusion over Delphi silver-futures trials? Skeptical Inquirer, 18(4), 423-424.
Marks, D. F. (2020). Psychology and the paranormal: Exploring anomalous experience. SAGE.
Phillips, S. M. (1995). Extra-sensory perception of quarks. Theosophical Publishing House.
Smith, P. H. (2005). Reading the enemy’s mind: Inside Star Gate America’s psychic espionage program. Forge Books.
Smith, P. H. (2015). The essential guide to remote viewing: The secret military remote perception skill anyone can learn. Intentional Press.
Targ, R. (1992). [Letter to the Editor]. Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, 86(4),435-436.
Targ, R. (2012). The reality of ESP: A physicist’s proof of psychic abilities. Theosophical Publishing House.
Targ, R., Cole, P., & Puthoff, H. (1974). Development of techniques to enhance man/machine communication. Final Report.
Targ, R., Katra, J., Brown, D., & Wiegand, W. (1995). Viewing the future: A pilot study with an error-detecting protocol. Journal of Scientific Exploration, 9(3), 367-380.
Targ, R., & Puthoff, H. (1974). Information transmission under conditions of sensory shielding. Nature, 251(5476), 602-607.