Parapsychology: The Science of Unusual Experience
by R Roberts and D Groome (Editors)
Arnold, £12.99, ISBN 0340761687
Framed between introductory and summary chapters by Ron Roberts, ten British-based academics – including some, like Chris French and Richard Wiseman, well-known to readers of The Skeptic – present brief but well judged accounts of the state of current research on such topics as probability and coincidence, placebo effects, astrology, alien abductions, ESP, NDEs, meditation, and so on.
In this respect, the book clearly adopts a fairly wide interpretation of the term “Parapsychology” and, inevitably in a book of this length, the treatments of the individual topics cannot be comprehensive. Within these limitations, however, the discussions are reasonably detailed and the evidence (mostly) up-to-date.
It is the sort of book which I would happily recommend to a student seeking a way into the topic or to anyone wishing to get a flavour of modern, scientific, psychological analysis of paranormal phenomena. There is also a reasonable reference section to assist further study.
The emphasis is, obviously, on the role of psychological processes in these phenomena, and the stance of most of the writers could be characterised as “open-mindedly skeptical”. This means that even a “believer” friend of mine could read it through to the end and was moved to say that “at least it wasn’t just another debunking-fest” and that she had “learned a few things”. I imagine the authors would be well-pleased by this reaction. Veteran skeptics, however, may find much of the material familiar (although they will be surprised to discover on p.117 that Dr Johnson apparently wrote a three volume Life of Boswell!).
