The ParaScience Pack
by Uri Geller and Ron van der Meer
Van der Meer Publishing, £29.99, ISBN 1902413520
It’s not every book that comes complete with its own dowsing rods. Not to mention a scrying disk, a crystal supplied by a “crystal healer” and various bits of esoteric paraphernalia for testing your psychic powers. It includes instructions on how to see your own aura, and quizzes you can do to find out whether you’re psychic and whether you’ve ever been abducted by aliens without knowing it. I worked my way through the various exercises and questionnaires and discovered that I’m not psychic, and have never been abducted. No surprises there.
Though maybe I didn’t give some of it an even chance – I must admit that my flooded back garden in a rainstorm is not the ideal place or time to give dowsing a fair trial.
Joking apart, this book offers a bizarre and fascinating introduction to what Geller calls parascience and others might call pseudoscience. Clearly (if rather credulously) written, the book sets out the basic concepts behind faith healing, auras, spiritualism, reincarnation, graphology, firewalking, palmistry, astrology, levitation, out-of-body experiences and a host of other supernatural subjects. Hardened skeptic though I am, I have to admire the depth of research that has gone into the book, and the clear and concise way in which the subject matter is presented.
And the book is beautiful. Ron Van der Meer specialises in what are known as “pop-up books” but this is a totally inadequate description. His wonderful three-dimensional paper sculptures leap out of the page and amaze the reader with their beauty and complexity. Regardless of context, they are astounding and stunningly effective. Shame I can’t say the same about the dowsing rods.
