BOOK REVIEW: Handbook of PSI Discoveries
By Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder
If you know me, you know that any book on the paranormal or psychical research that is for sale, is coming home with me. I don't care if the material inside is outdated and obsolete, I am fascinated by every era of research into the unknown. Like in the case of many of my books I purchased this one at my local used book store, Wonder Book and Video. The copyright on the book says 1974 with a dedication page devoted to Marjorie D. Kern and Ivan T. Sanderson.
The contents of this book read like a how-to much like a lot of books you see regurgitated by many ghost hunters and paranormal investigators in this day and age. The one leg up this book gives is their writing style is clear and concise. There is no dramatic play by play, just facts as they knew them to be at the time. This handbook covers many definitions of psychical research and metaphysical topics with details on how to approach techniques and analysis.
One of my favorite quotes in the book doesn't come from the authors rather from a science writer Arthur C. Clarke, "When an elderly and distinguished scientist tells you something is impossible, he is almost certainly wrong. The experts can spot all the difficulties, but lack the imagination and vision to see how they can be overcome. The layman's ignorant optimism turns out, in the long run--and often in the short run--to be nearer the truth." After reading that quote I found myself pondering how we are always learning and the best choice is to be humble and allow for ourselves to not be diverted by the impossibilities. We can be skeptical, but there are too many experiences to be examined to say that the paranormal is impossible.
While many may ask, what is the point of having or reading a book that is out of date? One of the key elements of education is to learn where we have been before and use the information as a foundation to build on. This particular handbook covers a lot of history of research that includes Plant Energy, Kirlian Photography, new photography, ESP, Telepathy, Psychokinesis, early EVP, and more. The topics are fascinating and the dedication to the information provided makes this an excellent book for those who are into a deeper understanding of the universe and how energy is a key component in psychical or paranormal research.
The voice phenomena chapter in the book that discusses tape recorders (yes TAPE RECORDERS) has an additional quote that kept my interest moving all the way to the end. The quote by Thomas Edison which was published in the Scientific American (October 30, 1920) "If our personality survives, then it is strictly logical and scientific to assume that it retains memory, intellect, and other faculties and knowledge that we acquire on this earth. Therefore, if personality exists after what we call death, it's reasonable to conclude that those who leave this earth would like to communicate with those they have left here... I am inclined to believe that our personality hereafter will be able to affect matter. If this reasoning be correct, then, if we can evolve an instrument so delicate as to be affected, or moved, or manipulated... by our personality as it survives in the next life, such an instrument, when made available, ought to record something." I will leave you to purchase the book to determine what he was discussing and how the book covers the idea that Electronic Voice Phenomena may be exactly the solution to the subject matter he was discussing.
I personally love this book. Most paranormal books are boring but this one is a wealth of knowledge that wasn't just another regurgitation of things we already know.
Rebecca Boyer
Co-Founder/ Case Manager
Antietam Paranormal Society
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