Book Description:
This revised edition is more of a history than an encyclopedic study, although it is a thorough review of the literature of the occult and the paranormal, mystical, and religious roots of what can broadly be termed consciousness. The study is filled with useful information, although it tends to accept the information without evaluating how it fits into the fabric of science, when often the data directly conflict with the rest of science. One wonders, for example, why the magician James Randis exposure and duplication of psychic surgery is not mentioned (although his work on faith healing is). Most of the healings described have little or no scientific evidence to back them up. They may be useful in suggesting future research, but by themselves the data, and this book, must be used with caution.
- Gordon Stein, Univ. of Rhode Island, Kingston