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EXTRA SENSORY PERCEPTION: SUPPORT, SKEPTICISM, AND SCIENCE. VOLUME 1: HISTORY, CONTROVERSY, AND RESEARCH, edited by Edwin C. May and Sonali Bhatt Marwaha. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2015. Pp. xvii + 411 (hardcover). $131.00. ISBN 978-1-44083287-1
Extrasensory Perception. Support, Skepticism, and Science. Volume 1: History, Controversy, and Research provides an overview of avenues of current research on psi as well as those areas that probe non-psi territory, such as anomalistic psychology (why people may have mistaken impressions of witnessing psi and other phenomena), some relevant philosophy, and a skeptical criticism of the research. You will not find meta-analyses for each psi topic as in other books (Cardeña, Palmer, & Marcusson-Clavertz, 2015; Radin, 1997, 2006, & 2013), but you will obtain an understanding of the statistical issues, confounding problems, and contemporary lines of research in ESP studies.
Chapter 1, "The Fundamentals of Psi", by Edwin C. May and Sonali Bhatt Marwaha, provides an introduction to research on what is variously called "psi", "ESP", "and anomalous cognition". These terms are not fully interchangeable because psychokinesis is included in "psi" but not "ESP"; regardless, the authors of the two volumes switch use of terms, hopefully in a manner not confusing to the reader. Chapter 1 gives an overview of the major scientific questions posed by psi, assuming psi is real. The contrary view to this assumption is given in Chapter 6, otherwise, the chapter is a good overview of the challenges researchers are tackling but does reflect the opinions of May and Marwaha, especially the primacy of precognition as an explanatory problem over telepathy and clairvoyance and a skepticism of ontological dualism, especially aimed at arguments in favor of survival of consciousness.
Chapter 2, "A Brief History of Psi Research", by Nancy L. Zingrone and Carlos S. Alvarado, reviews the development of parapsychology from its origins in the mysticism of antiquity. In the same way that modern astronomy developed from astrology or modern chemistry from alchemy, a line can be drawn from the mystical practices of the ancient world to the modern era when scientists began to approach psi phenomena quantitatively using the scientific method. Zingrone and Alvarado trace this path through the oracles of the ancient world to the practice of mesmerism, the rise of Spiritualism, and the...