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MCTAGGART, LYNNE. (2007). The intention experiment: Using your thoughts to change your life and the world. New York: Free Press. xxxi + 303 pp. ISBN 0-7432-7696-5. Softbound, $15.00. Reviewed by Randy Fauver.
With the recent popularity of films such as What the Bleep and The Secret, public interest in the notion that we create our own reality is higher than ever. In her book, The Intention Experiment, Lynne McTaggart (2007) removes the new age veneer to report on an astonishing array of experiments showing the power of intention to influence the worlds within and around us. Though written for a lay audience, the book may prove a valuable resource for therapists and researchers as well, with its well-organized presentation of the field's best empirical research and 23 page bibliography.
The main body of the book is comprised of three sections. The first section opens with an explanation of how intention might work. Based largely on a little-known branch of quantum physics called the zero point field, this is possibly the most speculative part of the book. The zero point field is well documented, but its role in carrying intention is uncertain and there are myriad alternative proposed mechanisms of action the author doesn't address. See McTaggart's earlier work, The Field (2008) (recently updated), for a more thorough presentation of the zero point field's qualities and possible ramifications.
The book moves to firmer ground with its discussion of the more conventional subatomic levels of quantum interconnection, what Einstein termed "spooky action at a distance" (Einstein & Born,...