Lake monsters, Yetis, UFOs, crop circles, guardian angels and visions of the Virgin Mary can all be described as apparitions, and this book weaves together an account of them. It argues that only in the last three centuries or so, and only in Western culture, they're as lively as ever. But, the author suggests, they can be made intelligible again by appealing to a different world-view. Three of the chief models for understanding mind and world are Jung's "Collective World", which is used to illuminate the links between the apparently disparate experiences being dealt with.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Today's Books rates this book a "MUST READ" -- Today's Books - September 2004
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
40 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Harpur gives us a taxonomy of spirits - some will be recognizable to those familiar with this strange field, others might be new. For example, Harpur describes a series of strange,, phantom social workers who visited homes a few years ago in England. One thing about these social workers, and the men-in-black described by John Keel in The Mothman Prophecies, is how they seem to dress and act in ways that are exaggerated stereotypes. The female social workers with their hair in tight little buns, and the MIB's in their improbably starched white shirts. It is as if these characters were dressing for a part, and overdid it just a bit. The serious ghost hunters reference Harpur's book for its thoughtfulness, and often put it up there will Charles Fort and Jacques Valle in its impact. Recommended.......but destined to sit aside lesser works under the New Age banner at your local bookstore. That has always been the problem with this frustrating field - preaching to the chior.
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a book that urgently needed to be written, an intelligent and genuinely thoughtful examination of anomalous phenomena like "UFO" and "fairy" sightings. I've spent time in rural India where these types of experiences are still amazingly common. In India the World Soul or anima mundi is called the mahat ("great mind") and is understood as the source of many extra-ordinary phenomena. On the one hand they are recognized as hallucinations (maya); on the other, they reflect the incursion of the tanmatras (subtle matter) into our physical experience, and in that sense are completely real.
I'm grateful to Harpur for reintroducing the World Soul to jaded Western readers who may have lost sight of the mysterious "Other World" which co-exists with our modern rational universe in such an uneasy manner. He's onto something important here. This book is a classic; I'm certain people will still be reading it a century from now.
I'm grateful to Harpur for reintroducing the World Soul to jaded Western readers who may have lost sight of the mysterious "Other World" which co-exists with our modern rational universe in such an uneasy manner. He's onto something important here. This book is a classic; I'm certain people will still be reading it a century from now.
42 of 46 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide To The Otherworld by Patrick Harpur offers a uniquely holistic and metaphysical perspective concerning otherworldly events such as UFOs, fairies, phantom animals, visions of the Virgin Mary, alien abductions, and more. Presenting the theory of Daimonic Reality, which perceives certain creatures and things to be not literally real (incapable of being unequivocally proven to exist) but rather Daemonically real (always being expressed in one form or another no matter how heavily skeptical opinions proclaim otherwise), Daimonic Reality is a thoughtful and fascinatingly unique look at the realm of the bizarre. Daimonic Reality is a "must read" title for dedicated students of religion, mythology, metaphysics, and paranormal studies.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Patrick Harpur's 'Daimonic Reality' is a thoughtful (but not wholly...
Like other seriously challenging works on the paranormal, British writer Patrick Harpur's `Daimonic Reality: a Field Guide to the Otherworld' is not an easy book to summarise in a... Read more
Published 19 days ago by The Guardian
5.0 out of 5 stars
A daimonic book
"Daimonic Reality" is a difficult book to review. It had an almost "daimonic" effect on me: paradoxical, Trickster-like, annoyingly incomprehensible - yet, somehow profound. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Ashtar Command
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lovin' It!
The Author really does make an effort, it seems, towards objectivity and acceptance of linear and non-linear points of view. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Chakracon
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, profound, and transformative
This tragically under-known gem is the most brilliant book on the deeper nature of the world that I've ever encountered (and I've met a *lot* of such books). Read more
Published 15 months ago by Tricky Widget
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding Highly Recommended!
Patrick Harpur has created essentially the best guide to the supernatural ever. For those who may have difficulty with understanding what exactly the supernatural is, for having... Read more
Published 23 months ago by D. Moler
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Classic
Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the OtherworldI'm not sure where to begin with this tome, I'm an arm-chair philosopher, I don't have an advanced degree. Read more
Published on March 14, 2011 by G. Ridgeway
5.0 out of 5 stars
I can't stop talking about it.
This book is by far one of my favorites. People try to punch me all the time because I always talk about the ideas this book puts forward.
It makes you think. Read more
It makes you think. Read more
Published on December 20, 2010 by E.D. Gunn
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant
Patrick Harpur has really hit the proverbial nail on its head with this work. I've studied philosophy, comparative religion, psychology, spiritualism, metaphysics, the paranormal,... Read more
Published on October 5, 2010 by Ellzeena
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best ever book on 'otherworldly' phenomena
This book has been a longtime favourite of mine- it was originally published in 1994 and has achieved something close to classic status now for many students of the paranormal. Read more
Published on January 25, 2010 by Mr. Timothy S. Jones
2.0 out of 5 stars
Daimonic Confusion
I am almost through with this book, and after looking up the definitions of both the "collective unconscious" and "anima mundi", I still can't figure out what he is trying to say... Read more
Published on November 20, 2008 by Catherine
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