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Encounters With the Paranormal: Science, Knowledge, and Belief

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This book is an anthology of some of the most outstanding and excellent Skeptical Inquirer articles from 1991-1997. The title "Encounters with the Paranormal" may not be the as appropriate as its subtitle "Science, Knowledge, and Belief" especially in view of part one which is entitled "Science, Imagination, and Responsibility". But with its eight other parts including "Science, Pseudoscience, and Pathological Science", Psychology and the Claims of Psi", "Social Dynamics and Belief", "The Malleability of Memory", this books covers a lot of ground indeed. It's particularly useful for finding out quickly yet comprehensively about specific paranormal issues. A great buy for those of us with limited attention spans.

All 52 contributions to Encounters with the Paranormal had, before it was published in 1998, been featured in Skeptical Enquirer, the magazine published by the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of the Paranormal (CSICOP). Kendrick Frazier, member of the board of CSICOP, has divided up the anthology into nine different sections, with titles such as "Science and the psychology of belief" and "Science, imagination, and responsibility". Some of the subject matters include lie detectors, mass hysteria, false memories, the importance of serious science, and more.

And it's all about skepticism in this book. Serious skepticism.

Which is both good and bad. I very much agree that skepticism, rationality, and the use of the scientific methodology is essential to any investigation of alleged paranormal phenomena, and not surprisingly, every contributing author does his skeptical share. To such a degree that any reader disagreeing with the pro-science team is better off staying as far away from this book as possible, since the general attitude is that nothing is worth doing unless it's done according to the rules of science. Like many other passionate skeptics these too seem to be completely unsympathetic to anyone with a worldview differing from the one they've chosen to embrace. And quite frankly, this narrow view of their fellow man made me very bored very quickly; unflinching skepticism isn't easy to make interesting throughout an entire book.

And the title is somewhat misleading, because a large number of the contributions are more about how to conduct a scientific investigation of a certain paranormal phenomenon than the phenomenon itself. Adding to that, on several occasions you get the feeling that it's not about the paranormal at all; two of these instances being the in America very common belief that secret Satanic cults kidnap and sacrifice small children along with therapists how use dubious therapy methods and as a result make their patients believe they were sexually molested at a young age.

Encounters with the Paranormal is a tough and trying book to read. Unfortunately, because the content is important. Most people would benefit greatly from reading it, but I don't think very many of them will have the patience and determination to do so.