Customer Reviews

The Paranormal: A Guide to the Unexplained

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This is one of the better books on the paranormal that I have read. At its bare minimum, it is a terrific book for the uninitiated, covering the basic subjects that fall under this heading: i.e. mediumship; magic (of which, as the author mentions, one's daily routine is a form of); telepathy; precognition; time-travel; OBEs; NDEs; past-lives; multiple-personality disorder; mass hysteria; ghosts; etc. And yet this esemplastic volume is more than just a crash-course or beginner's lesson into the paranormal - or as the author prefers, the "extrenormal." It is a serious study, somewhat cerebral in tone, and it far from takes a sensationalistic approach to the theme. For one thing, the author, although a believer in much of the phenomena itself, rejects Spiritualism (a movement born in 1848, and in large part, as here mentioned, originally feminist in nature, made up mostly of women, and directly related to the anti-patriarchal suffragettism of the day), leaning more towards parapsychological or psychical explanations for the anomalies encountered within the field. There is no such thing as the "supernatural" as far as North is concerned. On the other hand, North is neither a skeptic, commendably finding a middle-ground between credulity and close-minded, fanatical negating, with his rightful criticizing of CSICOP's dogmatically skeptical stance toward all things paranormal.

The author (a former member of the RAF) is obviously well-read and covers quite a bit of territory here, somehow managing to weave into these pages brief digressional discussions into areas such as the cabala, earth mysteries, Gnosticism, Feng shui, quantum physics; also delvings into Jungian and Freudian thought; as well as encompassing overviews of various schools of occultism and philosophy, dedicating one chapter to the mentioning of such thinkers as Plato, Aristotle, Bacon, Descartes, among others of the intellectual gentry. There are a handful of chapters that I found to be a bit brain-busting, but overall the book is less of a mental exercise and more of an absolutely fluid delight. The sometimes prosaic prose aside, the read is by no means a boring one, as the author frequently ties in both riveting anecdotal-evidential accounts (e.g. the case of Anna Windsor and her automatic writing; the case of Pearl Curran and her alleged Ouija board-inspired writings; the case of physical medium Daniel Dunglas Home) as well as summaries of fascinating scientific studies/experiments that have been done, as well as occasionally a personal experience or two, regardless of what topic is being discussed.

If there is one minor fault to be found, it's that, as much as the table of contents makes it out to seem like a jump-in-anywhere-you-want kind of book - and to some extent it can be read that way - it is more so a book that perhaps best be read from start to finish, in the order as the chapters appear, as throughout Mr. North weaves in and tries to tie together his motif (whether you agree with him or not).

That being, and here is where it gets a bit confusing, the idea of the "memory shop."

In the author's own words: "Thoughts are passed on to the individual's offspring; giving everyone access to a communal ancestral consciousness."

A theory which might help explain such things as deja vu and past-life regression. On the other hand, Mr. North will explain a phenomenon (as mediumship, for example) as being the product of the "split-brain," that being, perhaps a severed corpsus callosum. Viewing it this way, there are no spirit guides or invading non-human intelligences (a la Crowley's Aiwass), merely communication taking place between the two cerebral hemispheres. This might explain why a century ago the Virgin Mary of the Fatima sightings was being seen and why here in our space age the "gods" have taken on the form of space aliens and UFOs.

Perhaps North's perspective is best expressed in the following in-a-nutshell comment; quoting the author: "The message here is that reincarnation, ghosts, spirit manifestations and telepathy do not exist. They are merely various explanations to account for a single phenomenon - inherited memory. There are not lots of different phenomena. There are simply lots of different tags to confuse us."

And whether you agree with the author on this point or not, at least he doesn't go about hitting the reader over the head with it, which makes the book highly recommendable and still enjoyable to read (in its remaining overall impartial), regardless of whether you accept the author's own from time-to-time interjected, stated theory.

Yet as North writes, as real as the paranormal is, generally speaking, science continues to deny its existence. He offers reasons as to why this is.

As the author points out and cogently illustrates, if what we call "normal reality" is itself potentially an illusion, then how can this reality dare reject the paranormal?

Also, as North notes, science isn't infallible. For about 2000 years the geocentric Aristotelian view held sway, until it was proved that the Earth was indeed circling the sun and not the center of things. Then there is, as North continues, the instance of at one time, circa the 1700s, science's disbelief in meteorites, then thought of to be an absurd possibility.

Mr. North feels that as our society continues to become ever more swamped with trivial information, that humankind is increasingly being cut off from a greater, more enriching and meaningful consciousness. Quite true, Mr. North's articulately expressed conclusion is, in my opinion, the highlight of this book; a perspective that I am entirely on the same page with.

The Paranormal: A Guide To The Unexplained (1997; 250 pages) also contains 16 pages of b&w photos.

North has written a great overview of the paranormal, seen from a semi-skeptical perspective. This book explores unexplained phenomena from scientific, psychological, and philosophical perspectives. It's not a sensational grab-bag of ghost stories, but if you're looking for a thoughtful treatment, this Guide to the Unexplained should please.

I'd rather eat mud than read this whole book. It is sooodry and I hate it. If you want to read a book that manipulate intersting subjects such as levitation than buy this book. It could even make the fantastic tale of Harry Potter become wretchedly boring!

i was pleased with the content of the book. it was a good deal