In Search of the Light: The Adventures of a Parapsychologist [Paperback]

Susan J. Blackmore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1996

'True skepticism has nothing to do with disbelief', says Susan Blackmore. 'It is about taking people's claims seriously and trying to understand them'. As a starry-eyed student, Blackmore was convinced of the reality of astral planes, telepathy, and life after death. She was determined to devote her life to parapsychology, but what she found wasn't what she had bargained for. None of her cleverly devised experiments revealed a hint of the psi she was seeking. In a determined effort to find it somehow, she tested young children in play groups, trained students in imagery and altered states of consciousness, and even put Tarot cards to the test. She visited haunted houses and was regressed to a 'past life'. Finally, accused of being a 'psi-inhibitory experimenter' with the power of abolishing paranormal effects, she visited other, more successful, experimenters. Here she found only errors in their experiments. In this new and updated edition of "The Adventures of a Parapsychologist", Blackmore is at last at liberty to explain just what she found in those ill-fated experiments at Cambridge. She brings her story up to date in a lively and personal account of one scientist's never-ending search for the paranormal.

Editorial Reviews

Review

As a college student Blackmore was determined to devise experiments to reveal the reality of parapsychology, but found her experiments revealed nothing. Her quest for parapsychological evidence along other paths constantly turned up faults in experiments: this new book charts her journey and reveals revelations in her field. -- Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Prometheus Books; 2nd edition (May 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573920614
• ISBN-13: 978-1573920612
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #444,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One More Reason why Psi doesn't Fly, June 15, 2000

By 

"freethoughtmecca" - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Search of the Light: The Adventures of a Parapsychologist (Paperback)

Blackmore's autobiography provides a great deal of insight into the motivations of psi researchers. Inspired by a drug induced OBE at Oxford, and encouraged by the occult interpretations given to such phenomenon by an earlier generation of parapsychologists and spiritualists, it becomes understandable that she began a search for the Holy Grail of psi, even earning a doctorate on the subject. Personal experience, however explicable by reference to the material world, still carries a strong emotive weight, engendering hopes for transcendent explanations. Despite a continuing stream of negative results, using a wide variety of methods, Blackmore continued for several years to research psi, until the dishonesty of some researchers, and the flaws in psi's definition caused her faith to erode. Thankfully, she takes with her an insider's understanding of the parapsychology movement that helps explain how a pseudo-science can perpetuate itself after a hundred or more years with undetectable progress.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This book changed my view of the world forever, June 19, 2000

By 

Jim Davies "Cognitive Scientist" (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: In Search of the Light: The Adventures of a Parapsychologist (Paperback)

I have not read this second edition, but I read the first edition in college back in 1991 or so. It changed my outlook on psychic abilities completely. It's pretty engagingly written, and profound too. I'd heard so much about the existance of psychic abilities but had never seen any scientific studies of it. This book is not only a great introduction to psychic phenomena, but a great introduction to the power of the scientific method. This book may be part of the reason I'm a scientist today. Thanks, Susan!

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating, but suffers from being a "second edition", September 22, 1998

By 

M. Broderick "mikebinok" (Oklahoma City, OK USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: In Search of the Light: The Adventures of a Parapsychologist (Paperback)

This is an intriguing book, and I was impressed by the sincerity of the author. She began her academic career determined to scientifically prove the paranormal, but over time became disenchanted when her experiments repeatedly failed to find "psi", and she found flaws in the experimental methods used by researchers who reported success. The book was originally published in 1986 or so, and has been updated with a few chapters added to the end. The book is valuable because the author is not a traditional debunker. I get the feeling she thinks there is something valuable to be discovered in studying "altered states", but she believes they are a construct of your mind, and doesn't think that psi is involved in them. I would have greatly appreciated a chapter trying to summarize all her ideas--There are a number of intriguing thoughts scattered through the book.