Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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64 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Consummate RV History, February 21, 2005
Paul Smith has done a remarkable job in tying together the numerous loose strings left dangling in other works on remote viewing (RV); consequently, this book will be considered a seminal work in this field. Many of the pioneers already have published significant works. For those new to RV, following are some of the more important books to consider: Hal Puthoff and Russell Targ began the public outing of remote viewing in their work `Mind Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Abilities' in 1977. (Targ recently published `Limitless Mind: A Guide to Remote Viewing and Transformation of Consciousness,' an overview and `how to' of remote viewing and remote influencing). Although not a member of the military unit, Jim Schnabel's 1997 book `Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Psychic Spies' was the first full public accounting of the U.S. government's use of RV. Since then, we have seen several of the major players in military RV publish their accounts. Joe McMoneagle, the most widely known of the military viewers, has published four very significant books on RV, most recently, `The Stargate Chronicles; Memoirs of a Psychic Spy.' Fred Atwater published `Captain of My Ship, Master of My Soul: Living With Guidance,' which went beyond the usual `I was there' recollection to provoking the reader to exploring the metaphysical. Lyn Buchanan authored the excellent `The Seventh Sense: The Secrets of Remote Viewing as Told by a "Psychic Spy" for the U.S. Military.' Of interest, Lyn details the critically important observation that remote viewers have different strengths and that it is crucial to database viewing results to increase the accuracy of RV sessions. Dale Graff, one of the unit's directors, has authored two books in this area: `Tracks in the Psychic Wilderness: An Exploration of Remote Viewing, ESP, Precognative Dreaming, and Synchronicity,' and `River Dreams: The Case of the Missing General and Other Adventures in Psychic Research.'
Most of these authors were hindered by security or personal concerns-Paul was able to bring a large portion of what remained hidden into the open. What sets Paul's book apart from the others is his attention to the philosophy and meaning Ingo Swann imparted behind each of the stages he developed (along with Hal Puthoff) for controlled remote viewing. Paul remains the faithful student of Ingo's teachings, and takes great pains to elaborate on the how and why behind the stages of controlled remote viewing.
Of interest, approaches to RV are as distinct as the people who practice it. For example, while Lyn Buchanan believes that you should practice ideograms until your subconscious is trained to immediately associate a specific ideogram with a specific item or activity (e.g., a wavy line equates to water) that you receive from the signal line, Paul Smith doesn't feel this is necessary. Dale Graff thinks that Swann's rigid process of controlled remote viewing may not be necessary as one may be able to obtain target data through directed precognitive dreaming. One common thread through the majority of the military viewers is that RV is a form of martial art (e.g., Joe McMoneagle's Rvdo), and requires practice like any martial art to develop expertise.
Be advised that there are other non-military RV practitioners worth noting such as Dr. Angela Thompson Smith who authored `Remote Perceptions: Out-of-Body Experiences, Remote Viewing, and Other Natural Abilities.' Stephen Schwartz has used RV to conduct archeological digs (see `The Alexandria Project' and `The Secret Vaults of Time: Psychic Archaeology and the Quest for Man's Beginnings.') For those wondering why, if all of this is real, hasn't the scientific community acknowledged its existence should read Dr. Dean Radin's work summarizing the over 130 years of valid scientific research in psi in his book `The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena.'
And then there is Ingo. Considered the father of controlled remote viewing, he has authored numerous books, and has been writing his own history of RV which can be accessed at his website http://www.biomindsuperpowers.com/
Finally, those who are interested in knowing the current status of RV should visit the International Remote Viewing Association's website at http://www.irva.org/
In summation, Paul Smith's book is a must read for those who want the most complete, up-to-date accounting of RV and it's rise and fall in the U.S. government.
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Smoothly readable and extremely informed, August 3, 2005
Author Paul Smith, a former intelligence officer in the famous US government STAR GATE program, clearly waited to publish this until he could have "the last word" in a field where half a dozen participants have already published books about their experience in the program.
This gave him good positioning for reviewing not only his experience and the program overall, but anything written by others. It allowed a great deal of information collection for hindsight, which is one of the strongest feelings of the book--that someone took plenty of time to dot the I's and cross the T's.
The book is written very smoothly, and so despite being information-dense, it's highly readable. It doesn't feel like a textbook. It combines a good read with a ton of info, something difficult to do in nonfiction. He did a nice job.
There are a few event-points that he 'wrote over' quite elegantly, that rendered a couple significant issues invisible, and maintained a picture of history I feel is more creative and preferred by him, and less factual objectively. The 'suave grace of the writing' crossed the line to 'smooth talker' there (reminding me he's an intelligence expert). Nobody without a close association to either those events or those in even better position for facts on those events would think to question though.
I give it 5 stars because it's immensely readable, intensely filled with information, and given some of the books by former participants have been closer to fiction than non-fiction, Smith's book is an education for those new to RV and a big relief to those already involved with it.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Scientific Remote Viewing wins over Psychic Cleo, April 15, 2005
Amazingly coherent, exceptionally well-stated book that accurately (and with no touchy-feely New Age hyperbole) describes the evolution, history and performance of the modern--and now defunct--US Government Remote Viewing program.
Usually books investigating the Remote Viewing phenomena are one of two types; either they are emotive screeds for the "true believers," or they are dismissive to the point of being arrogantly pretentious, offering no reasonable analysis of why the US Government investigated for over 20-yrs a phenomena of interest that potentially affects the national security of the United States.
Paul Smith is an extraordinarily gifted Remote Viewing historian. He possesses a keen intellect and insists upon facts and "ground truth," and he brings that integrity to this book. Paul does not accept hearsay. He demands protocol and proof, and in this book he documents well the history of the US Government Remote Viewing program, his recruitment, training and education in Remote Viewing, as well as his efforts to keep the program loyal to the disciplined methodologies that bring some level of credibility to the program. While Ingo Swann, the "father of modern Remote Viewing" plays an important role in the evolution of the program, it is people like Paul Smith that made the program real, reliable and credibly represented.
Science is a realm of absolutes, and while Remote Viewing may never be able to adhere to the highest tenants of scientific methodologies, it is, nonetheless, and interesting phenomena that requires further study.
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