Parapsychology Today Author:J.B. Rhine & Robert Brier Parapsychology brings a vigorous new approach to the study of man's nature. This challenging Young branch of science examines. through controlled experimental Studies, certain human powers that have long puzzled mankind-powers commonly called "psychic", and better termed "psi." — ESP (extrasensory perception) is well known as the main focus of th... more »is field of research. Its subdivisions - clairvoyance, telepathy, and precognition - have become equally familiar. Today PK ( psychokincsis, the direct action of mind on matter) is making its way into the forefront of experimental study, while man\ more aspects of the field are coming under examination as this survey indicates. Most notable is the new research in precognition-the ability to foresee future events. It is the precognitive aspect of parapsychology that makes this ability seem most revolutionary. because physical explanations are obviously inadequate to explain ESP-of-the-future. This volume is a current harvest of the best of parapsychology, gleaned from six countries and 23 authors, presented for the general reader as well as the professional and scientific audience-for all who want to keel) up with vear-bv-~car advances in this new area of exploration. What do these papers report? The general headings are: New ways and means of research; the effect of test conditions on success: and the influence of the subject's attitude on the results. Then come two survey papers; one on the reactions of senior parapsychologists to the problems of young workers today, the other on current attitudes of representative psychologists toward parapsychology. At the end. four author, look at parapsychology from the points of view of religion, of Marxism. of psychology, and from the perspective of the parapsychologists themselves.
Who are the 23 authors? Eighteen of them arc the research workers who reported on their own experiments. Although a half dozen professions are represented, a majority consider themselves primarily parapsychologists. They come from Sweden, India, Britain, Czechoslovakia, Japan, and from a half-dozen cities of the United States. They combine to provide a comprehensive view of parapsychology at work. In addition, five authors offer surveys and addresses on the value and meaning of the findings of parapsychology-a British psychologist who has been knighted for his achievements: two of the leaders in American parapsychology; a university chaplain, and a former Russian intelligence officer. Finally, the editing: While the Institute for Parapsychology at Durham, North Carolina. sponsored the meetings at which the papers were given, and while the editors are staff members of the Institute, the point of view is international. But it is "inter-annual" too, since the book is to be the first of a series of cross section reports on parapsychology as that science makes its way, year by year, into the future. Progress is already quite evident as the next volume of Parapsychology Today begins to take shape.« less