Ghost HuntersPrelude
1. The Night Side
2. A Spirit of Unbelief
3. Lights and Shadows
4. Metaphysics and Metatrousers
5. Infinite Rationality
6. All Ye Who Enter Here
7. The Principles of Psychology
8. The Invention of Ectoplasm
9. The Unearthly Archive
10. A Prophecy of Death
11. A Force Not Generally Recognized
12. A Ghost Story
Acknowledgments
Notes and Sources
Index
Pulitzer Prize winner Deborah Blum is a professor of science journalism at the University of Wisconsin. She worked as a newspaper science writer for twenty years, winning the Pulitzer in 1992 for her writing about primate research, which she turned into a book, The Monkey Wars (Oxford, 1994). Her other books include Sex on the Brain (Viking, 1997) and Love at Goon Park (Perseus, 2002). She has written about scientific research for The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Discover, Health, Psychology Today, and Mother Jones. She is a past president of the National Association of Science Writers and now serves on an advisory board to the World Federation of Science Journalists and the National Academy of Sciences.
Fascinating . . . Blum tells her literally wondrous tale very well.
(The New York Times Book Review)
A fascinating reminder that reason and revelation are not
opposites. (James Shreve, author of The Genome War)
In both Britain and the United States from roughly the 1850s to World War I, the general public was treated to a string of sensational presentations by mediums, a few of whom appeared to be genuine. The result was a widespread fascination with reaching the afterlife through such means as s?ances and planchette boards (forerunners of the Ouija board), which set the stage for the classic Victorian confrontation between religion and the emerging power of science. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Blum (The Monkey War) examines this conflict by reviewing the history of the British Society for Psychical Research and its U.S. counterpart, the American Society for Psychical Research, both of which aimed to find scientific proof of the existence of the supernatural. The author thoroughly covers the groups' principal members and their work, including philosopher and American Psychological Association founder William James, brother of novelist Henry James. She keeps the story moving and fleshes out each character. Her clearly written presentation of the history, frauds, and personalities involved in this unique slice of Victorian life is recommended for all history of science collections.-Michael D. Cramer, Schwarz BioSciences, RTP, NC Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
Fascinating . . . Blum tells her literally wondrous tale very well.
(The New York Times Book Review)
A fascinating reminder that reason and revelation are not
opposites. (James Shreve, author of The Genome War)
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