I saw this book referenced in Pierre's book Earth Changes and the Human-Cosmic Connection, so I bought it and finished it recently.
It's basically a description of the various psi experiments (telepathy, telekinesis etc.) conducted past and present. I found it very interesting, also because I didn't know a lot about this before. There seems little doubt that these phenomena are real, that they can be tested experimentally, and have been confirmed again and again in well-designed settings by researchers over the years.
The book can be a bit technical, but it's really worth to read it cover from cover - you can learn a lot about the methods of scientific research in general, statistical methods in particular. This is very useful knowledge to have in order to evaluate scientific findings in many different fields. The psi researchers have been attacked so often by the scientific orthodoxy that they refined their methods to the point where they might have become some of the best and methodologically soundest researchers out there. Very interesting!
The author is also well-versed in the various psychological defense mechanisms, the ways in which scientists can delude themselves, cognitive dissonance, errors in judgement, the various tactics of the die-hard "sceptics" etc. The second part of the book deals with these issues and the presentation of the concepts is very useful and well-written.
In the third part of the book, the author talks about the philosophical implications of psi research and discusses the many problems of the materialistic/reductionist world view that is still predominant in science. I especially liked that he collected many interesting quotes from famous scientists who doubted this rather primitive view of the cosmos. Good fodder to bring up in discussions should the need arise.
All in all, I can highly recommend the book for those interested in the topics outlined above.
Here's the Amazon link: _https://www.amazon.com/Conscious-Universe-Scientific-Psychic-Phenomena/dp/0061778990
It's basically a description of the various psi experiments (telepathy, telekinesis etc.) conducted past and present. I found it very interesting, also because I didn't know a lot about this before. There seems little doubt that these phenomena are real, that they can be tested experimentally, and have been confirmed again and again in well-designed settings by researchers over the years.
The book can be a bit technical, but it's really worth to read it cover from cover - you can learn a lot about the methods of scientific research in general, statistical methods in particular. This is very useful knowledge to have in order to evaluate scientific findings in many different fields. The psi researchers have been attacked so often by the scientific orthodoxy that they refined their methods to the point where they might have become some of the best and methodologically soundest researchers out there. Very interesting!
The author is also well-versed in the various psychological defense mechanisms, the ways in which scientists can delude themselves, cognitive dissonance, errors in judgement, the various tactics of the die-hard "sceptics" etc. The second part of the book deals with these issues and the presentation of the concepts is very useful and well-written.
In the third part of the book, the author talks about the philosophical implications of psi research and discusses the many problems of the materialistic/reductionist world view that is still predominant in science. I especially liked that he collected many interesting quotes from famous scientists who doubted this rather primitive view of the cosmos. Good fodder to bring up in discussions should the need arise.
All in all, I can highly recommend the book for those interested in the topics outlined above.
Here's the Amazon link: _https://www.amazon.com/Conscious-Universe-Scientific-Psychic-Phenomena/dp/0061778990