ESP Books

This book was a Goddess send. It helped me so much dealing with negative people and influences. I recommend to anyone who has alot of these issues and cannot figure out why? This book has some really good material that was very helpful to me. Very helpful I cannot believe the changes it has made for me.

I am a pragmatic individual, not into magical or unseen things, but after I was attuned through Reiki 3, I found that there is a need for protection and grounding against negative energy and those that would drain or use you. An interesting read, I found the exercises and advice extremely helpful. Whether you believe in things unseen or not, it is essential to psychically protect your family and yourself from outside negative influences, energy and evil. This book is a positive tool for change and empowerment.

Ms. Stein's Essential Energy Balancing Process is fantastic. I was skeptical at first, but went into the process with an open mind and heart. The energy shift I experienced during the process and for a long time afterwards was like nothing I have ever felt. The incredible joy and release that accompanied the process is well worth the work to learn. All I can say is, don't knock it until you've really, TRULY tried it. And remember, even if you THINK you're open, if you aren't really, you won't experience a darn thing. That is not Ms. Stein's fault - that is your own. She gave you a divinely inspired tool. Use it. This book is not optional, but mandatory reading (as are all the Energy Balancing books) for personal/spiritual growth and enlightenment. It is probably impossible to describe the beauty of its affects - you really just have to experience it for yourself.

Blend a coverage of psychic protection plans with an overview of how to heal through psychic energy and you have Diane Stein's Reliance On The Light, a title which will appeal to both healers and lay readers. Chapters tell how to identify negative interference in lives and how to psychically protect oneself.

Sheilaa's book taught me how to use my own power of intention to make things happen. I followed one of her "plans" for attracting someone special and it worked! Not only did it work, I feel like I have gone from having no control to having total control over the way I want things to go. You might be a little overwhelmed at first by the extent of items that you are encouraged to use in the "recipes", but I found that even if I just focused in on the majority of the instructions, it still worked. I think knowing how talented the author was before reading the book, definitely extinguished any skepticism I might have had, and you can trust me that this woman is truly gifted in her psychic abilities and that you can trust that as long as you follow her recommendations and tap into your own power of intention you will be successful too.

What's great about Sheilaa Hite's book is that it gives you the tools to get your results. She says "A ritual is an organized plan to achieve a goal." It's hard not to achieve your goal with the steps she gives you. They work!!!

I have read Sheilaa Hite's book and am amazed at her wisdom, insight, and ability to motivate me to completely transform my life for the better. I'll be reading this book more than once, because there is so much information I can use in it. I'm telling everyone to get this book!

"Delightfully DIVINE!" were the first words that appeared in my mind when I finished Secrets of a Psychic Counselor.

As a holistic counselor, writer for a self-help magazine for Black women and avid reader of philosophy, spirituality and counseling/theraputic and self-help texts, I found this work delightfully accessible and substantive lending itself to the individual looking for help with life's challenges as well as the practitioner looking for ideas and techniques to help her/his clients. I immediately saw the potential for Ms. Hite's courses of action for individuals and even groups.

I enjoy the work of author's such as Caroline Myss, Marianne Williamson, Sylvia Browne, etc., and now Sheilaa Hite has given us yet another very much needed dimension to this genre that is more directive and easy to follow in its sagacious simplicity and real-world flavor. Ms. Hite helps us to deal more with the here & now and the fact that we are alive TODAY! We need help with THIS LIFE. We need it NOW! We need specific and direct courses action of action to follow and get results. This work will be a comfort to the soul searching for those elusive secrets to how one eases the pain...the disappointment and allows LOVE, SUCCESS, BEAUTY & PROSPERITY into their lives.

One almost feels as if she/he is eavesdropping as we join Ms. Hite in her sessions and work with clients. Her reverence and respect for the individual is abundantly clear in the way she honors them as they go through their own process. Clients and readers are blessed with a glorious sense of themselves and their essential POWER when a counselor like Ms. Hite removes her own ego and will from the equation by offering a supportive environment for the individual to do their own work. Ms. Hite provides loving/nurturing guidance and a specific course of action for a person to get what they want, get rid of what they do not want and simply BE all that they might BE. She sets her intention, offers a prayer for the optimal outcome for her client and then she leaves it to the client (the reader) and the Creator. As it should be. As it is.

It was sincerely DELIGHTFUL to read and witness Sheilaa Hite's Divine work with her clients.

This work will bless and help everyone who reads it in a real and dynamic way.

I will recommend this book as a tool for my clients to help enhance the work they are doing in different areas of their lives.

IT CAN'T NOT HELP!

Thankyou Shelaa Hite!

Lisa Bartley-Lacey, MA

This is a collection of essays from skeptics, edited by Paul Kurtz and issued on the 25th anniversary of CSICOP (the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal). I especially recommend it to paranormal researchers and those who consider themselves to be believers, to really think about what it is they believe and consider evidence of the veracity of that belief. The essays are as follows:

Introduction: The Founding of the Skeptical Movement (Paul Kurtz)

=I. Twenty-Five Years of CSICOP
1. From the Editor's Seat: Thoughts on Science and Skepticism at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century (Kendrick Frazier)
2. Science vs. Pseudoscience, Nonscience, and Nonsense (James Alcock)
3. Never a Dull Moment (Barry Karr)
4. The Origins and Evolution of CSICOP: Science is Too Important to Be Left to Scientists (Lee Nisbet)
5. My Personal Involvement: A Quarter Century of Skeptical Inquiry (Paul Kurtz)

=II. Parapsychology
6. Why I Have Given Up (Susan Blackmore)
7. The Magician and the Think Tank (Leon Jaroff)
8. From Fate to Skeptical Inquirer (Barry L. Beyerstein)

=III. UFOs
9. UFOs: An Innocent Myth Turned Evil (Philip J. Klass)
10. The Odyssey of a UFO Skeptic (Robert Sheaffer)
11. Roswell Alien Descendants Come of Age (Bill Nye)
12. Metamorphosis: A Life's Journey from "Believer" to "Skeptic" (Gary P. Posner)

=IV. Astronomy and the Space Age
13. Killer-Comets, Pseudocosmogony, and Little Green Men (David Morrison)
14. Certain Uncertainties (Neil deGrasse Tyson)

=V. Astrology
15. Does Astrology Work? Astrology and Skepticism 1975-2000 (Geoffrey Dean and Ivan W. Kelly)
16. The Battle Against Pseudoscience: The Case of Astrology (Jean-Claude Pecker)

=VI. Popular Investigations
17. Adventures of a Paranormal Investigator (Joe Nickell)
18. Diary of a Canadian Debunker (Henry Gordon)

=VII. Creationism
19. My Favorite Pseudoscience (Eugenie Scott)

=VIII. Alternative Medicine
20. "Alternative Medicine": How It Demonstrates Characteristics of Pseudoscience, Cult, and Confidence Game (Wallace Sampson)

=IX. Skepticism Around the World
21. A Dozen Years of Dutch Skepticism (Cornelis de Jager and Jan WIllem Nienhuys)
22. A New Hope: From a Good Idea to Real Change (Massimo Polidoro)
23. A Skeptic in a Strange Land (Mario Mendez-Acosta)
24. Skepticism in Russia: Past and Present (Valerii A. Kuvakin)
25. Liberation from the Dark Dungeons of Blind Belief (Sanal Edamaruku)
26. Scientists, Educators, and Journalists Against the Demon's Temptation (Luis Alfonso Gamez)

=X. Some Personal Reflections
27. Skepticism and Science (Vern L. Bullogh)
28. Let Us Reflect: How a Thoughtful, Inquiring Watchman Provided a Mark to Aim At (Michael Shermer)
29. The Importance of Skepticism (Steve Allen)
30. When Corporations Embraced "Transformational Technologies" (Bela Scheiber)

=XI. Religion
31. Confessions of a Skeptic (Martin Gardner)
32. The Breath of God: Identifying Spiritual Energy (Victor J. Stenger)
33. Skepticism About Religion (Antony Flew)
34. Beyond the Bible Code: Hidden Messages Everywhere! (David E. Thomas)

=XII. From Skepticism to Humanism
35. In Retrospect: From Skeptic to Humanist (Robert A. Baker)

This is a wonderful and broad collection of outstanding essays on skepticism and the paranormal. However, in another sense, the situation is sad, in that literature about the paranormal is often divided into two philosophical camps, the literature of the believers and the literature of the skeptics. Most books are either the believers' "WooWoo du Jour" (channeling, UFOs, ghosts, etc.) -- a vast region of thousands of fringe books, or the books are in a much smaller scientific materialist camp of under a hundred books. And sadly, neither camp SERIOUSLY considers the literature of their rivals. For example, athough right 90% of the time, skepticism often ends up throwing the baby out with the bathwater, as in native herbalism cures sometimes classified these days as "Alternative Medicine."

The fact is, whether one believes in such things or not, these things are embedded in human culture over thousands of years, and mythological thinking is part of how the human mind thinks...that is the key. One should not lump together the deceivers and outright hoaxes, with the self-deluded or cases of paradolia, as skeptic literature often does. People seek meaning and pattern in all times and all cultures. Until/unless scientific materialism can merge its accuracy and veracity with some kind of meaning/philosophy that can fulfill the human needs for myth and emotion as well as intellect, it will not succeed in replacing the myths of this age or any other. The great thing about the late Carl Sagan, is that he was one of the few scientific materialists/skeptics able to communicate in an emotionally resonant way the kind of mythic narrative that is needed, as in his immortal Cosmos: Carl Sagan (7 DVD Set) series.

Personally, I am a subscriber to the "Night Eyes-Day Eyes" philosophy, that reality is the same thing, there is both a sun in the sky and there are stars in the sky (and the sun is of course a star as well!) but which one you see depends on whether it is day or night. But they are both always there, whether we see them or not, because reality is always liable to reason. Belief and reason based on empiricism are not incompatible, but need to inform each other to achieve veracity.

One of the offshoots of religion is paranormal phenomena. That includes everything from parapsychology, the shroud of Turin, UFOs, creationism, astrology, and other topics.

Some of my favorite authors wrote articles for this volume, among them, Joe Nickell, Phil Klass, Henry Gordon, Martin Gardner, and Robert Sheaffer.

Skeptical Odysseys is a good place to hear the personal stories from said authors.

After reading this book, I wonder how few people think rationally and how many fewer still think scientifically? Defining what those mean would be a start. Many contributors to "Skeptical Odysseys" seem dismayed how few people understand the scientific method.

At a time when a teaching of "intelligent design" may be entering Kansas public science classes, it seems a good time to appreciate how much each of the contributors to this book has struggled in the name of science against "pseudo-science, non-science, and nonsense". The nuttiness just keeps coming in one form or another. Often enough a discredited notion, like intelligent design, comes back in much the same form. So one thing these skeptics describe is their patience.

If you just hear mention of astrology, UFOs, ESP, and creationism, you may dismiss just how much work has gone into combatting these unproductive areas. Reading each of these skeptics helps drive home just how much work remains. Each of the skeptics describes his/her work as a skeptic. Some that made the biggest impression on me were:

* The editor of this book and famous humanist, Paul Kurtz himself. Among other things he mentions people who claim to talk to the dead: here in the 21st century, one can turn on TV and see John Edward or Sylvia Browne claiming to be doing this.
* David Morrison, who had been a student of Carl Sagen. He goes over the Velikovsky "Worlds in Collision" claims , which both Sagen and Morrison challenged scientifically.
* Geoffry Dean (technical writer) and Ivan Kelly (educational psychologist) on scientific challenges of astrology.
* Eugenie Scott (anthropologist) discussing the nature of science and from that, just why creationism isn't scientific.
* a surprise, Steve Allen, the long-time TV celebirty but also skeptic, writing with considerable insight.

That's just a few of 36 contributors, each of them adding to a message of the importance of rationalism and scientific method. Consider just in medicine how much we rely on good scientific research. Do you really understand the scientific method? After reading this book I wonder if I do.

Paul Kurtz edits Skeptical Odysseys, a vivid collection of personal accounts by the world's paranormal inquirers. This gathers the personal statements and views of the leading skeptics of the world, considering paranormal and spiritual claims and including a healthy dose of autobiography as well as reflections on paranormal research and theories. The list of distinguished contributors sets this apart from others.

I am in a Prana Yoga Teacher program that incorporates chanting with asana practice.

Before listening to Johari's CD, I was very sheepish about pronouncing the bija mantras. However, I was able to import the CD into mp3 format and have listened to the instructions and meditations over time.

Now I feel that I can completely connect with the vibratory power of the mantras and understand the legacy of the sanskrit alphabet as contained in the sounds of the chakras and their petals.

I strongly recommend this CD.

I'm a meditation teacher with a background in shakti-kundalini yoga. While my primary area of interest is integral psychology, I am well versed in various traditions and did some some study in the kundalini yoga with Olga Louchakova M.D., Ph.D. who is Director of the shakti-kundalini association and a researcher in this area.

In this CD, Harish Johari demonstrates the correct pronunciation of the mantra that goes along with each chakra and each petal of each chakra. These are introduced systematically starting with the root chakra and working upwards.

This is a good CD to accompany Johari's very comprehensive Chakras: Energy Centers of Transformation. This will tell you as much as you want to know about any chakra, detailed information about yantras (mandalas used for chakra meditation) and tranformation practices. For Westerner's who would like a less detailed and more accessible introduction to working with chakras try Kundalini Awakening: A Gentle Guide to Chakra Activation and Spiritual Growth.

Harish Johari is widely respected and his written works are detailed and quite comprehensive. This CD is very good, although his voice wasn't recorded as clearly as I would have liked. This is the only reason why I gave this product a four rather than a five. It's not terrible, it just isn't completely up to modern standards and some of this may have to do with his voice itself. I think it would have been helpful to have at least two different people pronounce each of these sounds, perhaps a man and a woman for even more clarity.

This cd is perfect for anyone who understands the chakras and is familiar with meditation. Respect it as a set of vocal tuning forks. It will greatly improve the effect of a chant meditation for the chakras. Reiki practioners may find this cd a compliment to their energy work.

Harish Johari teachers us how to correctly pronounce the beeja mantras (harmonising seed sounds) of every major Chakra in our mind/body. This goes well with his accompanying Chakra book.

Very few realise how important it is to pronounce the sankrit sounds correctly when meditating and reciting mantras. This audio tape will be a great help for people who are struggling with pronunciations given in books.

Recommended for anyone who plans to meditate on the Chakras through beeja mantras (harmonising seed sounds) and improve their well being.

I have always viewed the phenomenon produced by physical medium's such as raps, levitations and ectoplasm with a great deal of scepticism. In this book, Rosemarie Pilkington suggests that sometimes they are genuine and can be produced by the psychokinetic abilities of genuine mediums. She also tends to believe that the effects created are without the presence of any type of deceased entity. While that may sometimes be true, it doesn't necessarily mean they are never present. It's entirely possible that a spirit may be using the "energy" produced by the medium. Actually, whether the phenomenon produced is from psychokinetic abilities of a medium or by spirits, what is happening is more than a little amazing if it is genuine and according to this well researched book sometimes it is real. For both sceptic and believer, this fascinating book is a must read.

This is a very interesting, informative, and intriguing read. In addition to the Bindeloff case, the author summarizes some of the most credible cases of psychic phenomena, including D. D. Home, Francis Cook, Franek Kluski, and Eusapia Palladino. They are all bundled together under the classification of "physical mediumship," although some of the people discussed were more psychics than they were mediums. The author doesn't clearly explain the difference and this is bound to confuse some readers.

The Bindeloff case took place in 1933-34 and involved several very intelligent high school boys conducting séances and communicating with the "spirit" of a Dr. Bindeloff.
As the boys had read up on mediumship, they conducted some interesting experiments and documented their séances. The author draws from the documented records as well as from two of the participants still living. As intelligent as these boys seem to have been (taking college courses at age 16), it apparently did not occur to them to inquire as to when and where Dr. Bindeloff had lived and practiced. If it did occur to them, it is not documented. Thus, there does not appear to have been any investigation as to the actual existence of a Dr. Bindeloff. The author, while clearly accepting the genuineness of psychic phenomena, does not appear to have made any attempt of her own to see if a Dr. Bindeloff ever existed as she assumes he was nothing more than a manifestation of the collective subconscious minds of the young boys - a collective energy so powerful that they were able to form a photograph of Dr. Bindeloff, which appears on the cover of the book. Unfortunately, the author offers her subconscious and secondary personality theories as fact, something which will likely confuse readers with limited exposure to such phenomena.

In effect, the author rejects the "spirit" hypothesis. This is typical of psychologists and some parapsychologists who are unable to shake the reductionist mindset. Interestingly, the author sneers at the pseudo-skeptics, who assume all such phenomena are just so much bunk, and yet she seems as locked into her views as much as those pseudo-skeptics are locked into theirs. While citing some research which gives credence to her views, she avoids, with slight exceptions, mentioning an abundance of research which is contrary to it. Nor does she attempt to tie in the subconscious theory with the "oversoul" or "higher self" aspects, theories which link the subconscious to soul and spirit.

Historically, this is a great book. Metaphysically and philosophically, however, it was a disappointment to me - not so much because I believe there is a preponderance evidence for the spirit hypothesis, if not evidence beyond a reasonable doubt - but because the author slants the conclusions to her own biases. The uninformed reader will likely finish the book even more confused than he or she was before starting the book. The informed reader should, however, be able to recognize the author's biases and see beyond them. For them, it is definitely a five-star book.

Contemporary parapsychology has tended to become rather anemic in its search for scientific respectability, studying tiny statistical effects in an oh so very rigorous fashion. That has its place, but we tend to forget that the laboratory study only exists because dramatic and important and inexplicable events happen in real life that remind us there's something important to try to understand - like the question of whether the mind survives death!

Pilkington's book gives the full story of Dr. Bindelof, an apparent spirit who changed the lives of several teenage boys through seance manifestations. One of those boys was Montague Ullman, a psychiatrist who spearheaded research into telepathic dreams decades later. It's a fascinating story, and a frustrating one - frustrating because we devote almost no energy and resources to thoroughly investigating paranormal phenomena. A good read!

By preserving the once-elusive Bindelof case, a unique episode in the history of physical mediumship, Rosemarie Pilkington, the author/compiler of this book, has done a great service to all those who are professionally involved with the sciences that deal with anomalies and psychic events. The book will be of considerable value especially to those with systematical science-historical interests in this area. By placing the Bindelof case into a wider framework, she has produced an eminently readable book also for those who are less familiar with the peculiar history of seance rooms and their irritating phenomena.

Hi this book pack was a great bargin. I am a huge fan, pity Sylvia never had a tour of Australia, that i know of anyway. I wish she had her own show. I find her a earthly person.

Absolutely remarkable as Sylvia Browne always is. I truley beleive she is one of God's wonderful prophets. She puts everything in the most perfect of words that you cannot contend with. She is blessed and I enjoy reading her books and watching her on tv. There is always something you can learn from her and the book "If you could see what I see" really lays things out in perspective.

The books were shipped immediately and arrived in excellent condition. I am very satisfied with the product and the seller

There are those who may be skeptical that Sylvia Browne can talk to dead people, or that she knows the average daily temperature in Heaven (78 degrees), but did you know that she correctly predicted that AIDS would be in full remission by 1998, that Breast Cancer would be cured and prevented by 1999, that Bill Bradley would win the Presidency in 2000, that David Letterman would quit his show that same year? Well, we're now in the seventh year of the Bradley Presidency and Letterman is now frequently the subject of "where are they now" profiles on television, so that's pretty convincing to me.

Further evidence of Sylvia's powers is that Montel Williams has frequently had her as a guest on his televison show and he seems to be a smart guy. Plus people pay her $700 for a half hour phone reading. Who would pay that kind of money to a fake? I highly recommend this box set. Sylvia clearly sees things the rest of us don't, and I wouldn't be suprised if we later find out that President Bradley regularly consults her. No doubt it was Sylvia who correctly saw that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

Books surveying anomalous experience have tended to come from the skeptic side of the fence and have leaned toward the debunking end of the spectrum. While they have their uses, there's always the nagging suspicion that they might not be fair to all the evidence. While this book isn't as easy reading as those of the skeptics, it really shoots at being a balanced examination of the evidence, pro and con, with intelligent discussion about where the weight of what we know falls. Each chapter tackles one anomalous phenomenon and follows a consistant structure. First, the experience is clearly defined so that we know what is and is not being addressed. Then, the actual phenomenology of the phenomenon out in the field is surveyed. Since the book is geared toward those in the psychological and helping professions, the emotional, physical, and mental aftereffects of having the experience are then examined. The range of differences between experients is presented,then issues involving psychopathology, clinical assessment, background theories, and methodology of research are shown. Each chapter is written by an authority on that specific phenomenon and they provide a summation conclusion at the end where they render their professional judgment on the topic. If you're looking for a sensational or spooky handling of the subjects, this isn't your book; but if you want a very level headed analysis of what is happening in these fields of research, you need to be familiar with this work. Even better, each chapter provides pages worth of bibliography, pro and con, on each subject, that will keep you going for years.

What a delight, I first became interested in the paranormal and this weird stuff after reading Jerry D. Coleman's "Strange Highways" and was very glad to see that another book such as "Varieties of Anomalous Experience" could be on the same tone, meaning, well written, informative and most important left up to me to decide and draw my own conclusions! Great book, a wonderful read!

How fortunate we are to now have in one volume a comprehensive and scholarly review of the scientific evidence for anomalous experiences. The fascinating subject matter of this book includes such diverse phenomena as lucid dreaming, out of body experiences, past life experiences, and alien abduction. What makes this book different from other treatments of some of these topics is that the authors have no hidden agenda or viewpoint that they are trying to put forth. They are not trying to convince you that something does or does not exist. Instead it is an even-handed look at the available data and various competing explanations. And even though it is a scholarly review, it is well written, engaging, and easy-to-read. Varieties of Anomalous Experience: Examining the Scientific Evidence belongs on the bookshelf of anyone who has an interest in understanding and explaining these unusual phenomena. You won't be disappointed.

Excellent book. I never thought that it could have been posible to explain parapsychology and psychology in the light of each other. It has been a great text book for one of my courses. It has helped to create a more in depth vision of the relationship between both areas.

Vital Signs is the most comprehensive guide to the beautiful and enigmatic crop circles ever written. Andy writes in a very clear and easy to read style, putting together an enormous amount of information, combined with loads of wonderful photos, many of them in color.
This book is a "must read" for any crop circle enthusiast.

This is one of two first-rate books on crop circles and their implications for mankind that I recommend. This one is the "coffee table" book, with an absolutely sensational collection of clear color photographs that provide what I believe may be the single best collection of distinct crop circles at distinct times and places on the planet.

This book is however light on the text and the thinking. It should be read in conjunction with "Open Minds: A Journal of Extraordinary Encounters, Crop Circles, and Resonance," by Simeon Hein, Ph.D.

I am persuaded of three things by these books taken together and my various other readings:

1) The Earth is alive and everything on it is a web of life that has a global consciousness--the butterfly effect and the mind over matter effects are real.

2) There exist other forms of intelligence at least equal if not vastly superior to ours elsewhere, and I speculate from some of this reading that we are a "diversity enhancer" for a larger constellation of planets, and that we may also be failing a longer-term test to determine if we are ready for inter-planetary interaction.

3) There are, between books like this and the many very intelligent people that tend NOT to go into politics, clear possibilities for our rising to the challenge. We simply have not focused as a Collective Intelligence or World Brain, and we need to do so before we destroy our planet and our species.

Both books are almost mesmerizing.

When Andy Thomas' Vital Signs first came out in its UK edition in 1998, it was quickly seen as one of the best historical surveys of the post-1978 crop circle phenomenon. As a longtime editor of the journal of the Southern Circular Research group (now known as Swirled News at www.swirlednews.com), as well as a top-notch researcher himself, Thomas had been looking long and hard at the crop formations, from every angle, both inside and outside the glyphs. With great persistence, a feisty spirit, and often hilarious drama at such venues as the annual Glastonbury Symposium and the International UFO Congress, Thomas remains one of the fiercest defenders of the true crop circles, and a defender as well of the hard research that's been done on the phenomenon over the years. I'm happy to see that Vital Signs has come out in an updated version in the US, incorporating the glyphs from the intervening years, including the 2001 season. Readers unfamiliar with the first edition will want to buy this version, one of the best overviews of the phenomenon.

Vital Signs begins with a painstaking presentation of the ground-level data, including the unusual layering and swirls of the downed crop, while providing important details of the scientific work that's been done analyzing the effects on the stalks and soil, establishing the reality of the phenomenon beyond all the hoaxing. It then goes elaborately into what's seen from up above: the pictorial shapes and beautiful geometries, uncovering the mathematics encoded in the shapes. Along the way, we also learn of the strange balls of light (BOLs) seen hovering over the fields and of the effects of crop circle energies on electronic equipment and the biological systems of humans and animals. We're treated too to eyewitness accounts of crop circles forming, including the important recent case in Amsterdam when Nancy Talbott-a key scientific researcher and member of the BLT Research Team-along with Robbert van der Broeke, saw three powerful tubes of light descend into a bean field outside the van der Broeke home, only to discover a few minutes later that a structured crop circle had appeared in the field. It's stories like these that lead one to believe that crop circles are a key part of the worldwide UFO phenomenon.

One of the great strengths of Vital Signs is the year-by-year chronology it provides, as well as the beautiful photographic gallery that accompanies the text, including a central color section. It's a chronicle that not only describes the fascinating evolution of the crop formations over the years, but also the rabid atmosphere of controversy that has grown up around them: are they manmade, anomalous, or a mixture of both? How can you tell the real from the hoaxed and what's the percentage of each? Are the simple ones the true phenomenon, or are some of the more complex formations real as well? As Thomas juggles the assertions and denials on both sides of the fence-as well as the natural, supernatural, and ufological theories as to how they're made-what finally emerges is that, if any of them are not manmade (and much evidence supports the idea that many, perhaps most of them are not), then we have a genuine mystery that's growing in scope around the world. However, it's only ongoing, careful research that has the power to cut through the fog of disinformation. Vital Signs is a great introduction for those confronting the crop circles for the very first time, as well as a primary resource for long-time researchers still dazzled by the mysterious signs in the fields.

-Michael Miley is a contributing editor to UFO Magazine (US).

This is a graphically rich and comprehensive book full of beautiful photos and big ideas. Thomas stimulates our imagination and wonder about this mysterious phenomenon. However, like some other books in this genre, he fails to seriously address the issue of manmade crop formations. Nonewithstanding what some other reviewers on this page have said, manmade formations are a large, signficant, and important part of the crop circle scene. As many of these land art designs produce strange effects, like camera and battery failure, previously attributed only to "genuine" formations, books like Vital Signs need to address this aspect of the mystery, rather than simply dismissing manmade formations as "hoaxes." That being said, readers are bound to find this book a worthwhile and lasting investment.

(Dr. Simeon Hein is the author of OPENING MINDS: A Journey of Extraordinary Encounters, Crop Circles, and Resonance and PLANETARY INTELLIGENCE: 101 Easy Steps to Energy, Well-Being, and Natural Insight)

I finished reading Array of Hope after hearing my mother's voice the morning after her funeral. I found the book funny, inspirational and comforting. It is a must read for those who have lost a loved one and feel that the loved one is trying to connect with them, especially if one is confused or frightened, as I was.

Lynda Lee Macken has written well over a dozen books on ghosts and the spiritual world, but this is her most personal. The author is refreshingly honest in her sharing of grief before and after her mother, Liv, passes on. It's the direct contact with her mother's spirit that catches, even a veteran spiritualist like Ms. Macken, off guard. Her senses tell of contact with her mother, such as through smells, phone calls, friend's actual glimpses of her mother (or aura) and even actual touch. Her grief turns from sadness into a healing process when she learns that her mother is so much happier in the `next life', rather than in her earthly body. Understanding with other relatives is also reached through these contacts with her mother. Most of the communication is done through telepathy, which is actually nothing more that hearing or thinking thoughts in her head - conversations with her mother. If you've read anything by Eckhart Tolle, you'd realize that Ms. Macken is simply tapping into the collective consciousness that the entire world will eventually do - all at one's own pace. It is a simple and pleasant journal full of love.

ARRAY OF HOPE by LYNDA LEE MACKEN is my favorite book because Ms. Macken shares with us the grief and also healing on the death of her beloved Mother, Liv. This book shows that love really does exist beyond physical death.

I am very honored that Lynda Lee Macken has featured me in the chapter " A PSYCHIC CONNECTION" and know that all of the metaphysical experiences that she went through are inspiring to anyone that has lost a loved one and finds it difficult to go on. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND you buy "ARRAY OF HOPE" and all of Ms. Macken's books.

I picked up this book thinking it was probably another New Age insult to my intelligence and was pleasantlly surprised to find that I was wrong. Simple but not simplistic, it has just the right amount of scholarly and anecdotal narrative to make the one believable and the other palatable. Usually books on topics like this are either silly or dry but this one kept my interest all the way to the end. It's an easy read with clarity and depth and it gives you a lot to relate to whenever you catch yourself "becoming psychic".

Becoming Psychic is a unique book that relates a clinical psychologist's anomalous experiences to his purported spiritual growth. A psychologist and experimental parapsychologist makes comments, some of them quite skeptical, about the reported phenomena. The back-and-forth dialectic makes for fascinating and informative reading. Readers can make up their own minds!

Becoming Psychic is essential reading, both for the beginner interested in developing latent abilities and also for the adept eager to keep up with the latest scientific findings. Dr. Kierulff''s chatty, reader-friendly approach to developing psychic ability is the perfect complement to Dr. Krippner's lucid explanations of relevant parapsychological research. Brimming with intriguing personal experiences and the latest scientific findings, this readable and inspiring volume touches heart, mind, and spirit.