Introductory and further reading in parapsychology
Introductory reading about parapsychology
Parapsychology is that scientific discipline which studies anomalous or paranormal consciousness phenomena - basically, psi and survival. These two basic categories can be broadly broken down into three subcategories with further subcategories:
- Extra-sensory perception or ESP, the first type of psi, comes in three basic flavours: telepathy, clairvoyance or remote viewing, and precognition.
- Psychokinesis or PK, the second type of psi, is the direct influence of mind upon matter.
- The survival of consciousness after death includes but is not limited to: near-death experiences or NDEs, out-of-body experiences or OBEs/OOBEs, shared-death experiences or SDEs, mediumship, reincarnation, apparitions and poltergeists.
Parapsychology can also broadly be split between experimental parapsychology, which is typically heavy in statistics, and non-experimental parapsychology, which is often based on case studies or case reports and in-the-field investigations.
The books below provide good introductory reading material on parapsychology. Keep in mind though that some of these books focus more on experimental parapsychology and psi without providing much (if any) introduction to the branch of parapsychology based on (case studies or field investigations into) survival.
Reading list
- Damien Broderick and Ben Goertzel (editors), Evidence for Psi: Thirteen Empirical Research Reports ($) (2015)
- The 27-page introduction is currently available as part of a Google preview.
- Etzel Cardeña, The Experimental Evidence for Parapsychological Phenomena: A Review ($) (2018)
- An academic paper discussing the experimental evidence, published in the journal American Psychologist, volume 73, pages 663-677. An unofficial version is available here.
- Harvey Irwin and Caroline Watt, An Introduction to Parapsychology ($) (5th edition, 2007)
- A 320-page textbook.
- Stanley Krippner and Harris L. Friedman (editors), Debating Psychic Experience: Human Potential or Human Illusion? ($) (2010)
- Robert McLuhan, Randi's Prize: What Sceptics Say about the Paranormal, Why They Are Wrong and Why It Matters ($) (2010)
- Further information about this book is available at the author's blog.
- Robert McLuhan (editor), Psi Encyclopedia (Society for Psychical Research)
- Free web resource. Includes "Experimental Parapsychology," a general overview by Richard Broughton.
- Dean Radin, The Conscious Universe: The Scientific Truth of Psychic Phenomena ($) (2009)
- Michael Schmicker, Best Evidence: An Investigative Reporter's Three-Year Quest to Uncover the Best Scientific Evidence for ESP, Psychokinesis, Mental Healing, Ghosts and Poltergeists, Dowsing, Mediums, Near Death Experiences, Reincarnation, and Other Impossible Phenomena That Refuse to Disappear ($) (2nd edition, 2002)
- Caroline Watt, Parapsychology (Beginner's Guides) ($) (2016)
Origins
This page was seeded from the forum thread Recommendations for a general introduction to parapsychology - further suggestions, comments and discussion are available there.