Thanks for the invitation. I did check out your blogsite briefly, as well as your discusssion group. What a very interesting theory! I wonder if there is a possible connection with the whole "crisis apparition" theory that Sidgwick and Gurney were working on. Can the brain also reach outside the body at the point of death to transmit information to another brain that is receptive?

I will consider posting on your site if you think your readers would be interested. I started writing High Spirits as a skeptic, with the utter belief that the Fox sisters were frauds. I emerged from the writing process on the other side of a completed manuscript with a different perspective -- especially as regards the younger sister Kate. Maggie undoubtedly viewed herself as a fraud. Kate was ... different.

And I have participated as guest author in several book clubs where readers of my novel have interpreted my work differently, incorporating their own unexplainable experiences. The result is, perhaps, that I have opened my mind to more possibilities.

posted by dsalerni at 7:57 pm (EST) on Apr 15, 2008

Hello. I realize that we share no books, but I stumbled across your profile because I saw that your library included a copy of Phantasms of the Living by Eleanor Sidgwick and Edmund Gurney. I haven't read it, but I've read about it in Deborah Blum's book Ghost Hunters. I'm working on an outline for a historical fiction manuscript about 19th century psychic investigators, with characters loosely (and I do mean loosely) based on Nora Sidgwick and Edmund Gurney, as well as others from their group.

I just wanted to say hello. I'm still researching my topic and I feel like a real newbie in the field, but still .. hello from someone with similar interests!

posted by dsalerni at 9:44 pm (EST) on Apr 8, 2008

Hello: I haven't been into my catalog for months, and was surprised to find my first comment. My mother gave me Doors of Perception in the 1970s, with strict instructions to read it and make sure my sisters read it as well, because it had answers to questions they needed to know. It was not characteristic of her in any way: she was very intelligent but not intellectual, her reading was totally mainstream, and she never told her adult children what to do. I read it and blew off her instructions to pass it along. I lost track of the book but had nagging guilt about not sharing it, so bought another copy, which thanks to your comment I will read again and pass along. Katherine Lee

posted by katherinelee at 7:03 am (EST) on Mar 13, 2008

Anthony:

I noticed that Paul Marshall's Mystical Encounters with the Natural World is included in your library. I currently have the book on an Inter Library Loan and am fascinated with it. I can't, however, find much biographical detail on Marshall, who is described by OUP as an "independent scholar." You wouldn't happen to know anything about him, would you?

Fiske Miles

http://fiskemiles.blogspot.com/

posted by FiskeMiles at 3:33 pm (EST) on Feb 1, 2008

Thanks for your message. I am not really interested, even though we may have similar books on the topic of life after death beliefs. Many years ago I took a course on the topic (during my B.A. in Religious Studies) with Terence Penelhum and he masterfully covered all the main schools of thought on it. (He wrote a book on embodied existence after death). That was a long time ago, and one class of many I took on religion, and so it's just not one of my burning interests any more.

Enjoy the discussion. Thanks for the invitation.

Gael

posted by Gael at 10:03 pm (EST) on Jan 23, 2008

Thank you for the invitation. I've just noticed it now - weeks later, perhaps. I think I'd need to read the book before deciding if I want to join the group, so will bear it in mind. Seems to be generating lively discussion!

posted by greenishlady at 7:06 am (EST) on Dec 21, 2007

Thanks for your post, Anthony. I just discovered it and will look into it before long...

I'm curious, have you had any contact, reading or otherwise, with Jan Cox? (jancox.com)

Tom

posted by oroboros at 12:47 pm (EST) on Dec 7, 2007

I appreciate your invitation and have taken note that the title of the group isn't what I thought this would be about. I look forward to reading more information about your subject.

posted by berbalang at 12:39 am (EST) on Dec 5, 2007

Thanks for the note and the invitation. I like your theory, it's something to add to the mix of ideas on which to ponder. I shall check for a copy of your book at my local shop and join in the discussion once I have begun reading.

posted by moderatrix8 at 1:11 am (EST) on Dec 2, 2007

Since I am mainly based in theosophy (though very eclectic in that, from Blavatsky to Steiner to Alice Bailey), heavily influenced by Gurdjieff and Ouspensky, I will read the book with that in mind, and certainly endeavour to get involved in the discussions.
Personal immortality is not something I am very much interested in - in theosophy there is something called a "soul", very much akin to what Gurdjieff calls "essence". Souls are in a way more real than our ego's. During an incarnated life the soul seems to be in a state which has been called "deep meditation". I am not sure if your recurring lives are much akin to Ouspensky's Wonderful life of Iwan Osokin, but apart from themes that may be recurring because each of us has her/his lessons to learn I have an "evolutionary" view of life, or rather of the soul in life because life itself seems to me to be a fleeting thing.
An aspect of human life which has been given the name of "consciousness" is not something I believe has any real existence. Consciousness to me has become a name of a continuous field of immense complexity, with content intermixing from many, and some very deep and archaic, levels of existence. I borrow many of my instruments of examination from science, as you seem to do, and one area I find specially useful is the science of complexity. I am curious whether you apply principles from that area to your views in the book, or from chaos theory.

posted by rvens at 11:22 am (EST) on Dec 1, 2007

I am about a quarter of the way through the book and I am not finding it persuasive at all. I encountered a similar theory in Ouspensky twenty years ago and was totally appalled. If I have to relive my childhood again I will find a way to obliviate myself from the universe. I will reserve judgment until I finish the book but so far your arguments are not supported by the science you use. I am well acquainted with most of the science and theories you are discussing and I think there is far too little known about the working of the brain to extrapolate that small amount to bolster this argument. Deja vu could just as well be explained by a misfiring of a neuron.

I shall keep reading.

posted by CandySchultz at 3:52 pm (EST) on Nov 27, 2007

Thanks for the messages; time and place of your interview duly noted. I have my own copy of your book and have given away three others!

posted by turoholic at 5:36 am (EST) on Nov 27, 2007

Thanks for the invitation to join your new group, but as I haven't actually read the Huxley book yet (just got it recently), I wouldn't have anything to discuss!

posted by carlym at 7:03 pm (EST) on Nov 26, 2007

Heh. Peter Novak is my mother's uncle. :) I have the second book in his series (but not yet the third; I lost interest in the ideas he was presenting after they took a sharp left turn into Christianity).

Your book looks interesting, and I'll probably order it after I find another job.

posted by BrigidsBlest at 1:35 pm (EST) on Nov 26, 2007

I've ordered your book. It looks interesting and after reading it I'll make a few remarks. I'm eager to see how you update the Rodney Collin material.

Patty Roland-James
aquilaink.com

posted by pattyroland at 3:59 pm (EST) on Nov 25, 2007

Hi,Tony

Your book looks fascinating no doubt about it and I might get round to reading it. But there are so many New-Age and paranormal books out there with their unsubstantiated pseudo-scientific underpinnings that I can't help thinking that yours could be just another one.

I'm probably wrong though and being very narrow-minded, so please forgive me. At first glance your 'theory' does seem different from the New-Agers and it certainly deals with a subject that I find profoundly interesting.

I will gladly be your friend on this site but I don't think I will join your discussion group. I do not have a great deal of time to spare to be honest.

I wish you all the success with your book

George

posted by georgematt at 10:34 am (EST) on Nov 25, 2007

Cheers for the tip. I've got a stupidly large backlog of things to read at the moment, but I'll consider adding yours to the pile.

posted by MonkeyRobo at 8:40 am (EST) on Nov 23, 2007

Looks like I'm about to order another book! Thanks for the invitation. Sounds like something I will enjoy. The idea that our lives are "repeating" over and over, is a topic my husband and I have discussed a lot. It could help to explain a lot of unusual phenomenon like precognition, dreams that become a reality, deja vu, and those uncanny "warnings" that pop into your thoughts that even Winston Churchill said, saved his "meat" on several occassions. Perhaps it explains why Plato insisted that all we needed to do was "remember" because we already know! I hope it doesn't take a month to arrive from Amazon, like the last two books I ordered did! Thanks again.

posted by ironicbliss at 12:11 am (EST) on Nov 23, 2007

Hi Anthony,

Thanks for the message. I'll take a look at your book. If you cite Jaynes let me know and I'll add it to the "Books that cite Jaynes" page (under Related Books) at www.julianjaynes.org

Please e-mail at the e-mail address listed on the Contact page on that site. Thanks!

Marcel

posted by mkuijsten at 7:18 pm (EST) on Nov 22, 2007

Oh yes it's another soggy day in Manchester. I've only been here a few years and it's reputation seems a bit unfounded, it doesn't really rain that much more often than the rest of the country.

I'm sure your interview with Simon Mayo will go well and raise you a lot of publicity.

Fox

posted by reading_fox at 8:53 am (EST) on Nov 22, 2007

Thanks for the friendship and the kind words, Anthony! I hope you enjoy my novel, or whatever work of mine you check out. I'd love to hear what you think.

Your book sounds awesome--I'll have to check it out.

Here’s wishing you a fantastic day filled with fabulous fates, fanciful festivities, and frolicking phantom footstools.

-Jeremy :)

posted by JeremyCShipp at 7:10 am (EST) on Nov 22, 2007

Book is on the way. I have my own idea about what happens but I think it is just my pacifier. Which is what I think religion is. I will let you know what I think after reading the book.

posted by CandySchultz at 3:32 am (EST) on Nov 21, 2007

I must say, I'm impressed with the reviews you've received on Amazon and I look forward to reading your book. The nature of time and of the human mind is endlessly fascinating to me. And if for nothing else, right now I love you for having introduced me to wowio.com!

posted by iftheresaway at 5:29 pm (EST) on Nov 20, 2007

I will be interested to read your book. The topic has been of great interest to me for about thirty years - since I became an atheist. I will wait until I have read the book to join the discussion group. Thanks for asking me.

posted by CandySchultz at 3:40 pm (EST) on Nov 20, 2007