Dean Radin

Who would have thought a book about pyschic phenomena -- an otherwise fascinating topic -- could be so boring and tedious? As a compelling argument for the indisputable evidence proving the existence of psi, this book succeeds. As an engaging, evenly-paced book, it fails pretty solidly. Overall, Radin probably could have achieved his stated goal using 50-100 less pages.

The middle chapters, where Radin describes all of the different experiments and their results, bog down starting around the show more Mind-Affecting-Living-Organisms chapter. It's strange, but he manages to sap just about all of the drama out of the proceedings by his mechanical account of the same statistics in each experiment, the same criticisms raised by skeptics, and yet another reminder of how these experiments too controvert the crticisms. After the first several instances these experiments could have been summarized in a much more efficient way, allowing for a more interesting discussion of the implications of each solitary phenomenon. The chapters on Random Number Generators seemed interminable.

The last few chapters are uninteresting for another reason: they appear out of place in the context of the rest of the book. Radin suddenly attempts an in-depth theoretical discussion of quantum physics and the possible implications of psi on different areas of study. Most of these implications appeared half-baked and not very well considered, which left me wondering why he even needed to include it, or at least so much of it. . .

The other major issue I had with Radin's book is that his use of statistics is convoluted and poorly explained. To be sure, the meta-analyses he cites sure sound impressive, but I still don't really understand what they mean. We are essentially expected to take his word that this is the best way to determine clinical significance (However, in reading some criticisms of his book I have found that this is apparently not the case. See, for example, the very thorough Carroll review).

There are other choices he made in analysis, especially with respect to the RNGs, that were just mystifying, and it struck me as strange that he would spend so much time on the minutiae of each experiment but neglect to explain basic reasoning behind his analysis. For example, the confidence intervals he used ranged from 99% to 65% in some of the later RNG studies, without adequate explanation as to why he was changing the level of confidence (I presume it was to make his data look better, which makes his argument appear weak). I suppose that the evidence he presented was mostly convincing, but it left me somewhat suspicious.

Overall, the positives of the book (providing solid evidence for psychic phenomena, explaining why more people aren't aware of this evidence) overcome the negatives, but not by much. These basic ideas are what the book should have focused on, because those are the main concerns of lay people, for whom the book -- with its rudimentary and overindulgent explanations -- was obviously intended. show less

A history of magic (real magic, as opposed to stage magic or illusions) through the ages and an attempt to answer whether magic can be explained in a scientific manner.

The author certainly attempts it, but there are numerous holes in his logic and he appears predisposed to certain conclusions rather than rigorously thinking through various possible answers.

Still, this book is a worthwhile endeavor to tackle the question of whether there is "magic" (in various forms, such as precognition, show more telepathy, and other psychic ways of "knowing" things outside of the reach of the normal senses) and explain them in a parapsychology framework. I neither felt convinced by all his arguments nor can dismiss some things that he's obviously thought through well show less

The title of this book promises to delve into the connections between quantum physics and ESP. While it provides a wealth of information about the history of ESP research, including studies that prove that it's real, the book deals only lightly with the quantum side.
It's not that the explanations of quantum theories aren't there; they are, in a way that is easily understood by folks like me who aren't scientists. There just isn't a whole lot of it.
Because of this lack, I was disappointed show more in the book. It made for some interesting reading about ESP alone but I wasn't looking for that. If the title had been different, it wouldn't have been disappointing because my expectations would have been different. show less

There is a must here to understand and study statistics to determine if the experiments show evidence of PSI
In the first part of the book Dean Radin wants to prove that Psi really exits
I think the relationship between Psi and Quantum physics must be more studied to be more clear
I also think that the author want us to think in a new way about reality , what it is and how we see it.
The best part is the part of the book that shows all the theories that can explain Psi phenomena and presents show more them one by one.
The part that show the myth and the fact near the end of the book is written in a difficult unclear language , I think it can be more explained. show less