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bigs2021's review against another edition
2.0
Disappointing
This book was recommended by one of my paranormal podcasts. It is not a bad book by any means, but I was surprised at how basic this was. It read more like a New Yorker article (not necessarily a bad thing!) and seemed overlong. I almost never skim or skip, but boy I had to skim through some areas. The writing is good and the author is intelligent, clearly, but what was the point? By the last part of the book, I felt it had better hit its stride, but the sort of cheesy and very personal ending (sorry!) didn’t speak to me. There are so many great introductions to this concept or ones like it, and the sort of non-scholarly almost journalistic approach really hinders this, I think. For an amazing start, read Authors of the Impossible by Kripal. For a much deeper exploration, check out The Occult by Wilson.
I wanted to like this, I really did! And the idea is cool, but I just didn’t learn much or take away much from this beyond the idea itself. I think we need to have a higher standard going forward so that we do not simply rehash what has been stated over and over, but to push into new areas and deeper understanding.
This book was recommended by one of my paranormal podcasts. It is not a bad book by any means, but I was surprised at how basic this was. It read more like a New Yorker article (not necessarily a bad thing!) and seemed overlong. I almost never skim or skip, but boy I had to skim through some areas. The writing is good and the author is intelligent, clearly, but what was the point? By the last part of the book, I felt it had better hit its stride, but the sort of cheesy and very personal ending (sorry!) didn’t speak to me. There are so many great introductions to this concept or ones like it, and the sort of non-scholarly almost journalistic approach really hinders this, I think. For an amazing start, read Authors of the Impossible by Kripal. For a much deeper exploration, check out The Occult by Wilson.
I wanted to like this, I really did! And the idea is cool, but I just didn’t learn much or take away much from this beyond the idea itself. I think we need to have a higher standard going forward so that we do not simply rehash what has been stated over and over, but to push into new areas and deeper understanding.
slanderoid's review against another edition
dark
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
havoc818's review against another edition
Was hoping for communicating with ghosts, got aiming for a real life Frankenstein
bigs2021's review
2.0
Disappointing
This book was recommended by one of my paranormal podcasts. It is not a bad book by any means, but I was surprised at how basic this was. It read more like a New Yorker article (not necessarily a bad thing!) and seemed overlong. I almost never skim or skip, but boy I had to skim through some areas. The writing is good and the author is intelligent, clearly, but what was the point? By the last part of the book, I felt it had better hit its stride, but the sort of cheesy and very personal ending (sorry!) didn’t speak to me. There are so many great introductions to this concept or ones like it, and the sort of non-scholarly almost journalistic approach really hinders this, I think. For an amazing start, read Authors of the Impossible by Kripal. For a much deeper exploration, check out The Occult by Wilson.
I wanted to like this, I really did! And the idea is cool, but I just didn’t learn much or take away much from this beyond the idea itself. I think we need to have a higher standard going forward so that we do not simply rehash what has been stated over and over, but to push into new areas and deeper understanding.
This book was recommended by one of my paranormal podcasts. It is not a bad book by any means, but I was surprised at how basic this was. It read more like a New Yorker article (not necessarily a bad thing!) and seemed overlong. I almost never skim or skip, but boy I had to skim through some areas. The writing is good and the author is intelligent, clearly, but what was the point? By the last part of the book, I felt it had better hit its stride, but the sort of cheesy and very personal ending (sorry!) didn’t speak to me. There are so many great introductions to this concept or ones like it, and the sort of non-scholarly almost journalistic approach really hinders this, I think. For an amazing start, read Authors of the Impossible by Kripal. For a much deeper exploration, check out The Occult by Wilson.
I wanted to like this, I really did! And the idea is cool, but I just didn’t learn much or take away much from this beyond the idea itself. I think we need to have a higher standard going forward so that we do not simply rehash what has been stated over and over, but to push into new areas and deeper understanding.
allisonthurman's review
4.0
Not exactly what I expected it to be. I was looking for something about the hacked audio equipment used to listen to "ghost voices" back in the 1970s, and while it does contain this there's also discussion of nineteenth-century mediumship as technology and hacking as spirituality. Hard for me to hammer out in to words, but it's definitely given me some other avenues to research.
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