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THE ESP ENIGMA: THE SCIENTIFIC CASE FOR PSYCHIC PHENOMENA by Diane Hennacy Powell. New York: Walker, 2009. Pp. 280. $25.00 (hardcover) . ISBN13: 978-0-8027-1606-4.
The inside sleeve of this book establishes the scientific credentials of author Diane Hennacy Powell: trained in medicine, neurology, and psychiatry; former member of Harvard Medical School's faculty; published articles in neuroscience and psychiatry journals. Perhaps since those early days she has become less interested in mainstream medical practice, as her website biography states she currently "has a solo practice in Medford, Oregon and incorporates psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, and pet therapy into her compassionate healing of people who want personalized care" (www.dianehennacypowell.com). She is a peace activist (it runs in the family, as she is great-niece of Ammon Hennacy) and is also active in human rights.
The brief introduction argues for taking psychic phenomena seriously - this is to be expected given the book's subtitle. Powell claims diat "if one wants to prove whether or not telepathy can exist, one strong convincing case for its existence should be sufficient" (p. 5) . With apologies to William James, this is a naïve claim. Although such a "white crow" argument may be true in the so-called "hard" sciences, in research with human participants (who come into the lab with varying expectations, moods, personalities, and hangovers), and when we are dealing with phenomena that appear to have small and inconsistent effects under laboratory conditions, we have to use inferential statistics and rely on an accumulation of consistent findings to build a convincing case.
Toward the end of the introduction, Powell describes a lifechanging experience when a patient claiming to be psychic told her several accurate details of her life and made predictions that (eventually) came true. This stimulated Powell's interest in the paranormal to...