Best Evidence

by Michael Schmicker

Best Evidence tells of 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. A national Gallup Poll found that 93 percent of Americans believe in one or more paranormal phenomena that science can't explain and won't accept. Chances are, you're one of them. At the dawn of the 21st century, despite being reared on science and skepticism, people of every country and culture continue to experience and report paranormal phenomena that shouldn't exist. Investigative reporter Michael Schmicker tracked down the best scientific evidence for these phenomena that refuse to disappear. No National Enquirer nonsense here. Schmicker searched through sober parapsychology journals and monographs; puzzled over statistics-stuffed psychokinesis studies from Princeton University and reincarnation research from the University of Virginia; read through 140 books from the 1894 classic ghost study Phantasms of the Living to a fascinating 1999 study of near-death and out-of-body experiences in the blind, Mindsight; discovered surprising endorsements of psychic research from light bulb inventor Thomas Edison and Xerox machine inventor Chester Carlson, psychologists Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, Sherlock Holmes creator Arthur Conan Doyle and Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell; tracked fiery academic debates on the Internet; exchanged email with poltergeist hunters; and even spent an evening at a mind-bending, spoon-bending party in Nevada.

Genres: Nonfiction, Spirituality, Paranormal

340 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Michael Schmicker is an investigative journalist, Amazon Top 100 best-selling author, and science writer focused on consciousness research.

Michael began his writing career as a crime reporter for a suburban Dow-Jones newspaper in Connecticut, and worked as a freelance reporter in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, and Op-Ed writer for the Wall Street Journal Asia,

A nationally known writer on frontier science, Michael is the co-author of "The Gift, ESP: The Extraordinary Experiences of Ordinary People" (St. Martin's Press (USA)/Penguin Random House (UK). His first book, "Best Evidence," has emerged as a classic in the field of scientific anomalies reporting since its first publication in 2000. BBC radio/documentary producer Keith Parsons named it one of the 10 most influential books dealing with the survival of consciousness question. Michael is a member of The Society for Scientific Exploration, where he has reviewed books for the Journal of Scientific Exploration, and contributed to EdgeScience magazine.

His latest book is "What Comes Next? An Investigative Reporter Uncovers Quantum Physics' Hidden Afterlife Hypothesis," (May 2024). Over nine million Americans have reported a near death experience (NDE). They’re virtually unanimous in their conclusion that the afterlife is real. Quantum physics suggests they may be right. As I show in this book, we’ve got strong scientific evidence from near-death-experiences research that our consciousness, our spirit, our soul – whatever we choose to call that which ultimately makes us be us – survives death. Quantum physics offers a modern, logical, scientific explanation for why that afterlife is possible. Our consciousness is not made of matter. The death and dissolution of the physical brain doesn’t affect our non-material consciousness.

Michael is also author of "The Witch of Napoli,” historical fiction with a paranormal twist, set in Italy and England in 1899. On March 6, 2015, it made the Amazon Top 100, ranking #41 in paid books out of 3.3 million books available in the Kindle Bookstore. That same day, it hit #1 in both the Historical Fantasy and Victorian Historical Romance categories in three countries simultaneously - the U.S., Canada and England. It spent 68 consecutive weeks as a Top 20 Best Seller in the "Italian Historical Fiction" category, with an Audible audiobook debuting on Amazon in July 2016. Amazon subsequently selected "The Witch of Napoli" as one of 25 Historical Romance Bestsellers to be featured by Amazon's new "Prime Reading" program.

Michael’s interest in investigating the paranormal began as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Thailand where he first encountered a non-Western culture and people who readily accept the reality of ghosts and spirits, reincarnation, mediumship, divination and other persistently reported phenomena unexplainable by current Science. He spent his first year in Bangkok teaching English to middle school students at the royal Buddhist monastery of Wat Bowonniwet, and the subsequent two years writing and producing with Thai colleagues a Sesame Street-inspired educational television series for the Thai Ministry of Education.

Before joining Peace Corps, he studied documentary film production at New York University and the British Film Institute. He holds a B.A. in Philosophy; and earned his Master's in Educational Communications (Television) from the University of Hawaii.

He lives and writes in Honolulu, Hawaii, on a mountaintop overlooking Waikiki and Diamond Head crater.

Reviews

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an outright believer in these things, not a skeptic either, definitely curious and for this type of mindset Best Evidence is a perfect book. Just as advertised, it produces evidence for all things one might consider supernatural such as telekinesis or ghosts, evidence in form of actual cases recorded and investigated, studies, research, etc. All presented in an accessible impressively readable for nonfiction manner. Yes, at times it did read as a sort of a catalog, but overall this was a very good, very informative read. I particularly enjoyed the way the author offered relevant stories from his own life and the act that while the author's position on the topics was quite obvious at no point did it come across as imposing or overpowering, merely the facts were presented to the reader in a concise objective manner and one is left free to make up their own mind regarding them. In the immoral words of the bard...There are more things in heaven and earth that are dreamt of in your philosophy. Here is a book about just those things and it's a fascinating read. Recommended.

[Laurent Videau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of proofs of ESP, paranormal phenomenon. The author demonstrates how over the centuries unexplained phenomenon have always been ignored by science and why career scientists are always motivated to follow the main stream.

Very good and entertaining book for those who want more proofs of paranormal existence.

[Brittany Robinson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read it for class. Brought up some very interesting evidence for some paranormal activity, but I am not totally convinced on a lot of it.

[Joel Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It definitely needs to be edited for typos and grammar and such, and it is out of it depth a bit with its splashes of religious history and philosophical speculation. However, those are not what this book claimed to be. It claimed to be a descriptive collection of the best evidence for different phenomena and it is a great success and important work in that regard, for which I'm grateful. I've already looked up many of the sources and read further with much fascination. Thank you, Michael Schmicker! You've done a great service.