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Psychic Roots: Serendipity and Intuition in Genealogy
Psychic Roots is all about the influence of coincidence and serendipity on genealogical research, the chance combination of events over which the researcher has no control but which nevertheless guides him to a fortuitous discovery. Certainly chance or dumb luck sometimes leads us straight to a record kept in an improbable place, to an ancestor's second wife we didn't know anything about, and so on. Is it luck? Coincidence? In this book, esteemed genealogist Hank Jones tells us about his own brushes with preternatural experiences, and he has invited other genealogists to share their experiences as well; thus in these pages we have the insights of well over a hundred respected ancestor hunters who discuss their experiences in light of synchronicity, intuition, genetic memory, and serendipity. Their stories fairly crackle with illumination and make a plausible case for the importance of the sixth sense in genealogical research.
- GenresParanormal
252 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1996
6 people are currently reading
77 people want to read
About the author
Henry Z. Jones Jr.
13 books7 followersFellow of the American Society of Genealogists.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
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December 22, 2020Do you ever buy a book you just have to have and then stick it on a shelf where it catches dust, abandoned for the hype of the brand new read?
The Hook - I have enjoyed a new hobby, more of an obsession, these past few years; genealogy. Given this, much of what I read and many podcast listens are on this topic. Listening to Extreme Genes Episode #355 guest Henry Z Jones, Jr. joined host, Scott Fisher, to talk about the serendipity in finding one's ancestors. This was a vault episode, a rerun of an archived episode which I had originally enjoyed. Yes, I bought the book the first time I heard this podcast.
The Line(s) -"I totally agree with my colleagues. To put it bluntly, pessimist make lousy genealogists. If I've learned one thing over the years it's that a positive mid-set is essential when climbing the family tree. To ensure success, we all have to think and behave like charter members of the Optimist Club!"
The Sinker - When former Actor, Hank Jones became interested in genealogy he began to wonder about about the serendipitous happenings he heard other researches mention. They were also happening to him, little things, like a pathway to long departed ancestors who someone communicate how or where to find them and to know more about them. Jones does not mean to knock good old fashioned scientific genealogy research. After all, he is a fellow of the American Society of Genealogists, a fellow with the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, an author and lecturer; pointed out in the podcast conversation. Wondering if others had serendipitous occurrences while researching their ancestors he sent out 200 letters over 15 years ago. The response was overwhelming and at the time of the original podcast he had received over 1300 stories from around the world. Time to write this book, Psychic Roots: Serendipity & Intuition in Genealogy These happenings can be as simple as opening a card catalog to the exact card you seek, researching at a history library, grabbing a book off the shelf, and finding your ancestors, being in a Town Hall, asking for a record and finding out the Clerk is part of your family. Other times the moment can be harder to explain. A woman researching a specific deceased relation in the library when a book fell from the stacks and hit her on the head. She started rifling through it and that it discovered Revolutionary War records of her ancestor. She didn't even know she had Revolutionary War relatives. She likened this to her ancestor hitting her on the head with the information. There are so many instances mentioned in this fun and very interesting book.
Perhaps this was just the right time of year to read Psychic Roots: Serendipity & Intuition in Genealogy. Just like believing in the joy of Santa, believing that an ancestor might lead the way to answers in unexpected ways will happen if your eyes and heart are open to the possibilities.
The Hook - I have enjoyed a new hobby, more of an obsession, these past few years; genealogy. Given this, much of what I read and many podcast listens are on this topic. Listening to Extreme Genes Episode #355 guest Henry Z Jones, Jr. joined host, Scott Fisher, to talk about the serendipity in finding one's ancestors. This was a vault episode, a rerun of an archived episode which I had originally enjoyed. Yes, I bought the book the first time I heard this podcast.
The Line(s) -"I totally agree with my colleagues. To put it bluntly, pessimist make lousy genealogists. If I've learned one thing over the years it's that a positive mid-set is essential when climbing the family tree. To ensure success, we all have to think and behave like charter members of the Optimist Club!"
The Sinker - When former Actor, Hank Jones became interested in genealogy he began to wonder about about the serendipitous happenings he heard other researches mention. They were also happening to him, little things, like a pathway to long departed ancestors who someone communicate how or where to find them and to know more about them. Jones does not mean to knock good old fashioned scientific genealogy research. After all, he is a fellow of the American Society of Genealogists, a fellow with the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, an author and lecturer; pointed out in the podcast conversation. Wondering if others had serendipitous occurrences while researching their ancestors he sent out 200 letters over 15 years ago. The response was overwhelming and at the time of the original podcast he had received over 1300 stories from around the world. Time to write this book, Psychic Roots: Serendipity & Intuition in Genealogy These happenings can be as simple as opening a card catalog to the exact card you seek, researching at a history library, grabbing a book off the shelf, and finding your ancestors, being in a Town Hall, asking for a record and finding out the Clerk is part of your family. Other times the moment can be harder to explain. A woman researching a specific deceased relation in the library when a book fell from the stacks and hit her on the head. She started rifling through it and that it discovered Revolutionary War records of her ancestor. She didn't even know she had Revolutionary War relatives. She likened this to her ancestor hitting her on the head with the information. There are so many instances mentioned in this fun and very interesting book.
Perhaps this was just the right time of year to read Psychic Roots: Serendipity & Intuition in Genealogy. Just like believing in the joy of Santa, believing that an ancestor might lead the way to answers in unexpected ways will happen if your eyes and heart are open to the possibilities.
January 26, 2011
Everyone who plays the genealogy game will at one time find themselves in a serendipitous situation. They will stumble across a piece of information that completes a puzzle. Or they will meet someone that turns out to be a distant relative, and closer than six degrees of separation.
Psychic Roots is brimful of stories that transcend coincidence. Author Hank Jones also touches on theories of synchronicity as described by Carl Gustav Jung, Alan Vaughan, Arthur Koestler, and others. There is much food for thought here!
Psychic Roots is brimful of stories that transcend coincidence. Author Hank Jones also touches on theories of synchronicity as described by Carl Gustav Jung, Alan Vaughan, Arthur Koestler, and others. There is much food for thought here!
June 10, 2021
An interesting but rather redundant book about the serendipity of genealogy research. Illustrative stories were informative and often intriguing, but the vast majority of the book was series of examples. I was hoping for a bit more insight into why that might happen although, to his credit, the author did go into that a bit citing Carl Jung, Alan Vaughn, and a few others. In my opinion, it is not a book that will particularly intrigue those who are not doing ancestry research.
November 7, 2009
This was the first book I almost gave 1 star. One similar story after another got very repetitive and boring. We read it for book club so apparently someone loved it. Maybe I'll have a different opinion after the review and discussion.
August 7, 2012
Meh- fun for the first story or two, then it got repetative.
January 9, 2014
Fascinating book!
April 19, 2016
Some interesting stories about the role of serendipity in genealogy research. Marred by an unnecessary and irrelevant side-trip into "Emperor Constantine changed the Bible" fantasyland.
April 3, 2009
A collection of researchers' anecdotes.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews