Outside the Gates of Science: Why It's Time for the Paranormal to Come in from the Cold

by Damien Broderick

The paranormal — phenomena "beyond the normal,” manifested by apparent experiences of telepathy, remote viewing, psychokinesis, and precognition, or the prediction of future events — has been comfortably dismissed as fiction by many reasonable folk. But as 21st-century science explores the world of quantum mechanics — where one particle can be in many places at the same time — what has seemed impossible becomes just another part of our strange universe.
Award-winning author Damien Broderick, investigates possible relationships between parapsychology, evolutionary biology, and quantum (and other) physics. Here is a serious but popular treatment of paranormal claims and current attempts to explain them. Broderick has been in direct contact with many of the major players in this curious realm, including the scientific director of the long-classified U.S. government-supported study known under various codenames and, as Star Gate, closed in 1995 by the CIA. But the research continues, now privately funded.
Can we predict the future? Read other minds? Outside the Gates of Science suggests we just might be able to do so.

Genres: Science, Metaphysics, Paranormal, Nonfiction

368 pages, Paperback

First published May 30, 2007

About the author

Damien Francis Broderick was an Australian science fiction and popular science writer and editor of some 74 books. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction credits him with the first usage of the term "virtual reality" in science-fiction, in his 1982 novel The Judas Mandala.

Reviews

[Willa · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the reasons that I picked up this book is that a reviewer, a scientist, supposedly, claimed that Broderick laid out all of the evidence for the reality of psi, making a compelling case. Sadly, said reviewer lied. Actual presentation of evidence is minimal in this book, replaced by admittedly amusing anecdotes about the battles, historical and current, between skeptics and believers. The book in a nutshell:

Evidence for psi borders between slim and nonexistent.
Any apparently strong evidence tends to rest on the words of figures who span the range from somewhat shady to flamboyantly ludicrous.
But WHAT IF??

The author employs the rhetorical device of taking an initial superficially skeptical facade in a seeming attempt to soften up scientifically-minded readers for a woo injection via various minimally-disguised fallacious devices, such as an appeal to ignorance. For example, he takes to task those with little understanding of quantum physics who would use that field as a catch-all explanation for anything paranormal, but then proceeds on his own little ill-informed flights of fancy in that very same Heisenbergian purview.

An interesting read for those looking for spicy anecdotes from the history of paranormal research, or for those looking for ideas for speculative fiction novels. Those looking for evidence, however, should steer clear.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is excellent for skeptics and disbelievers who'd prefer to hear what someone thorough - who doesn't *want* to believe in anomalous cognition - really thinks is happening. Broderick is thorough (357 pages so) and calculating in his assessments of research and demonstrations of psi. Too thorough for my tastes, but then I'm reputed to be an impatient who has a hard time sitting through reviews of laboratory studies about psi. I love stories of people's exploits recounting what they actually did with their unusual experiences, and there's some of that here in Broderick's surveys. I was one of the people you knew in school, who were astonished by the skills Broderick must possess in math such as geometry and trigonometry. I'm most interested when there's something wacky going on which catches my attention, as I found in calculus or chemistry.

Overall I enjoyed what Broderick wrote and concluded, including his estimations of several players in research and practice. Broderick's facts match my intuitions and first-hand experience of those researchers, trainers and intuitives I've met, have seen making presentations, or whose books I've read. In fact, if the opportunity presented itself I might enjoy talking with Broderick, in the same way I'd enjoy talking with Neil Peart (of Rush) for his astonishing and inspiring lyrics. Peart's seemingly an avowed mind allied with Western science, but an absolutely brilliant lyricist and thinker.

What I find especially valuable about Broderick's attitude is his obeisance to clean science, wherein all data are acknowledged and accounted for, rather than a surreptitious tossing out of that which scares you or doesn't suit your tastes. True empiricism is especially rare to find in any world, and it's always valuable. A long-time friend whose work was mentioned in this book is treated favorably by Broderick, and he suggested that I read it because of my abiding interest in the fields it discusses. Because my friend tends toward humility, I didn't even know his work was mentioned before I read it.

[B Haze · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a really good look at parapsychology and how it fits into the modern world socially and physically.
While you can tell that the author's intention is to make you "believe", he doesn't shove his view or put a bias on the information he presents. Occasionally, when he can't help himself, he'll put his view, but in parenthesis. It was really interesting to know all of the studies and research that has been done with remote viewing and other aspects of parapsychology.

What was even more intriguing were the different theories presented by different physicists on how psi could indeed be possible using quantum mechanics/theories. There is one chapter however, that was extremely difficult to get through because the language was about knee-deep in scientific terms/ideas that take years of studying to get familiar with. I like to think that I can grasp these theories fairly quickly, as I've been reading a lot about quantum physics, but there are some things you will not understand unless you are a professional physicist or mathematician. That chapter took a lot of beef from me but I got through it. It gets better and easier to understand.

Over all I thought it was a very intriguing book.

[Evalyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a statistician, I found this quite cringeworthy. So much cherry-picking, and skirting around the actual statistical methods used, which occassionally sounded like the wrong methods, or blatantly ignoring the multiple testing problem.

And the chapters just drone on and on, with sci-fi fantasy dreaming at the end, which felt completely irrelevant to the premise.

Not a book I would readily recommend.

[Lulu]

Ben geortzel “”(the book that convinced me psi was worth researching)””

[Aimee · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's been a little difficult for me to plow through this book. I have to be in an engaging frame of mind and willing to work through the more complex chapters. There's lots of scientific/ theoretical talk which isn't my usually vein, but the topic interests me.

[Susan Marshall Randlett · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too much of the droning, soap-box diatribes and not enough information. Virtually unreadable.