The editors of Time-Life Books have produced another exciting series: Mysteries of the Unknown. The mysteries of Psychic Powers are brought to you in extraordinary detail through vivid photography and engaging, informative text.
Okay so this book has been in my childhood home for literally my entire life and I recently came across it (I had never read it before). I was hoping it would teach me how to hone my mind but instead it was just a bunch of stories... and like... I get that it's a book and usually books contain stories but idk that was a disappointment.
One surprise I enjoyed was the mention of quantum mechanics as a possible explanation to PSI phenomena. For a book that was published in 1992 that felt kinda wild I guess quantum mechanics has been around a while but I feel like I only learned about it in the last few years...
Any way, biiiig coffee table book vibes. Which by the way trying to read a coffee table book in bed sucksss like why its this painful?? Why do my arms hurt... like okay ow.
These Time-Life occult books were my major guilty pleasure as a younger teenager. Wonder if it's possible to find them all again at a reasonable price.
I was going over what I read in middle school and it all confirms it. Some people want to save you and others want to to die. I still think it is Astral. Thanks for the review.
While some of the material on extrasensory perception and the study of parapsychology was interesting to read, much of the book was written as something of a novelty. Some of the entries read more like folklore or urban legend than historically or medically sanctioned facts. While I enjoyed many of the photographs and illustrations, these combined with some of the less-researched bits of information included give this book in the TimeLife series something of a coffee table appeal.
If you have a fleeting interest or very little understanding of psychic studies, this book might catch your interest. If you're more deeply intrigued by psychic phenomena, you might want to seek another source.
Extreme Book Nerd Challenge 2022 Challenge Topic: Read a book from the bottom shelf.
As I was leaving the nonfiction 00's this book just kind of jumped out at me. I've alwasy liked the Time Life collections so I decided why not? It was pretty interesting. Went into the history of how psi came to be so well know and how the studies for it began. Talked about the race with the Soviet Union to be the first to research how to use psi power for military benefits. It also talked about a lot of well know psychics and fakes and those that believed in them and those that didn't. Some of the names I knew... and some surprised me.
I am fascinated with the unknown, especially when it is related to physic powers like ESP. The Time-Life people did an amazing job looking into a strange realm and how close it just may be to reality.
I bought this with two other titles from the series as gifts for my old friend Mike Miley with whom I was to be visiting. Like most such gifts, I read them first. Nice pictures. Sensationalistic overview of parapsychology and its subject matters.
Writing and presentation was good. Not a believer, so the material was not especially convincing to me. But the reporting and the telling of the stories was pretty good.