SLEIGHTS OF MIND

Stephen Macknik and Susana Martinez-Conde, with Sandra Blakeslee. Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals About Our Brains. Profile Books, 2011.

A word of warning, if you love the wonder of magic shows and do not want on any account to know how magic tricks (even, one suspects, old and superseded ones) work, then do not read this book. If on the other hand you want to know what magic tricks can tell us about how we perceive the world, and what they illustrated about the human perceptual processes, then this book is for you.

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NORTHERN ECHOES: RAPS, TAPS AND REBRANDING UFOLOGY

Having now joined the two Johns [Harney and Rimmer] in the great ranks of the retired, I hope to have more time to devote to Northern Echoes, and perhaps even an article or two. My review of Robert McLuhan's Randi's Prize has brought a response from the author on his website, which sadly descended to the now usual SPR-type argument from snobbery, i.e. that it is quite impossible for 'those sort of people', (in this case problem children) to fool their betters. People who think like that are setting themselves up for a fall.

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SIGNS AND WONDERS

Jacques Vallee and Chris Aubeck. Wonders in the Sky: Unexplained Aerial Objects from Antiquity to Modern Times, and Their Impact on Human Culture, History and Belief. Tarcher/Penguin, 2010.

From its earliest days ufology sought to create a history for itself. To some extent one already existed in the books of Charles Fort, and stories from Fort were used by early writers such as Donald Keyhoe to bolster that history.

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WARMINSTER MEMORIES

Some of you might know that over the past year I’ve been working with David Simpson on producing a DVD of interviews with people who were involved in the Warminster ‘scene’ in the 1960s and early 1970s. We’ve just about finished videoing the interviews, and have spoken to twenty people about their experiences on and around Cradle Hill at that time. The next massive task is going to be editing all the interviews we have collected into a coherent narrative.
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PROBLEMS WITH POLTERGEISTS

Michael Clarkson. The Poltergeist Phenomenon: An In-Depth Investigation Into Floating Beds, Smashing Glass and Other Unexplained Disturbances. New Page Books, 2011

Michael Clarkson is a Canadian journalist who has previously written a number of books on the general theme of the psychology of fear. His long term interest in poltergeists began with a visit, at of all times Halloween 1980, from a person who as a boy had been the centre of a poltergeist case 10 years before in St Catharines, Ontario.
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A SEXUAL OUTLAW

Vere Chappell. Sexual Outlaw, Erotic Mystic: The Essential Ida Craddock. Wieser Books, 2010

Ida Craddock (1857-1902) was a pioneering American sexologist, who eventually committed suicide rather than face a long prison sentence imposed upon her through the actions of the moral entrepreneur Anthony Comstock. This book, by an officer of the Ordo Templi Orientis, provides a basic biography and a selection of her works.
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LIGHT FROM THE DARK

Dark Lore, Volume 5., edited by Greg Taylor. Daily Grail Publishing, 2010. 

This edition of Dark Lore continues the pattern of presenting articles on a wide range of subjects from different viewpoints. In his introduction editor Greg Taylor comments that some reviewers (not us, I hope) have been rather sniffy about the mix of academic and speculative approaches. He rightly dismisses this criticism and vows that Dark Lore will continue as before.

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VICTORIAN OCCULTISM

Alison Butler. Victorian Occultism and the Making of Modern Magic: Invoking Tradition. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

Many people today tend to view the Victorian period as one of dour Puritanism and dull conventionality, however the reality was often very different, and in many ways it was more tolerant than our own age is of various forms of dissidence and eccentricity. One manifestation of that eccentricity was the commitment of a number of solid members of society to forms of ritual magic.
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JADOO TO YOU TOO

With thanks to Doug Skinner's marvellous John Keel Blog for giving a link to this delightful little number apparently issued to promote the release of Keel's eponymous book. Doug explains:

John Keel’s first book, Jadoo, was promoted in many ways: interviews, excerpts in magazines, and a Keel snake act in a Manhattan store window. There was also a song. I don’t know who wrote or performed it (and John didn’t remember); I don’t know if it was ever released or aired. But — now you can listen to it on YouTube.

Many thanks to Anthony Matt and Geoff Brady for restoring the scratchy 78; and to Angela Alverson for posting it.

The John Keel blog is full of fascinating material about one of Magonia's father-figures. I've added it to my 'Sites Worth Seeing' listing. Meanwhile mix yourself a very dry martini, sit back and listen to the smooth lounge stylings of the Jadoo Song:

RANDI'S PRIZE

Robert McLuhan. Randi's Prize: What the Sceptics Say About the Paranormal, Why They Are Wrong, and Why It Matters. Matador, 2010

Robert McLuhan makes some very valid points about many of the sceptical writers on psychical research and parapsychology, in particular the way that many of them dismiss the subject with a wave of the hand or through polemic, tend to quote one another uncritically, and rarely do justice to the original reports.
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DEBATING PSYCHIC EXPERIENCE

Stanley Krippner and Harris L Friedman (Eds.) Debating Psychic Experience: Human Potential or Human Illusion. Praeger, 2010

For some thirty years now there has been a fierce polarisation between advocates of the reality of psi phenomena such as ESP and their critics, herein called counter advocates. Readers might wonder whether in this book, in which both sides have their say, there will be any meeting of the minds. There isn’t.
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GHOSTS AND MEN OF QUALITY

Peter Underwood. The Ghost Club: A History. Limbury Press, 2010.

The Ghost Club, as described in this slim volume, seems a rather strange, but very interesting organisation. Peter Underwood recounts a number of early starts in the nineteenth century. A 'Ghost Society' was first set up in Cambridge in 1851, its members including both a future Prime Minister and a future Archbishop of Canterbury.

NASA CONSPIRACIES

Nick Redfern. The NASA Conspiracies. New Page Books, 2010..

The publisher's blurb that came with Nick Redfern's book begins, "He's at it again! The notorious and enjoyable author Nick Redfern … ". Well, I wouldn't argue with either of those descriptions when reading The NASA Conspiracies. Mr Redfern appears to be one of those generously open-minded people who attract a great number of eccentric characters.