TIME AND TIME AGAIN

Eric Wargo. Time Loops. Anomalist Books, 2018

First things first - this is the most interesting and well-argued book about a paranormal topic I have read in years. It slowly develops a fascinating case with scientific rigour and, whilst proposing what might seem a startling premise - that precognition is not what we often assume it to be - it never seems more than objective and takes seriously, and argues well, sceptical rebuttals. This approach for me is how we should address these topics and is in the true spirit of Fort and Vallee. 

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PROPHETS IN PRINT

Jonathan Green. Printing and Prophecy: Prognostication and Media Change 1450-1550.  University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2012

Many people think that the first book ever printed (in moveable type) was the Gutenberg Bible (properly the 42-Line Bible), which appeared at Mainz in Germany in 1454. In fact, several small works had already been produced by the same press, including editions of the elementary Latin grammar of Donatus, these lacking the ‘harmonious layout’ of the later bibles, due to the technical problems with the new medium.
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FIGHTING ZOMBIES FOR FUN AND PROFIT

Stacey Graham. Zombie Tarot. Deck of 72 cards and instruction booklet. Illustrated by Paul Kepple and Ralph Geroni. Quirk Books, Philadelphia, 2012.

Well it’s nearly Christmas, and the Aztec Apocalypse is next week, so not much else could go wrong. Right? Well you’re forgetting about the Zombie Holocaust that’s probably just around the corner, and will bring about the end of civilization as we, or anybody else, knows it.
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THE END OF THE WORLD SHOW

John Michael Greer. Apocalypse, A History of the End of Time. Quercus, 2012.

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Mathew Barrett Gross and Mel Gilles. The Last Myth, What the Rise of Apocalyptic Thinking Tells Us About America. Prometheus Books, 2012.

Well, we all know that the end of the world is going to be on December 21st, which is a shame for the kiddies, who will have been looking forward to their Christmas presents. But these two books reassure us that it’s probably still OK to plan for the turkey, crackers and paper hats.
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"BANDITRY AND THE DISTRESS OF NATIONS"

Jane Shaw. Octavia, Daughter of God: The Story of a Female Messiah and her Followers. Jonathan Cape, 2011.

British readers who are old enough may remember newspaper adverts back in the 1960s and 1970s which read something like "Crime, banditry and the distress of nations will increase until the bishops open Joanna Southcott's box". These strange adverts were the work of the Panacea Society, the subject of this book.
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BACK TO THE FUTURE WITH NOSTRADAMUS

Peter Lemesurier. Nostradamus, Bibliomancer. New Page Books, 2010.

A glance on the Internet reveals that Peter Lemesurier has written many books in the paranormal field, with titles such as The Healing of the Gods and The Great Pyramid Decoded. So when I received this book for review I assumed, reflecting my own prejudices, that it would be another fairly uncritical rehash of the 'prophecies', explaining how they predicted spectacular events, which somehow always seem to have just happened.
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