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goobdiddy's review against another edition
3.0
Took me a while to read it, but it was interesting. I'd like to see someone tackle this from a more recent perspective as well...
sdb27's review against another edition
5.0
A thought-provoking and engaging narrative, with a perfect blend of the historical and the psychical. What a fascinating era to learn about-- I wish there were more books like this!
beth_short's review against another edition
Love the premise and subject matter, but not engagingly written. Too many people to keep up with.
archivesgeek's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Getting through this book was a slog for me but I don't think it's due to the writing, which is well done. I read this book hoping beyond hope that a definitive answer to proof of life after death was found. That proved not to be the case. But, the message of "a will to believe" is a takeaway I will accept. We live in a world of wondrous things. Diamonds fall in the atmosphere of Neptune. Who is to say that our departed loved ones' energy and soul isn't out there, somewhere, in the universe?
bclark8781's review against another edition
3.0
I don't quite know what to make of this book. Ms Blum includes episode after episode of seemingly supernatural happenings that, if described completely and accurately, seem like they couldn't be anything else but SOME sort of supernatural happenings, whether telepathy or actual communications with/from the dead. But she doesn't come to any firm conclusions, but really, how could she? So, in many ways this book doesn't really "go anywhere"; the events described early in the book are basically identical to those in later chapters. I wouldn't have read this had she not invoked William James in the title, and he really is the through-line of the narrative. Did this group of earnest "ghost hunters" (an unfortunate phrase in my opinion) really prove anything? No, but they certainly didn't disprove anything either. The world still simply doesn't know the answer to the question of life after death; if this book accomplishes anything it makes the case for (SOMEhow) scientifically studying the subject, but here in 2022 (or in 2006 when thus book was written) we don't seem to have any better idea of how to approach the subject than these folks did in 1906!
One thing that I think would have really helped (me, at least) would have been photos of some of the main characters. I don't know if Ms Blum was unable to find photos of many of these somewhat obscure turn-of-the-century figures, or if she felt they wouldn't add much to the reader's experience. I'd like to ask the author this.
One thing that I think would have really helped (me, at least) would have been photos of some of the main characters. I don't know if Ms Blum was unable to find photos of many of these somewhat obscure turn-of-the-century figures, or if she felt they wouldn't add much to the reader's experience. I'd like to ask the author this.