A review by gobblebook
Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory by Stacy Horn

4.0

This is a really fascinating look at the history of the study of supernatural phenomena at Duke University. The book describes many interesting cases of mediums, extra-sensory perception, ghosts, and other explainable phenomena, but the focus of the book is the hurdles that scientists have faced in trying to study and explain these occurrences. Horn focuses on J.B. Rhine, the founder and head of the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory, and the driving force behind nearly 50 years of vigorous research. Unfortunately, Rhine never found satisfactory explanations for paranormal phenomena, and most of his work has never been accepted by the scientific community at large, despite following the scientific method very carefully. Horn discusses many possible explanations for the paranormal, which are very interesting. It is also interesting how much we still don't know about the world around us and our own capabilities. Horn handles her information very sensitively: she isn't trying to convince her readers of anything, except to keep an open mind. You will come away from this book with more questions than answers, which I think is a strength. The book is well-researched, and the bibliography provides lots of material for extra reading. My one complaint is that I sometimes lost track of the overall narrative about J.B. Rhine and his lab in the course of some of the long tangential accounts of ghosts or mediums or poltergeist. All of the information was really fascinating, but I could have used a few more guideposts along the way to keep track of what was happening. Of course, this is complicated by the fact that I read most of this book in small chunks when I could find a few spare minutes.