Extraordinary knowing : science, skepticism, and the inexplicable powers of the human mind / Elizabeth Lloyd Mayer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mayer, Elizabeth Lloyd.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Subconsciousness.

Cognition.

Parapsychology.

Physical Description:

xiii, 302 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Bantam Books, 2007.

Summary:

In 1991, when her daughterʾs rare, hand-carved harp was stolen, Lisby Mayerʾs familiar world of science and rational thinking turned upside down. After the police failed to turn up any leads, a friend suggested she call a dowser-a man who specialized in finding lost objects. With nothing to lose-and almost as a joke-Dr. Mayer agreed. Within two days, and without leaving his Arkansas home, the dowser located the exact California street coordinates where the harp was found. Deeply shaken, yet driven to understand what had happened, Mayer began the fourteen-year journey of discovery that she recounts in this mind-opening, brilliantly readable book. Her first surprise: the dozens of colleagues whoʾd been keeping similar experiences secret for years, fearful of being labeled credulous or crazy. Extraordinary Knowing is an attempt to break through the silence imposed by fear and to explore what science has to say about these and countless other inexplicable phenomena. From Sigmund Freudʾs writings on telepathy to secret CIA experiments on remote viewing, from leading-edge neuroscience to the strange world of quantum physics, Dr. Mayer reveals a wealth of credible and fascinating research into the realm where the mind seems to trump the laws of nature. She does not ask us to believe. Rather she brings us a book of profound intrigue and optimism, with far-reaching implications not just for scientific inquiry but also for the ways we go about living in the world.

Includes information on anomalous cognition (extraordinary knowing), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), clairvoyance, dreams, extrasensory perception (ESP), evidence, fortune telling, Sigmund Freud, ganzfeld studies, Gestalt psychology, God, healing, treatment and diagnoses, professional intuitives, National Research Council, (NRC), quantum consciousness, quantum mind, quantum phenomena, remote viewing, remote perception, science, Society for Psychical Research (SPR), telepathy, etc. Forwords by Freeman Dyson and Carol Gilligan.

Contents:

Chapter 1: The Harp That Came Back: My Journey Begins

Chapter 2: Going Public with Private Knowing: Breaking the Silence

Chapter 3: Disavowing the Extraordinary: Personal Cost and Public Consequences

Chapter 4: States of Mind: Knowing That Doesn't Feel Like Knowing

Chapter 5: Intuitive Intelligence: the Art and Science of Union

Chapter 6: Starting-and Stopping-the Conversation: The Strange History of Paranormal Research

Chapter 7: Tossing Out Meteorites: Science, Fear, and Anxiety

Chapter 8: Nighttime Eyes: learning to Live with Paradox

Chapter 9: Measuring the Power of Prayer: is God in the Equation?

Chapter 10: Listening Harder: Tuning Into Dreams and Telepathy

Chapter 11: Three Seconds into the Future: The New Science of the Unconscious

Chapter 12: Quantum Uncertainty: A Working Model of Reality

Epilogue: To Begin Again: the Challenge of the Extraordinary.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [275]-290) and index.

ISBN:

0553803352

9780553803358

OCLC:

71173669