Terje G. Simonsen’s A Short History of (Nearly) Everything Paranormal: Our Secret Powers – Telepathy, Clairvoyance & Precognition was never going to win any prizes for snappiest title, but it was given a prestigious Parapsychological Association Book Award in 2019. A first iteration appeared in Norwegian in 2013, and it was revised and expanded in an English-language translation in 2018. It quickly established itself as a major survey of parapsychology aimed at the general reader. Neither the subtitle nor the mischievously inaccurate ‘short’ in the title reflects the breadth of Simonsen’s coverage.
Billed as a ‘historian of ideas’, he tackles laboratory experimentation, anecdotes and historical perspectives. While sympathetic, he is even-handed, encouraging the reader to scrutinise the data from different angles and allowing space for competing points of view. He is prepared to acknowledge when the support for a claim isn’t strong, but is generally positive in his opinions about the reality of paranormal phenomena.
The book’s range is impressive and splendidly interdisciplinary. It outlines three main approaches to psi: laboratory, nature and spirituality – the last seeking ways in which our everyday existence, including psi, is part of a greater whole – while acknowledging that in practice the lines are blurred.
Psi is broken down into its various forms, with a dive into the intellectual currents from which it emerged, and the way study of it developed, not least through association with an interest in the occult. Simonsen looks at mesmerism and its evolution into hypnotism, and philosophical ideas, notably those of Kant, whose ambivalent attitude towards Swedenborg is discussed, but also thinkers of the calibre of Hegel, Schopenhauer and Schelling. Then there are the psychoanalytic theories of Freud and Jung and connections between psychical research and early psychology explored by William James and Frederic Myers, among others.
He delves into an extensive range of phenomena, giving the reader a flavour of remote viewing and psychic archaeology, Cold War research, notably the Stargate remote viewing project, psychokinesis, healing, reincarnation, out-of-body and near-death experiences, the work of Daryl Bem and Dean Radin, dream telepathy and ganzfeld experiments, the Global consciousness project and more. Spontaneous cases are dealt with more superficially, so while there is a little on poltergeists, Simonsen demonstrates less interest in ghosts and hauntings (he might want to argue that spontaneous cases do not fall within parapsychology, but they definitely do fall within the scope of the paranormal).
In terms of psi’s relationship with established scientific disciplines, he is equally wide-ranging. He tracks the intersection with anthropology, non-western examples that provide alternative explanatory frameworks, and biology, particularly the work of Rupert Sheldrake. The importance of psychology is evident in its incorporation into the term parapsychology, transpersonal psychology links back to a spiritual component. A lengthy chapter on consciousness addresses a variety of theories, including the filter theory and the possible role of quantum processes, as well as eastern approaches.
Simonsen provides an overview of institutional psychical research, such as at the Society for Psychical Research (characterised by him as ‘The Paranormal Detective Bureau’), the American SPR, the Rhine Research Center, the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and other relevant organisations. He also gets out of the lab and into daily life, which is where it counts, seeing intuition as a synthesis of normal and paranormal abilities in all their variety. He doesn’t ignore the pseudosceptics, such as James Randi and his ilk, nor those sceptical researchers who take the research seriously while disagreeing with its findings.
Theoretical sections examine how psi processes might operate. Simonsen’s underpinning model, relying on the work of Ervin Laszlo, is the Mental Internet, similar to the Akashic records, which connects everything and allows information transfer without the need of our senses. It is analogous to networked computers sharing data over long distances, with consciousness considered to be an information field rather than limited to individual brains.
Despite Simonsen’s commendable enthusiasm for it, while the Mental Internet appears attractive as an explanatory mechanism, deriving testable hypotheses will prove tricky. It also has implications for the survival of consciousness after bodily death, possibly why there is little about it in the book. This is a significant omission as survival is a key aspect of psychical research, having amassed a considerable body of evidence that requires evaluation.
Although the language is non-technical the manner of presentation can be dense at times as there is so much packed in, but it is worth persevering for the depth of Simonsen’s knowledge, and his sense of humour carries the reader through even the heaviest stretches. Space constraints mean some topics are rushed, which is a shame, especially when accounts of Uri Geller and Baba Vanga occupy more space than strictly necessary. However, there are plenty of references, showing how rigorous he has been in his research, providing plenty of avenues for further reading. Examples drawn from his Norwegian experience are refreshing when so much of the subject revolves around Britain and the US.
Surprisingly, Simonsen fails the Myers Test, my rule-of-thumb for determining someone’s knowledge of psychical research by whether they spell Frederic Myers’ name correctly. If it is spelled Frederick, it is a warning sign. In this instance the lapse does not reflect an overall lack of quality, as it often does (and he gets it right a couple of times). Rather, Simonsen has synthesised a large quantity of material to provide an informative analysis pitched at the general reader. The Parapsychological Association Book Award is well deserved.
Bibliographic note: The book was published in English in 2018 by Pari Publishing as Our Secret Powers: Telepathy, Clairvoyance and Precognition – A Short History of (Nearly) Everything Paranormal. It was reissued by Watkins in 2020 with the current title, the copyright page stating that this edition was first published in the UK and USA in that year.
The Joy of Mere Words 