It's late in the evening, the drink has been flowing, and the
  conversation veers towards the weird. Is telepathy possible? Does
  astrology work? You know the kind of stuff. Cue the ritual 
  slanging match between the wide-eyed credulist ("Well, it works
  for me") and the sceptic ("There's not a shred of scientific
  evidence").

  Those who loathe such exchanges because of their sterile
  predictability now have a powerful antidote in this authoritative
  and accessible review of the state of scientific research into
  paranormal phenomena, based on a special issue of the `Journal of
  Consciousness Studies'. Almost all of the pieces are written by
  university academics with a track record of peer-reviewed research,
  and they cover paranormal phenomena thought by some to cast light
  on human consciousness, primarily telepathy (communication between
  minds), psychokinesis (affecting objects with the mind) and 
  astrology (celestial effects on the mind).

  `Psi Wars' begins with a look at the sheer strangeness of 
  paranormal phenomena and their implications. Then lead editor
  James Alcock of the University of Toronto argues cogently for
  scepticism based on evidence rather than ignorance. And as the
  bulk of the book shows, the evidence is far more extensive than
  you might think. Furthermore, some of it, notably in studies of
  telepathy, is strongly positive.

  Far from being the flaky obsession of nutcases, paranormal
  phenomena emerge as a valuable test bed for techniques whose
  reliability too often goes unquestioned. Anyone seeking something
  more sophisticated than the usual mud-slinging should buy this book.

  Robert Matthews is science correspondent of The Sunday Telegraph

  http://www.newscientist.com/opinion/opbooks.jsp?id=ns24122


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