The ESP Enigma

The Scientific Case for Psychic Phenomena

By: Diane Hennacy Powell

Narrated by: Suzanne Toren

Although much is now known about the brain, relatively little has been determined about where consciousness comes from: What is the source of the "I" in our internal monologue? How does something as nonmaterial as consciousness arise from something material like the brain?

Dr. Diane Powell, a Johns Hopkins-trained neuroscientist, has brilliantly reassessed the meaning and nature of consciousness by exploring research on the workings of psychic phenomena.

Over the past few decades, several well-designed and rigorously supervised experiments have documented the existence of telepathic interconnection, clairvoyance, precognition, psychokinesis, and out-of-body experiences. Mainstream science has largely ignored these data, because they all defy the traditional model of consciousness as being solely the product of brain chemistry. Building from these experiments, Powell constructs a new theory of consciousness. Integrating concepts from physics, neuroscience, and other disciplines, she offers an insightful and intriguing explanation of ESP, provocatively claiming that the existence of psychic abilities expands our understanding and appreciation of consciousness. Psychic abilities are also consistent with findings in modern physics: For example, psychokinesis implies that consciousness is a type of force field, while precognition suggests that the past, present, and future exist concurrently.

Eye-opening in its conclusions and exciting in its implications, The ESP Enigma will challenge your preconceived notions and expand your mind.

©2008 Diane Hennacy Powell (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Psychic power has had trouble gaining scientific respectability, but Powell makes a game effort to propose serious consideration of its existence.... Incorporating Powell's knowledge of neuroscience, this work should appeal to those open to the idea that ESP exists." (Booklist)

Finally a Woo Woo free Psychic discussion

One of the few books that I will reread. So many books related to Psychic material are just anecdotal fairy tales. This nicely relates various phonomenon to related science based references.

Excellent work

Dense, but informative. Worth the time. I will listen again and share with other open minded folks

Very insightful to a complicated topic

It's not easy to explain cases and topics related to ESP... and to be able to find scientific meanings and arguments would be very difficult.... and yet here we are :)

The Book is well planned, and well written with enough explanation covering relatively a complex topic.

The low end is that at some points, the discussion went too technical that I lost focus, but then got back to the flow... (happened multiple times with me).

If you're into ESP... This book is really interesting for you!

good but dense

parts of this book are easy peasy to follow and others are thicker. if you have a physics background it'll be all rainbows for you to get through. still useful, albeit biased. the author is fair about pointing out her bias though.

good book about how the brain relates to ESP

Very interesting book with many good examples. Goes into a lot of detail on the science of the brain.

Drags on and on

premise is good, but way way way too detailed and the dictation is very stilted and sounds awkward, if that makes sense. she reminds me a little bit of my high school drama teacher who spoke in a bizarre, over the top mannet with precise enunciation as if she were a Broadway director, lol. I can't Hartley recommend this book, but the information is somewhat interesting. could be really edited down though.

Fascinating

I am almost done with listing to this the second time. This book explains so much about what we call psychic phenomenon. There has been a tremendous amount of research on the subject over the years. This research was performed in top universities and by the US government.

Great overview

Picked this up after listening to the Telepathy tapes. Great overview of the subject. Good balance between hard science and more speculative ideas.

So glad I listened

One of a handful of the most important books of our time. She brings together and fairly summarizes 100+ years of research on psi, god or bad. The results will astound you. This stuff is getting hard to deny. But she also provides models from quantum mechanics suggesting how these abilities are not just explainable but perhaps inevitable.

Monism vs. Dualism, a modern scientific analysis

Very well written and enlightening. Secular leaning scientists may disagree with this modern analysis of consciousness and the mind-body relationship debate. Dr Howell presents solid arguments as to why we are getting closer to finding out the truth about this evrlasting debate.
As a psychology teacher I found that her arguments were quite similar to my own personal theory about the role of religion/spirituality in our conscious interpretation of the world we perceive.