Lends new meaning to the slang term "spook"
by - Written: Jan 24 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Tries to be more objective
Cons: Doesn't succeed
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| Kidnykid's Full Review: Remote Viewers: The Secret History of America's Ps... |
This book covers many of the same events as PSYCHIC WARRIORS (see my review of that book), but Schnabel seems to want to take a more journalistic approach to the whole topic of remote viewing and its uses in the spy trade.
The problem with Schnabel's approach to this topic is that he seems to fallen for the New Age party line: that anything affiliated with the New Age movement is OK and should not be critically examined, while anything or any institution with a more traditional or scientific approach should be ripped apart or ignored in the hope that it will go away. The best example of his approach is found in the way in which he treats SRI International, to which there is a brief reference.
SRI International was renamed several years ago (it used to be called Stanford Research Institute) to reflect the fact that it is not affiliated in any way with Stanford University. Schnabel refers to SRI International (and here I paraphrase) as a well-respected scientific institution, when the truth is that it has a reputation for researching paranormal phenomena and other such things that no traditional scientifically-oriented institution (ironically, including Stanford University itself) would touch with the proverbial ten-foot pole.
Granted, Schnabel does light into two employees of the Stargate program for being a bit flaky, but there is some sexism here - both of them are women who were regarded as somewhat flaky for indulging in the types of phenomena which are roundly rejected in the mainstream society, such as the "telephone psychic" type of spying and Tarot card reading and so forth. But the remote viewing the men engage in is little better in terms of verifiability and scientific credibility, while it is taken more seriously both by Schnabel and the male members of the program.
Recommended:
No
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