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Title: The Roots of Coincidence by Arthur Koestler ISBN: 0-394-71934-4 Publisher: Random House (P) Pub. Date: 01 September, 1973 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $3.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4 (5 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Forges arguments for bringing parapsychology into the open
Comment: Coincidence, synchronicity, and paranormal events of varying types have and are lumped together with dismissive shrugs by many, but not all, learned people in a host of disciplines. That Arthur Koestler turned his keen intellect on these topics is not as surprising as some of the postulates he made, many of which stand still as neither disproved or confirmed.
He chronicles much of the research done to confirm E.S.P. and discusses both the flaws and results, results that tend to favor the existence of psychic abilities despite the fact that rigid scientific methods demotivate participants and suppress such abilities. Mr. Koestler makes the point repeatedly that coincidence, synchronicity, and parapsychology cannot necessarily be bottled up or tapped on demand, but that sometimes precipitating events will trigger such events. (I've experienced such things first-hand and concur with this view.)
Mr. Koestler---like other divergent thinkers such as Robert Anton Wilson, Fritjof Capra, Karl Pilbram and others---turned to physics for explanations for these phenomena, believing that an intrinsic link must exist between these two seemingly disparate disciplines. His writing on this subject is fairly strait-forward, though because this book is more than 30 years old, much of what was then state of the art now seems quaintly misdirected (sort of like the depiction of the giant HAL artificial intelligence in "2001: A Space Odyssey").
An essential point, for me, are that Mr. Koestler takes great pains to show that learned, prestigious persons---e.g., Jung, Rhine, Kammerer, Eddington---have been delving into this research for centuries, often at great personal cost to their careers or images.
Rereading this book now, I tend to side with Jung's view of refusing "to commit the fashionable stupidity of regarding everything I cannot explain as a fraud." In other words, I'm not sold on everything here, but I think this well-articulated treatise on parapsychology that well-worth the time. Or put another way (with apologies to Lennon): All we are saying is give E.S.P. a chance.
Rating: 2
Summary: Incorrect and confused conclusions!
Comment: This book is based solely on the speculations of the author, that obviously has little or none scientific research to back him up. "How does nature know how the statistic quota for an occurrency has been filled?" Koestler asks himself, not understanding the fact that the statistic distributions designed to calculate probability follows certain patterns in nature - not the other way around. Closest at hand for Koestler was to label these occurrencies as paranormal - as guided by a higher power. Arthur Koestler loved science, but science did not love him back.
Rating: 4
Summary: For readers who like to think "what if"?
Comment: A very enjoyable read. Having read other works of Koestler, I am amazed at the broad range he covers in his writing. In this book, Koestler deals with how and why coincidences happen, from psychology to subatomic physics. You'll be surprised...
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Title: Synchronicity : Through the Eyes of Science, Myth and the Trickster by Allan Combs, Mark Holland ISBN: 1569245991 Publisher: Marlowe & Company Pub. Date: 30 December, 2000 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: Synchronicity: The Bridge Between Matter and Mind by F. David Peat ISBN: 0553346768 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 November, 1988 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Wholeness and the Implicate Order by David Bohm ISBN: 0415289793 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 15 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Soul Moments: Marvelous Stories of Synchronicity-Meaningful Coincidences from a Seemingly Random World by Phil Cousineau ISBN: 1573240796 Publisher: Conari Press Pub. Date: 01 June, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Synchronicity, Signs & Symbols by Patricia R. Upczak, Patricia Rose Upczak, Polly Palmer, Patricia Rose Upczak ISBN: 1891554190 Publisher: Synchronicity Publishing Pub. Date: 01 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $13.99 |
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