Parapsychology – Research on Exceptional Experiences
Jane Henry (2005) pub: Routledge £15.95
Exam board: AQA-A

For those who are about to embark on teaching AQA A A2 Anomalistic Psychology for the first time this academic year, I would highly recommend this text.

The book starts by giving a brief but detailed account of the concepts of both parapsychology and the methodology used by researchers in this field. The main aim of this book is to document scientists’ attempts at trying to investigate and understand paranormal experiences. Most of the topics covered within the text relate directly to the AQA unit, and each chapter is free-standing, short in content and referenced. The topics covered include; psychokinesis, extrasensory perception, animal psi, out-of-body experience, near-death and reincarnation. Contributors to the text include Chris French (a leading academic in this field) along with Susan Blackmore (whom some of you may recall was a keynote speaker at the Lincoln conference last year). Most of the work covered is based on experimental design/evidence and is very student-friendly and would/will provoke both discussion and debate within the class. At the end of the text there is a very useful section which includes websites, organisations and journals to allow you to develop and obtain further resources for this course.

Finally, I must confess that when I first thought about teaching this course, my general impression was that it was not very worthwhile or scientific in both nature and content. However, upon reading this text and making use of the websites listed, I feel that both my students and myself will enjoy the opportunity of studying something that is both