e world of psychic phenomena is wildly controversial， and some-<br >es frightening. It is beyond existing knowledge; it defies all expla-<br >ions， and challenges scientific principles and laws. Controversial?<br >，~n the experts in the field don t agree.<br >Thus I thought it time for someone with academic sympathies<br >i training， but outside the field--no grants to seek， no ax to<br >~d--to take a fresh look. That s what I set out to do.<br >How did I， a university sociologist， get into such a role? It<br >an when I was reporting on a conference on the subject for<br >international magazine. The whole thing intrigued me: Here<br > psychiatrists and educators， researchers and psychics， probing<br >intricacies and mysteries of Psi. The piece I wrote started the<br >rolling， for then letters started to pour in--psychic incidents<br >adventures， questions and problems--from every part of the<br >~try. Later they came in in Japanese， Spanish， German， Portu-<br >e， from every part of the world.<br >kt<br >le.<br >Lt<br >got the best<br >do we know<br >~or more than two years， I have pored over the literature， visited<br >psychology centers and laboratories in Scotland， England， Hol-<br >Germany， Canada， the United States， and Japan. I monitored<br >rchers at their professional gatherings--in San Francisco， St.<br >~， Edinburgh--heard their papers， their problems， their debates.<br >owed up with conversations， correspondence， and interviews，<br >of which I tape recorded. I tracked down dowsers， healers，<br >:ives， and psychic practitioners at their conferences， or in their<br >shops， and in their homes. Again， I enlisted them in discussion，<br >spondence， sometimes a whole weekend of taped interviews.<br >le cases are overflowing with dozens of transcripts.<br >