Chasing the Dark: A 140-Year Investigation of Paranormal Activity
In both style and substance it is sometimes all too credulous ... Despite the historical sweep of its subtitle, Chasing the Dark primarily recounts the exploits of a single British investigator ... Both writer and subject are similarly uncritical about other incidents ... For all his openness to the truth, it’s clear that Cornell fundamentally wanted to believe in the supernatural, and it sometimes feels as if Machell does, too ... It leaves one with the impression that the thrills we experience now matter more than the facts we might eventually establish, facts that Machell sometimes lays out in a still greater rush, as if disappointed that he is obliged to explain them at all ... Even doubt sometimes bizarrely becomes the basic condition of belief for Machell ... Where Cornell maintained room for doubt, Machell leaves open the door for conviction. His readers may come away with material matters to wonder over, but they will have to puzzle at them on their own.
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Entrancing ... Machell’s elegantly thrilling yarn encompasses the broad history of paranormal research in the UK.
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Takes a brave and thought-provoking look at how this intuition has endured and even flourished throughout a scientific, materialist age ... He draws extensively on the case files of Cornell ... Machell reports some intriguing experiments into telepathy, too ... If the science of consciousness is your bag this light and anecdotal book is not the one for you.
