Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #258531 in Books
• Published on: 2003-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

Exploring cutting-edge research

This book examines developments at the frontiers of science. Schroedinger, Heisenberg, Bohr and Pauli were the pioneers of quantum physics, but numerous scientists in various disciplines have been conducting experiments that reveal profound new possibilities in our view of the universe. The author investigates the work of those scientists who are at the cutting edge of exploration, all with reference to the life force, universal energy field or Zero Point Field, an ocean of microscopic vibrations. It would appear that evidence is mounting that the universe is one vast quantum field.

Part One: The Resonating Universe, looks at the work of amongst others, Rupert Sheldrake, Fritz Albert Popp, Robert O Becker, Jacques Benveniste and Karl Pribram. The theory of the universe as a collection of resonating frequencies is here examined. Part Two: The Extended Mind, explores the work of inter alia Helmut Schmidt, Jahn & Dunne and Puthoff & Targ. The topics include nonlocality, remote influence and viewing, dreams, clairvoyance, ESP, precognition, the nature of time and how the observer influences the observed, like quantum particles.

Part Three: Tapping into the Field, deals with the experiments of for example Elisabeth Targ and her positive findings of remote healing in AIDS cases, and the work of William Braud, Dean Radin and Roger Nelson. The concept of collective consciousness is fascinating. The speculations include the possibility that negative consciousness is like a germ that infects large numbers of people and could produce evil like the Inquisition, Hitler and the Salem Witch Trial.

On the other hand, positive consciousness might give rise to great periods in history, like the Renaissance and many benign popular trends. The question of the existence of emotional and intellectual synchronicity is addressed here. McTaggart also looks at developments in artificial intelligence and considers how these recent discoveries might influence the future. They are hinting at an immense human potential, validating alternative medicine and confirming some mythical and religious beliefs. The author believes that this scientific revolution has forever ended the concept of dualism.

The book contains notes by chapter, a vast bibliography and an index. McTaggart has performed a great service by making the research of a large number of scientists known to a wide popular audience. Sometimes the reading pleasure is lost in the overly detailed descriptions of various experiments and their preparation. Also, the physical descriptions of the scientists under discussion are often a bit irritating and unnecessary, although it might have been done to keep the narrative accessible and conversational.

Mind-blowing stuff
This is an excellent book.

I recently lent it to a PhD science graduate on holiday who read the thing cover to cover. Be warned that it is likely to force you to reassess your entire view of the reality! It is one of the most mind-blowing books you'll ever read.

BUT:

On the down side, although Lynne McTaggart is clearly highly intelligent but what she is not, is a scientist. And it shows. She is a journalist. And although her copy has been proofed by scientists, in accordance with her journalist training what she instictively and repeatedly does is to "simplify and exaggerate".

Thus although I loved Lynne's book and highly recommend it, my complaint with it is that it comprehensively fails to be objective. It is extremely one-sided. She fails to give adequate weight (or totally fails to mention) all the failed experiments where many of the more exotic experiments have not been replicated elsewhere. (e.g. On many occassions, Homeopathy has in fact been both proved AND dis-proved).

The second thing she fails to do is give the non-scientist reader a feel for the degree of certainty the experimental evidence in each instance has attained. Although good science necessarily does start with a single obervation - an anecdote if you will - where possible it then needs to go through double-blind, placebo-controlled, peer-reviewed (etc) studies... and the whole thing needs to be successfully replicated elsewhere.

Although it is great to see that she has pages and pages of scientific references, the untrained reader is given no sense of just how relatively significant each piece of evidence really is. And it turns out that some of the material discussed in her book - fascinating though it is - has in fact failed to be replicated elsewhere.

My final criticism is that her final conclusions are a bit of an anti-climax. It's as if she either runs out of nerve or intellect or both. The principles established in one bit of research are not applied to another. It's as if at the end of each chapter she shouts "zero-point field! zero-point field!" and then ducks.

NONETHELESS, this book serves an excellent wake-up call for the scientific world. If you didnt know that the mind of the experimentor can actually effect the experimental results that he/she gets, then wake up and smell the coffee!

Is this a revolution?
I can hear the very foundations of science and human knowledge as we know it creaking under the strain of this book.

This is a highly accessible book that ties together much cutting edge science and serves as an excellent introduction to the subject.

Dont think twice: buy it.

Thought provoking reading
Lynne McTaggart has succeeded in writing an accessable account of what can be a mind boggling subject. She presents some of the research that provides a foundation of proof for a "collective consciousness" and certain "supernatural" phenomena (such as precognition and telepathy) that is based in established knowledge of physics. Explainations of these theories steer clear of complex equations in favour of metaphor (comparing the Field to the "Force" in Starwars is a little sensationalist) and simple terms, making it an easy read. However, the experiments are presented as fact without too much explaination of methodolgy, so a little critical thinking is often required. If you are looking for a book to whet your appetite for the subject, then its a good place to start, as it points to some of the more meaty reading (Michael Talbot / David Bohm). If you are looking for difinitive answers to questions about consciousness and your place in the universe, this book will probably leave you with more questions than you started, but with an urge to find out more.