New Book: Selections from the Correspondence of J. B. Rhine

Hot off the press: A selection of the correspondence of J. B. Rhine, the biologist who famously established a laboratory for experimental studies of telepathy and other occult phenomena at Duke University in the 1930s. Among Rhine’s correspondents whose letters are included in the volume are renowned psychologists such as Carl G. Jung and B. … Read more

William James and the Occult: Download a Free PDF of my Oxford Handbook Chapter, “James and Psychical Research in Context”

I’m glad to share the news that my contribution to the Oxford Handbook of William James has just appeared in an electronic version ahead of print. William James at a slate-writing seance with the medium Mrs. Walden (probably late 1890s. Image Credit: James papers, Houghton Library, Harvard University, MS.Am.1092.[1]). Chapter summary: James’s open advocacy, practice, … Read more

New: Science, ‘Atheism’ and Ridicule – Prof. Michael Hunter on the Hidden History of the Decline of Magic in Early Modern British Science

  Nobody knows more about Robert Boyle, a founder of modern experimental science and the Royal Society, than Michael Hunter. Now an Emeritus Professor of History at Birkbeck, Hunter is the author of various essays and books including the award-winning monograph, Boyle: Between God and Science (2009). Apart from producing a catalogue of Boyle’s vast … Read more

An Occult Nobel Laureate: New Book on French Physiologist and Psychical Researcher Charles Richet

There’s certainly no shortage of books on the modern occult produced by academic historians, English literature scholars and other humanities researchers. However, it’s no secret that I feel that much of this literature is characterized by a sadly lax and superficial engagement with primary sources, and methodological aspects of empirical approaches to alleged parapsychological phenomena … Read more

Coming in October: Richard Noakes’ Physics and Psychics. The Occult and the Sciences in Modern Britain (Cambridge University Press)

I’m excited to announce that the long-awaited book by Richard Noakes is now available for pre-order. Scheduled to appear in October 2019 as part of the Science in History series by Cambridge University Press, Physics and Psychics: The Occult and the Sciences in Modern Britain will provide surprising insights into the heterodox preoccupations of many … Read more

Ghosts and Enlightenment Science at the University of Basel

In 2014 I was invited to give a talk at the University of Basel as part of a public lecture series on ‘transcendent experiences’, which was organized by the biologist and philosopher Heiner Schwenke. German readers might be interested in a text of mine which is based on this lecture, and which just appeared in … Read more

Why Was the First Compilation of James’ Essays on Unorthodox Science Published in French?

Given my own specialization in the occult underbelly of the history of modern human sciences, the heretical preoccupations of William James as the ‘founding father’ of modern American psychology are a naturally recurring theme of Forbidden Histories. Some of you might be aware of a recent book by Krister D. Knapp, William James: Psychical Research … Read more

Can Psychotherapists Benefit from History of Science Scholarship?

Historians rarely have the opportunity to say something that might be of practical relevance to clinicians or workers in other fields of applied scientific knowledge. As mentioned previously, I was therefore particularly chuffed when psychotherapist Nick Totton invited me last year to contribute an article to an envisaged special issue of the European Journal of … Read more

Fresh off the Press: Léon Marillier and the Veridical or Telepathic Hallucination in France

I’m pleased to see my joint article on telepathic hallucinations in French psychology and psychiatry with Pascal Le Maléfan came out today in the journal History of Psychiatry. Le Maléfan, P., & Sommer, A. (2015). Léon Marillier and the veridical hallucination in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century French psychology and psychopathology. History of Psychiatry, 26, 418-432. … Read more