Mind Power

Elizabeth Levin is a professor of psychology at Laurentian University.

The author begins this book about psi phenomena by stating that she used
to be sceptical about ESP. After certain personal experiences, however,
she became convinced that psychic experiences are real. Her book
purports to offer documented information about psychic experiences so
that readers can judge the evidence for themselves.

ESP and its four components—telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition,
and psychokinesis—are defined, and there is a glossary of terms at the
back of the book. The text is liberally interspersed with many
interesting anecdotes, some from personal accounts to the author, others
from the literature. Collier notes that many earlier studies of ESP are
unreliable and that parapsychologists—scientists who study psi—find
it difficult to test ESP under scientific conditions. Other chapters
discuss psychic healing, dreams, the use of ESP to solve crimes and in
espionage, and animal and plant ESP. Famous frauds and famous
practitioners are also covered. The final two chapters provide
suggestions for developing one’s ESP abilities.

The text is clearly pro-ESP, with little attention placed on the lack
of scientific documentation of paranormal experiences. Nevertheless, for
the young adolescent interested in psi phenomena, Mind Power is a
readable introduction with lots of interesting trivia and suggestions
for testing one’s psychic abilities. Recommended.