True Tales of the Paranormal: Hauntings, Poltergeists, Near-Death Experiences, and Other Mysterious Events

Juliet Nielsen is an academic librarian in the Science and Technology
Library, University of Alberta.

In this book, the author claims to be exploring real paranormal events,
but she hides behind a concern for respecting the privacy of those
involved and does not present any verifiable information. The stories
she includes involve reincarnation, ghosts, and premonitions; they are
strictly anecdotal and nonspecific, and seem rather generic. Her muddled
writing style makes it challenging for the reader to understand her
points, to understand which person is being discussed, or to make any
sense of the stories themselves. The stories are just not interesting
and the book is a laborious and disappointing read.

Molto prefaces the book by stating that she is concerned that her
scientific exploration of the paranormal may jeopardize her career as a
scientist. If she had explored the work scientifically, her concern
would be understandable given the off-putting nature of the topic to
most scientists. But there is no scientific methodology or reasoning in
the work, so her reputation as a scientist is unknowable and therefore
unaffected.

In sum, True Tales of the Paranormal is unconvincing and poorly
structured, and does not have a ring of truth in it, which reflects
negatively on those who honestly explore paranormal events and search
for the meanings of and reasons for such events.