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ENC. 1
Mind-Reach(2
NY TIMES BOOK Review
A case for parapsychology
Mind-Reach
Scientists Look at Psychic Ability.
By Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff.
230 pp. New York:
G. P. Putnam's Sons. $8.95.
:
By ROBERT ORNSTEIN
The scientific study of parapsycholo-
gy has been with us for almost a cen-
tury now, with little in the way of
definitive results. One of the major
problems in our acceptance of para-
psychology, of course, is that we are
quite resistant to new information and
phenomena which we consider a priori
to be impossible. We do not normally
pursue scientific inquiry, for instance,
into these areas. If I were to propose.
an experiment in training elephants to
become peach trees I do not think
much financial support would appear
nor could I enlist anyone's enthusiastic
help. People simply do not inform
themselves about things they do not
believe to be possible.
Such was the case within more con-
ventional science with Copernicus's
proposition of a universe that differed
fundamentally from that of Ptolemy,
with Harvey's discovery of the circula-
tion of blood and even in the reporting
of the Wright brothers' first air flight.
Many newspapers, including The New
York Times, simply refused to cover
it because they did not think it was
possible."
In parapsychology, we find
this
rejection to an extreme, "unmatched
perhaps in any area. Even the great
.19th-century German phy-
siologist Hermann Helm-
holtz, distinguished in the
areas of optics, physics and
the study of perception
wrote, "Neither the evi-
dence of my own senses
nor the testimony of all the
fellows of the Royal Soci-
ety" "would convince him
of the truth of parapsychological data.
In a professional review. of the work
of Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff, au-
thors of "Mind.Reach," an anonymous
reviewer in The Journal of Electrical
and Electronic Engineers wrote, "This
is the kind of thing I wouldn't believe
in even if it were true."
One of the basic difficulties in un-
derstanding parapsychology is that its
claims are a distinct challenge to our
contemporary world-view. If
some
people can perceive events before they
"happen," if there are modes of inter-
personal, communication unknown to
many, if people can influence action
and/or events at a distance greater
than the range of normal influence,
then perhaps we need dramatically to
revise our conception of human abil-
ities and/or conception of how events
are registered by people. Since the bur-
den of documentation, though, should
be on those who claim that these ca-
pacities exist, their interpretations of
the nature of their data should be ac-
cepted only after much evidence has
been accumulated.
There seems to be a persistent falla-
cy regarding the work of parapsy-
chologists that is based on a misunder-
standing of the nature of scientific
proof-an assumption that one demon-
stration, one example of a unique phe-
nomenon should be enough to con-
vince us that parapsychological or any
other sort of scientific phenomena
exist. William James expressed this
proposition when he said that the ap-
pearance of only one white crow
would dispel forever the idea that all
crows are black. But that is true only
in an extremely idealistic universe. We
need much more evidence than one
isolated instance to overthrow an ac-
cepted world-view. The existence of
William James's white crow could
well be dismissed by our statistics de-
partment as statistically insignificant.
One bit of evidence ought to be enough
but it is not.
"Every man is an exception," as
Soren Kirkegaard wrote. We are all
4 billion-to-one shots and, as scientists,
need much more than occasional long-
shots to convince us.
Many publicizers of parapsychology
have sought to counter their skeptics
by Proclamation. They claim-and
Targ and Puthoff are no exception --
that there is a significant amount of
incontrovertible, scientific evidence in
favor of the existence of parapsycho-
logical phenomena. And the only rea-
Indeed, I have attempted, in
collaboration with these au-
thors, to repeat one of their ex-
periments (published in Nature)
and was unable to do so though
I spent a large amount of time
trying and had the same subject
they used and the full coopera-
Cson these phenomena are not more tion of the authors. Instead of
"widely accepted is because of hostile
prejudices, because of preconceptions
in the minds of readers and reviewers,
and because of blindness,
any real evidence that accords
with the accepted standards of
contemporary psychophysiolog-
ical research, what we have in
"Mind - Reach" fairly
straightfor- this book are a few minor,
wardly describes the
experiments sketchy suggestions of how re-
search in this area ought to
some useful points. We should
& carried out at the Stanford Research
Institute in Menlo Park, Calif., on so- proceed. The authors do make
called paranormal phenomena by Targ
and Puthoff, who are physicists. The stick to conditions which mimic
authors outline several of their own
experiments in the book: One of these
those of everyday life, not use-
less, trivial situations (although
they ignore their own advice
in one of their experiments).
experiments involved "remote view-
ing," in which a person sequestered
in a room is asked to describe a place
Further, even if it is granted
that they have demonstrated
chosen at random and not revealed
to the subject where two other people
have gone. These descriptions are then
matched with "objective" descriptions
of the places. Other experiments
that psychic abilities are found
which people were asked to guess a
Continued on Page 24
.
Here is the difficulty: If the
experiments cannot be repeated
by others we have the situation
of the one white crow. It may
be theoretically true (assuming
we take his word that he saw
one) that all crows are not
black, but that is irrelevant un-
less he can produce another
white one as proof. Again, para-
psychologists labor under a
fundamental misconception of
the importance of the idea of
chance, of the idea of science.
and of the necessity for the
verification.
"Mind-Reach," then, is a
book slim in hard evidence. It
is pleasantly written, and it is
amusing to follow the thought
of the authors as they work
out their research and some-
times horrifying to see what
their opposition has been. But
it is ultimately an unsatisfying
book lacking any indication of
the solidity of the findings and
of the ability of anyone else
to repeat them.
4
in all people-the blurb of the
book claims that they have
documented that "some degree
of psychic ability is universal"
-they' are engaging in the
same sort of unjustified propa-
gandizing they decry in their
opponents. It is one thing to
say that "here we demonstrate
a minor finding in a few sub-
jects which might be used by
others," but it is ridiculous to
ask us to believe that their
minor, preliminary experiments
prove anything about psychic
abilities in the general popula-
ion.
Throughout the book the au-
thors state their hope that the
study of parapsychology will
become primarily a scientific
one in which speculations are
firmly grounded: in the evi-
dence. In their own writing,
however, Targ and Puthoff al-
most always go beyond evi-
dience and claim they have
proven their case when they
"remote viewing," the phe- have done nothing of the sort.
nomenon has been studied only
on a very few people. When!
In writing this book, the au-
thors have done more harm,
the authors attempt to "sell" perhaps, to their own position
they have helped.
Robert Ornstein teaches at the Uni-
versity of California Medicarepreved cor Release 2003/09/16- CIA-RDP96-06787R000500240023-8' to their fieid of study than
and is the director of Human Nature, a
magazine to appear in the fall.
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-
random event on a machine and
picture drawing, in which the
Israeli psychic Uri Geller at.
tempted to draw pictures like
those previously sealed in en-
velopes and kept in a different
room. All of these experiments
are reported as successes by
the authors but they provide
very little evidence either in
their book or in published jour-
nal articles that any of them
can be repeated. Nor has any-
one else reported' similar re-
sults.

ENC 2
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March 7, 1977
Mr. Harvey Shapiro, Editor
The New York Times Book Review
229 West 43rd Street
New
York, New York 10036
Dear Mr. Shapiro:
Robert Ornstein in his review of our book Mind-Reach in the
March 13th Book Review implies that our experiments in Remote
Viewing,"the main concern of the book, lack_"solidity" and
cannot be repeated by anyone
This is simply not true.
Cur experiments in Remote Viewing have been widely replicated
in half a dozen laboratories across the country. Three of these
were published in the Proceedings of the Electrical and Electronic
Engineers (October 1976) - a journal Ornstein refers to - and a
fourth was presented at the August 1976 annual meeting of the
Farapsychological Association, all well in advance of the look's
review.
For Ornstein to state that there has been no replication is an
inexcusable faux pas for a scientist supposedly knowledgeable
in the field he is reviewing.
Our experiments at Stanford Research Institute are among the most
severely monitored in the history of science. Literally dozens of
qualified consultants and judges were involved in creating, and
evaluating the results described in the book. The evidence accum-
lated was solid enough to impress some of science's most responsible
authorities, including Dr. Margaret Mead, who wrote the Introduction.
We are aware that Mind-Reach delves into a subject sensitive in
science. In the case of this review, it turned out to be so mind-
bending that several tosic facts normally noted in any diligent
critique were missing:@ that the book is Illustrated (with 48 draw-
ings and photographs), that it includes the Mead introduction and
"Foreword by Richard Fach. You even gave it to the wrong publisher
Mind-Reach was published, with pride we are assured, by Delacorte
Press/Floanor Friede, not bythe publisher you credited.>
The
record needs setting straight.
Sincerely,
Quale Long
Harold Puthoff.
Havea Pathof
Russell Targ
Stanford Research Institute
Menlo Park, California
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ENC 3
THE CITY COLLEGE
OF
THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
NEW YORK, N. Y. 10031
January 1, 1977
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY
Dear Russell and #al:
Happy New Year !
And many thanks for arranging to have me sent a
copy of your book !
I congratulate you on it.
It's beautifully written, in such an easy
style that I couldn't stop it once it was begun -- finished it in a
single sitting.
And it presents impressively so much that's important
and interesting, that the content is a pleasure as well as the style.
I should think it would bowl over the readers who didn't know about
your work beforehand -- and am sure that parapsychologists will be
grateful for it, because it puts all together in one place the corpus
of work you've done.
The timing was particularly good for me.
It came the same day as
the galleyy's for my ms. for Wolman's Handbook, and I revised them to
give two citations to the bokk.
Thanks again, and hopes that you'll carry on with all your bright
ideas for what needs doding!
Cordially,
Gertrude Schmeidler
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Editor: Barbara Bader
Fiction Editor: Alice E .. Wolff?
Associate EditorsSU Zane Berzins
Nancy Klein
Betsy Lichtenberg.
Business; Manager"
Harriet Prager
200 Park Avenue South, New York, N.Y. 100038
SG11
ENC 4
In quoting or cxcorpting please refer to
THE KIRYUS REVIEWS
Date of issue: 12/5/76
Targ, Russell &
Harold Puthoff
MIND-REACH: Scientists
Look at Psychic Ability
Delacorte
$8.95
1/?
SBN: 440-05688-7
Superficially it would seem that physicists and engineers would be the least likely
supporters of extrasensory phenomena. But here we have two physicists at the dis-
tinguished Stanford Research Institute who have been doing rigorous experiments
and conclude that There is Something There and it is something that probably ex-
ists in everyman. That something is remote viewing: the ability of a subject at X
to describe in words or drawings the details of a locale chosen by an experimenter
miles away. They report on a number of experienced subjects, including Uri Geller,
as well as some willing volunteers. All did better than chance would predict-even
better in terms of drawings alone rather than verbal descriptions. Targ and Put-
hoff speculate that there may be some right hemisphere perceptual ability here that
has gone unnoticed or shoved under the table in our rationalist analytic era. They
also suggest that extremely low frequency electromagnetic waves may be involved,
so that the phenomena need not remain beyond scientific ken. There is something
very likeable about the pair: their attitude; their sophistication with regard to True
Believers, to the possibilities of fraud and deception; and their understanding of
the "loyal opposition" (e.g., Martin Gardner and others who wouldn't believe in
ESP even if it were true). Margaret Mead has written an encouraging introduction
showing she's ready to move with a shifting paradigm. Others, up to this point un-
convinced, may be shaken up a bit (experience "cognitive dissonance" as the psy-
chologists say). In any case, the results reported, confined to a small sample but
with decent rigor, lob the ball squarely in the court of the nay-sayers. It will be
interesting to watch the play that follows.
C
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IRKUS
REVIEWS

-Approved For Release 2003/09/16 : CIA-RDR96-00787R000500240023-48. a professor of my-
5,7%
Recommended by The Booklist
MADELEINE L'ENGLE'S
NEW BOOK,
The Irrational
Season
"L'Engle's spiritual exercises over a
year of seasonal changes and the
Christian church calendar are
shared in these reflections from
het personal journal. As the au-
thor's beliefs inform everyday jos.
frustrations, and contlie Is, L'Ingle
determinedly comes to grips with
herself, mankind, and her
faith." -ALA, The Bookist
. The most compelling parts of
this sensitive book describe the
author's periods of atheism and
her fight to recover from 'cold
isolation,' the terror ot believing in
nothing."-Publishers Weekly
LC 76-46944 0-8164 -0324. 4 58 93
Recommended by Library Journal
JOHN COGLEY'S
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
A Canterbury
Tale
Experiences and Reflections, Fue. por.
"In this gentle, low key atto
biography, a longtime editor and
columnist for the Cathat weekt;
Commonweal vividly recalls one of
the most turbulent pound, in our
nation's religious history ... he.
lively narrative capture, the
reader's attention and hold it tet.
This is American cultural history It
the best sense of that terme color-
ful, interesting, and full of
insights."-Library Journal
"A gem ... " -New York Times
Book Review
LC 56-21864 0 -8164 -0322 -8 68.95
Oualors on complete poblanos
THE SEABURY PRESS
un three cather book on cidell'.
with updated byblographis. Despite
skwar sontax and digressive m
tellectualisme. it would be appropriate
top paschology collection especially
these lacking Alsen's earlier works.
Lib .. (11
Hipbec. Kenneth 1. Your Memory:
how it works and how to improve it.
pap Spectrinn ISBN 0 11 980136 2. $1 95
This book provides a reasonable bal-
ance between the oversimplified popu-
lar books about mnemonics and the em-
pirical research on learning and memo.
is. Following a general introduction
concerning the nature of memory and
techniques for studying it. Highee ta
psychologist at Brigham Young Univer-
sity ) discusses some basic principles of
memory improvement. strategies for el-
tective learning, some general miles low
improving memory, and for specific
memory systems dink. losi. peg, and
phonetre. In addition. these are related
to some practical situations to illustrate
their effectiveness. The writing is clear :
technical references are cited but do
not bog the reader down in technical
jargon or unnecessary detail. The au-
ther is commendably cautious in repeat.
edly emphasizing that improving one's
memory is hard work. - Charles 1 ..
Brewer. Dept. of Psychology. Furman
I'mv .. Giremilie. S.C.
Kennels. Luyệne. On Becoming a
Counselor: a basic guide for non-profes-
sional counselors. @
. .
Crossroad: Seabur: 19, $10 95
This is an excellent and refreshingly
lively guide to dealing seth adolescents
and adults in a helping Capacity. Ken-
nedy's emphasis in the counseling-ther-
apy situation is on eliminating stress in
the relationship and on the inportance
of the counselor's knowledge of well.
Descriptions of classical definitionte ol
personality types are impressivele up
dated and presented in a st le suivre
for the las counselor and student. The
end of the book. dealing with situations
such as griet. suicide. drug abuse. and
"emergencies." lacks the authority of?
the chapters in personality, hol,
whole the book should In nl
dengs. educators, and other
professional counselors as a Iffch.
practical introductor; text with
fine basse bildtographies. For Rules
graduate and graduate educationf pss
chology, and social work libraries, and
for lance cosmopolitan public Nitrat .
ies -Anne F. Dykstra. Brooks: P.I.
Twin. \ R. Cognitive Development: it's
cultural and social foundation,
Harvard i'mn Pt. 1926 Eop Lod : Ma het
Cole fuktig index illus. 1 0 76 24997 158:3 0
174. 11231.0. 312 50
This work. which appeared igny origi.
nal Russian in 1972. describes field
work conducted donny 1935 to 1933
with the intent of studying the psycho-
part of the soutabst revolution on the
14 11
ate and ancient Islamic culture of
chology at Moscow University. is it.
powned for his work on the devel
opment of language and thought. The
unique conditions of this investigation
allowed the author to compare from the
same culture both underdeveloped
groups and groups already beginning to
be involved in modern life. Luria stud-
ied differences in conceptualization in
terms of perception, abstraction. Ich
soning: and imagination, and the resul-
: lant analysis clearly shows the socio-
historical shaping of these higher men.
tal processes. Maria's procedure of
observation and carefully structured
questioning is elegant in its simplicity
and naturalness and represents a signifi-
cant advance in clinical field methodol-
ogy. An interesting treatise on cogni-
tion, having definite implications for
cultural anthropology and for the devel-
opmental psychology of cultural minor-
ities .- William Abrams, Portland State
Univ. Lib .. Ore.
Ward. Alan J. with contribs. by 11. Al-
len Handlord. M.D. & Virginia M.
{ cith. Childhood Autism & Structural
Therapy: selected papers on early child-
hood autism.
Nelson Halt 1976. 222p. index. LC 76-23171.
ISBN 0.911012-56-7. $12.50.
This collection of 16 papers (all pre-
tiously published) acknowledges only
lightly that the psychological nature of
autism is very much in question.
Ward's and his colleagues bias is clear-
ly a psychodynamic one. Though he ap-
pears to accept the neurophysiologie
basis for many of the autistic symp
tons. his treatment approach is based
on an ego developmental theory which
has att best, an uncertain support in the
data on autism. Ward's book describes
structural play therapy as an ordered in-
cremental program for addressing the
observed developmental deficits of the
autistic child while at the same time in-
tuitively responding to his emotional
Eneeds. He reports some success. low-
ver . the articles documenting this site .
ess are exasperating redundant in
them discussions of etiology and defini-
ion. and in the repeated descriptions of
The technique and rationale of Ward's
Stuctural therapy. Readers would have
been better served with a more con
( hommes, AL.D. Dept. of Psychiatry.
Yale Univ. Sch. of Medicine
Purapsychology & Occultism
Lang. Russell & Harold Puthoff, Mind-
Reach: scientists look at psychic ability.
Delacarte. 1977. 2XOp. intro. by Margaret Mead.
illus. index. ISBN 0-440-05688-7. 58.95
PARAPSYCH
Since 1972 physicists Targ and Puthoff
have been carrying out parapsychology
experiments at the Stanford Research
Institute. Mind-Reach, a review and
1
summary of their research to date, re-
ports the results of "remote viewing"
experiments, in which the experiment-
! ers asked subjects to describe their in-
LIBRA 86
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716

RELIGION
HOGY
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-
.
useful are maps of the Holy Land illus-
trating tribal and enemy boundaries; a
chronology of kings. prophets. and gen-
oral history: black-and-white reproduc-
tions of several historic works of ant de-
picting the kings; and photographs of
several of the archaeological sites pres-
ently known to be related to biblical
places of interest. Comay has written
other books of Jewish interest tamone
them The Temple of Jerusalem. 1/ 11
1.5/75, and Israel. 19 6/15,691, and was
an editor of Enevelopedia Judeus.
This short text would be useful in te.
ligions schools and in YA collec-
tions .- Moshe I. Spero. Sch of Vp.
plied Social Sciences. Case Western
Reserve Univ .. Cleveland
.
add. Ghazali. On the Duties of Brother-
hood.
Overlook, dist by Viking. 1977. 94p tr. from
Classical Arabic by Muhtar Holland L.C 76
8057. ISBN 0-87951.046-3. 56.95
Al-Gbazali (d. 1111) was one of Islam's
most important theologians. In semi-
nal Revitalization of the Religious Sei-
ences was a comprehensive, fundamen-
tal treatise whip
sents one chapter of that work, a manu-
al of being "thy brother's" spintal
and material "keeper": lofty ideals ex-
pressed in down-to-earth fashion to
guide the reader in his dady life. Al-
Ghandi's lucid style and the readable
trangation render the contents acces-
sibles despite difficult passages. How-
ever the entire Revitalization is avail-
able for $12. from Books on Islam.
Ltd. #240 W. 72nd St. N.Y.C. 10023.
(The
Name company's Catalogue and
Guide to Books on Islam. 68p .. $1.50.
in which Revitalization is listed. is a
fully and thoughtfully annotated, wide-
ranging. extremely useful sales catalog
and Bibliography which every collec-
tion
on Islam should have on its
shelves.)-David W. Littlefield. Li-
brareaof Congress
Interred. Symposium on the Holo-
caust.&'athedral of St. John the Divine.
1974. Auschwitz: beginning of a new
cra? reflections on the Holocaust.
Ktas Blar. 1977 469p. ed by Iva Fleischner.
1X 763 4809. ISBN 0 87068-499-X $17 50: pap.
$8.95 ₹
Nearly three years ago Jewish and
Christin intellectants met in New
Your toucherupon the meaning of His-
hissiglocaust. The 26 papers given at
that international symposium make up
THE To book. Their authors analyze
fundamental questions raised by the or-
ganized murder of six million Jews. an
Religion
evil og such unprecedented magnitude
that the world prefers to forget it. Ap-
proasking the challenge from almost
WHERE_GLADInperspective. it is plain that neither
Comay. Joan. The Hebrew Kings.
an easy hope not an easy faith is pos-
Morrow. 1977. 16Xp, illus. map .. index 1 0 76
446(. ISBN 0-688-03139-0. 58 95. BIST PET
This well-written introduction to the
Hebrew kings spans the period be- .
tween the election of Saul {c. 1020
B.C.) and the fall of Jerusalem to the
Babylonians (c. 587 B.C.). The text in-
cludes a short section dealing with the
authorship of the Bible and a dis-
sible any longer. for Jew or Christian.
So accustomed have we become lo vio-
lence since Auschwitz that indifference
is again the common response. This is
not a book for the casual reader. but it
,is indispensable to any serious student
of Holocaust history. The voices raised
are often at odds, but they bear witness
to "the chief counter-testimon; of the
cussion of the nature of prophecy. Also : Holocaust: the preciousness and unique-
ness of every human being." -Vilton
Meltzer. New York .
O'Connor. Elizabeth. The New Commu-
nity.
Hatper. 14-6 12Ip illus. 10 -6.9964 ISBN IL.
14-16 377.5. pap. 53 45
RFI
O'Connor has written a thought-pro-
voking book on the various aspects of
Christian community as it is lived in her
Church of the Saviour (Washington.
D.C.). She shows that one cannot was.
tain community without both inner . per
sonal transformation - through ening
up "safe" ways of acting and think -
ing - and transformation of the outer
would - through joining the struggle of
the oppressed by positive action. while
avoiding both racism and con.
descension. Emphasis on the need to
communicate and on the worth of all al
God's children. Sintable for church and
public libraries. - Judith R. Forester.
Lansing P.I. Mich.
OHwell. John H. And Sarah Laughed:
the status of women in the Old Testa-
ment.
Westminster
Apt 1977. 200p. billing. index
The market today:"
eludessuche thorough
amd knowledgeable
`examination of each book
Forthe Biblet ??
Christian Bookseller
BIBLE
HANDBOOK
EDWARD P. BLAIR
Undressedauf dich when page.
conte final interpretation of
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feddard P. . Bian SI vos
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Handbook meel, the'
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Religionin CLIC
abingdon
Islam with Approved For Release 2003/09/16 : CIA-RDP96-00787R0005002400238
.nal imaging of a target location, ust-
dly the destination of a third party, The
researchers' competent experimental
technique and impeccable integrity.
combined with the obviously positive
results of their experiments. provide
unquestionably powerful evidence for
the reality of parasensory perception.
Targ and Puthoff demonstrate with this
work that given proper conditions, any-
one can obtain perceptions traditional-
ly considered paranormal or impos-
sible. In addition. they prove the facili-
ty of a positive setting for paranormal
activity, and they demonstrate again
and again the interference of the con-
scious mind with paraperception: only
when confidence was inspired and ana-
lytical activity suppressed or ignored,
were reliable results forthcoming. Targ
and Puthoff de more than present labo-
ratory observations. They describe the
uncanny clusiveness of psychic phe-
nomena, as again and again attempts to
design controlled experiments were
frustrated by unexpected, seemingly
miraculous coincidences. Yet though
the most convincing events took place
outside the experiments, the authors
consistently regarded only controlled
experimental results as valid scientific
data. Their book is highly recommend-
ed .- Edward H. Russell, New York

offering,
no matter what their faith or"
jects-politics, charity. arts. Go to nesses for a ma a cused in a South
work for Approved For Release 2003/09/16 & CIA-RDP96,00787R0005002400228 the thrust behind the
and learn at his feet-and so on. This
might have been a practical manual in
the go-go conglomerate years of the
1960s. but today it's whimsy. (January ]
MORTAL LESSONS:
Notes on the Art of Surgery. Richard
Selzer. Simon and Schuster, $7.95
ISBN 0-671-22356-9
In this strange and remarkable book,
Richard Selzer, a surgeon at Yale Medi-
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poetry (just occasionally marred by
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ating room and into the patient's very
innards: talks beguilingly about bones,
liver, kidneys, skin and other parts of
the body (skipping those much-touted
organs the brain and the heart): and
provides essays on baldness, smoking,
Chinese acupuncture and abortion, as
well as some lighter pieces on his youth
in Troy, New York. He ends. not as .
inappropriately as might seem, with a
charming piece on birdwatching. Even
Selzer's grisliest anecdotes are trans-
formed in the telling by his belief that
the surgeon's function overlaps those
of the poet and the priest. Old draw-
ings.
January|
BLYE, PRIVATE EYE:
The Real World of the Private Detective.
Nicholas Pileggi. Playboy Press. $8.98
ISBN 0-87223-475-4
This slice of life is an honest picture of
what a private detective's work is all
about: it is revealing and fascinating.
Irwin Biye has been a private investiga-
tor for 20 years in and around New
York, and he is a good one. His job
consists not of chasing Maltese falcons
for sexy blondes, but of helping law-
yers shepherd people through a system
that is bureaucratized. bungling and in-
different. Here we follow him as he
works on three cases: looking up wit-
Perform a
death-defying act.
Stop smoking.
Give Heart Fund
American Heart Association
ascertain her husband's income in case
there is a' divorce, and working on an
instance of a landlord's negligence. The
rape case has an of some, but the other
two trail off, leaving loose ends. It all
has the ring of truth and Pileggi does an
admirable job of telling the story.
WJannary]
THE CHRYSANTHEMUM
AND THE BAT: Baseball Samurai
Style. Robert Whiting. Dodd, Mead,
$10 ISBN 0-396-07317-4
American baseball fans will find this
book irresistible. Whiting has done an
outstanding job of showing how the
Japanese national character has shaped
the diamond game in that country. In
spring training, players are put through
a regimen that would make a chain
gang seem like a vacation. Throughout
the 130-game season the two six-team
major leagues demand from their team
members a combination of "fighting
spirit" (which does not include aggres-
sive baserunning or beanball pitches)
and traditional respect for authority fig-
ures (apologies to coaches, managers
and fans are commonplace). Besuboru
is truly the Japanese national game,
with several daily papers devoted ex-
clusively to it and the TV networks
saturated with it. Of course the nation
koks forward to the day of victory
over the U.S. in a true World Series.
Photos.
January]
MIND-REACH: Scientists
Look at Psychic Ability. Russell Targ
and Harold Puthoff. Delacorte Press
(An Eleanor Friede Book), $8.95 ISBN
0-440-05688-7
In a no-nonsense report to which Mar-
garet Mead has lent her scientific im-
primatur with a brief introduction.
physicists Targ and Puthoff describe a
series of parapsychology experiments
as dramatic as any ever undertaken,
That these experiments, conducted at
Stanford Research Institute, have gen-
erated much publicity is partly due to
the participation of psychic wizards Uri
Geller and Ingo Swann. Yet most of the
participants were ordinary people who
were presumably able to accurately de-
scribe "target drawings" hidden from
view as well. as distant geographical
sites. The authors furnish transcripts of
the experiments, hints for would-be
"remote viewers" and one or two new
hypotheses. Most striking are the pho-
tographs of the "targets" juxtaposed
with the volunteers' sketches so that
readers can form their own opinion.
Index, etc.
January |
THE IRRATIONAL SEASON.
Madeleine L'Engle. Crossroads/Sea-
bury Press, $8.95 ISBN 0-8164-0324-4
It's hard to imagine readers failing to
get a spiritual lift from L'Engle's
women's movement, the book is espe-
cially valuable, for it's an exploration
of L'Engle's life as a professional wom-
an, wife, mother and grandmother.
Combining anecdotes, poetry and a dis-
cussion of human relationships, the
text is infused with feelings humorous
and sad-sometimes tragic. Mostly the
author reaffirms her commitment to
Christianity, a faith which has fre-
quently been weakened by doubts for
solid reasons, not all personal. In fact,
the most compelling parts of this sensi-
tive book describe the author's periods
of atheism and her fight to recover from
"cold isolation," the terror of believing
in nothing. Segbury's Lenten selection
for 1977.
[January]
HONEY: The Life
and Loves of Lenny's Shady Lady. Hon-
ey Bruce with Dana Benenson. Playboy
Press, $8.95 ISBN 0-87223-435-3
Most readers won't know whether to
applaud the candor of this "true con-
fession" of the woman who was Lenny
Bruce's wife or be turned off by its
emphasis on matters sexual with every
i dotted and every i crossed. Those
whom it does not affect violently one
way or the other will find it the story of
a lower middle-class girl who became a
stripper, thought she had found love in
a lesbian affair and then met and mar-
ried the rising young comedian who
later became so controversial. The sec-
tions dealing with Honey's show busi-
ness carcer are so jejune that they
sound like parody; the passages dealing
with Lenny and their stormy, drug-
obsessed life together are always inter-
esting and at times absorbing. Most
affecting is the picture of Bruce after
his busts for obscenity had started-a
paranoid,
monomaniacal,
frenetic
wreck.
(January]
WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE:
The Life of Abraham Lincoln. Stephen
B. Oates. Harper & Row, $15.95 ISBN
0-06-013283-3
The blurb for Oates's highly readable,
dramatic life of President Lincoln sug-
gests that it's an expose of the "real"
Lincoln which emphasizes his disdain
for parental background. lust for politi-
cal power, etc. Such points are made
only fleetingly as the author is swept
along by the tide of epic events which
tried and tested Lincoln and bore him
to glory. This book has the appeal of a
good novel with no distracting foot-
notes. But it's clear from an appendage
of notes at the end that Oates has stud-
ied all sources-the flood of biogra-
phies and memoirs on the Civil War
president with which his book will be
inevitably compared. Oates has done
an admirable job with this portrayal of
Approved For Release 2003/09/16 : CIA-RDP96-00787R000560240853y character, the con-

Newsweek
From
CHARLES PANATI
:
Dear Hal and Russ,
I just finished your book and think it is
wonderful. Beautifully done.
I'm filled with curiosity to see how it
is received -- what with the impressive
data, the sober presentation, the intro-
duction by Margaret Mead, everything --
I particularly liked the chapter on the
"Loyal Opposition." You put the facts
straight and put everyone in his place --
all the while be level-headed and gentle-
menly (more that can be said for the
Loyal Opposition).
Thank you for mentioning the Geller
Papers. I regard it an honor to have
my name in your book. I wish you more
than luck, you both deserve it.
Best wishes for the New Year,
Charles
---

une movement, some institu-
Newed by those excluded from
tident, enlightened, sensiApproved For Release 2003/09/16 CIA-RDP96-00787000500240023-8
class' liberalism, like that sus-
and controlling this book, has
en as nothing less than a move-
wr institution-perhaps a com-
movement at that.
.
the point of largest substance
restorations is the thing posi-
added, present now, absent be-
hat which forces, by its star-
presence, a reconsideration of
ind where you are. In letters
an authority that depends alto-
upon inwardness with the
character of the times, that can
without winking, say-as a cur -.
fashionable novel speaks-of
as "the most profound moral
of our time." There's another
ity derived from an instinct for
tioning; in its books, regardless
times, sanity is a rule not.an
. and shamelessness .invariably
ned shame. "Responses" recov-
i outline of the latter kind of
ity, and it is, to repeat, a cleans-
ght.
in 1911 (at the age of 48) when
asformed the literal Alexandrian
; of his poems into a "metaphor-'
"," Keeley traces the evolution
: poet's mythic "model through
gressive stages as "sensual city" .
mythical Alexandria," which in
expands to embrace the entire
1 of Hellenism"; from there the
inally attains a: "universal, per-
ve." Fortunately, Keeley under-
. that what the critic reads as
sal qualities are less than con-
ly wrought by poets, and his
chapter shows how the detached
vision of some of the late poems
springs out of, is possible only
ie of, the poet's meticulous and
nt working-out of his personal
cal structure. The complex and
and integrity of Cavafy's model,
"st produced by a modern poet,
ealed by the demonstration of.
ct that each of its phases is sub-
. in its successors. Thus Keeley
By shows how the eroticism of
ems of the "sensual city" not
"xists on the two planes of the
i and modern worlds where
parallelism denotes the continui-
i hedonistic ethic and the radical-
erent social status of its practi-
3, but that it also joins with his
major themes to contribute to
y's final vision of the human
in under the aspect of eternity,
lebrate it still for the passions
The Mind
Field
: By Robert E. Ornstein.
128 pp. New York: Grossman/Viking.
$6.95.
By JEFFREY KLEIN
Laughs come easy nowadays to those
who never believed in the human
potential movement. Most students of
higher consciousness have either be-
.come zombies in some corporate
growth enterprise or themselves joined
the ranks of the disillusioned. As with
American political radicalism, it is ex-
tremely difficult to maintain a respon-
sible, forward course. Teachers, like
Robert Ornstein, who pointed out the
limits of the Western mind, have been
outflanked by cultists of all stripes,
united only by their mindlessness. It
is thus understandable why "The Mind
Field" is inspired by utter dismay.
Professor Ornstein· wants "to sepa-
rate the current lofty metaphysical in-
flation, the goofiness, the outright lies,
and the commercialism from the real
possibility and discipline." . Although
he speaks from the platform of aca-
demic psychology, he is not address-
ing just his colleagues. The bogus
scientific "validations" of Transcen-
dental Meditation upset him both be-
cause they are professionally sloppy
and because they obscure the purpose
of spiritual pursuits.
.
While Ornstein admits TM may have
some beneficial relaxing effects, noth-
ing angers him more than the use of
the esoteric tradition as a form of
psychotherapy. He believes that Freud-
jan hydraulics are not only a poor ex-
planation of human problems, but that
attention to personal problems now
leads us off the main evolutionary
track. "In en undegenerated esoteric
tradition, the ordinary self is not to
affirmed, or even 'ohserved, but mere-
ly set aside as an unreliable judge of
ENC 5
While each of "The Mind Field" cri-
tiques-of secret Gurdjieff groups,
mystical sport centers, Carlos Castane-
da, Uri Geller-is sensible, the continu-
al scolding tone becomes unpleasant.
The sighs of dismay. breathing
throughout this book collect into a
whine. Eventually Professor Ornstein
presents his choice of an esoteric psy-
chology for all seasons: contemporary
Sufism. "The Mind Field's" final sec-
tion is a guided reading of 11 Sufi
. tales selected from the recent antholo-
gies of Indries Shah.
.Yet for all Professor Ornstein's talk
about intuitive wholistic understand-
ing, his map of the mind field is sur-
prisingly flat: it lacks any political
dimension. He never considers that
there could be reasons particular to
America why our psychological explo-
rations become desperate · personal
quests or become reified into "con-
sciousness" for conspicuous consump-
tion. The frustrated yearnings for com-
munity behind such quests are never
examined. Ornstein writes: "It is an
unfortunate accident of the 20th-cen-
tury that those most interested in
personal knowledge - and in an
extended conception of man tend to
be those least suited to gaining or
using them." An unfortunate accident?
Instead of analyzing why we produce
timid professionals on the one hand
and unprincipled quacks on the other,
Professor Ornstein seems content to
scold.
On the West Coast at least, Robert
Ornstein is justly well-known for ex-
periments which show that intuition
or "right brain thinking" probably has
a physiological basis. Because he is
a respectable · scientist, he has been
looked to by many as a consciousness
expert. "The Mind Field" seems born
out of too many lecture tours, too
many dimmers and symposia and
parties full of curious strangers. It is
as if, having been asked the same
grand questions too often, Professor
Ornstein finally lost his temper and
said: "All right, you want to know
what I think of all these damn move-
ments, well let me tell you. ... ".
How-not-to guides rarely help.
beginners. Those readers who are just
now becoming curious about Yoga,
Zen, biofeedback, parapsychology and
the like would be better off turning
to Ornstein's earlier book, "The Psy-
chology of Consciousness." It is a com- *
prehensive and often graceful intro-
duction to esoteric psychology. Those
readers who already appreciate the
esoteric tradition will have to look be-
yond "The Mind Field" for mature
leadership. As yet we do not have a
Jeffrey Klein is an editor of Mother
I, even as one sees the deaApproved Fot Release 2003/09/16r CIA-RDP98-00787R006500240623-8he
tics and the arts.
Perplexed."
· Val + 2 + 2w/Mapper: 1975
7
..