CHANNELING: Investigations on Receiving Information from Paranormal Sources

by Jon Klimo ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1987

If, as the author repeatedly assures us, channeling ""is enjoying a remarkable resurgence today"" and there has been a ""groundswell of channeling activity and interest. . .in the last dozen years,"" this will probably be read with pleasure--""profit"" may prove a bit more iffy--by those of a popular metaphysical bent. More skeptical readers may find the material yet another manifestation of the 80's obsession with instant ""self-awareness."" ""Channels,"" for those who have somehow failed to be swept up in the ""groundswell,"" are the updated form of what used to be called ""mediums,"" ""spiritualists,"" and ""psychics."" Klimo, a core faculty member at California's Rosebridge Graduate School, which specializes in training psychologists, does an evenhanded job in providing information on the history, personal biographies, techniques, and possible explanations of channeling. Happily, there is little proselytizing in Klimo's presentation, though he is obviously deeply involved with and convinced of the process himself. Occasionally, this approach lends a vaguely tentative air to the material; the text is dotted with many a ""possibly,"" ""it may indeed be"" and ""there are those who are convinced that."" To his credit, however, Klimo's refusal to engage in wild-eyed speculation increases the effectiveness of his coverage. Though many of the ""messages"" reported seem more suited to Chinese fortune cookies than to paranormal channels of communication, this is, nonetheless, a thorough, well-organized and, for the most part, dispassionate introduction to a controversial subject, in its treatment somewhere between Chariots of the Gods and Varieties of Religious Experience.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1987

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Tarcher--dist. by St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1987

Categories: NONFICTION