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Wangler, Chris. “Famous People of the Paranormal. Psychics, Clairvoyants and Charlatans”. Ghost House Books, Edmonton, Canada. 2005. 248pp, illus. ISBN 1-894877-45-4. $10.95 US / $14.95 Can.

This book contains potted biographies of 27 people, not all of whom are famous, let alone psychics, clairvoyants or charlatans. Amongst the people included are Charles Fort, Bernard Heuvelmans, James Randi and Reginald Scot, none of whom would fall into any of the categories covered by the sub-title. Others are perhaps famous in their own backyards, such as James van Praagh and “Miss Cleo”, but not elsewhere. Overall the choice seems extremely arbitrary, as many people one might expect to be in here, such as the Fox sisters, D.D. Home, Uri Geller and the like are missing.

The biographies are poorly written and often unsupported by any specific references. The book also contains factual inaccuracies, eg Bernard Heuvelmans is said to have been born in “le Havre, Belgium” (p.148). Le Havre is, of course, in France. Heuvelemans parents were Belgian but had been forced to flee their home due to a little local unpleasantness called the First World War. The publishers however, have covered their assets on this as the reverse of the title page contains the following disclaimer “The stories, folklore and legends in this book are based on the author's collection of sources including individuals whose experiences have led them to believe they have encountered phenomena of some kind or another. They are meant to entertain, and neither the publisher nor author claims these stories represent fact.” (Or put another way – “we couldn't be bothered to check everything in here and our lawyers said this would cover us.”)

Furthermore the author's sentences often contain a non sequitur, e.g. “Russia at the time was an oppressive regime ruled by an elite monarchy, so Rasputin benefited from the popularity of Spiritualism” (p.231) or if you prefer (of Aleister Crowley) “Although he went to public schools, he managed to be accepted to Trinity College at Cambridge University to study organic chemistry.” (p.213-4).. Sometimes he simply is mystifying, e.g. “In keeping with his peasant background, Rasputin was unusually familiar around the royal family.” (p.234) He also misuses phrases, e.g. (of Charles H. Foster) “According to an objective observer, Foster had only a three percent margin of error.” (p.193) which, as it stands, is meaningless. The term “margin of error” applies to the amount of error that a statistical calculation may have, or if you prefer “A measurement of the accuracy of the results of a survey “. In the book there is no statistical calculation or survey being made. The term is, bluntly, completely misused.

At best the writing rises to the level of basic competence, but is generally uninspired, dull and cliché-ridden.

I can find little to recommend in this book. It lacks an index and has no bibliography / recommended reading, rendering it of little use even as a starting point for further research. That said, it may contain information on some people readers are unfamiliar with, but I'd check anything you read in here against other sources before believing it. Which is where the disclaimer comes in again, the text is there purely to entertain – and sadly it is far too wooden to even achieve that.

3/10

Richard Alexander