Fringe-ology: How I Tried to Explain Away the Unexplainable-And Couldn't - Couverture rigide

Volk, Steve

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0061857718 ISBN 13 : 9780061857713

Editeur : HarperOne, 2011

Synopsis

“Fringe-Ologybrings a poet’s eye to the frayed edges between the known and unknown, beliefand skepticism. . . . A dive into the paranormal even a hardcore skeptic like myselfcan enjoy.” —Mat Johnson, author of Pym

Takea strange and unsettling trip into the heart of the paranormal universe asjournalist Steve Volk tries to answer some of the most fundamental questions atthe heart of human existence. Fringe-ology will appeal to anyone curiousbut cautious about reports of paranormal experiences, psychic phenomena, andother unexplainable events—anyone who has ever wondered about the existence anafterlife, intelligent life on other planets, or the limits of extrasensoryperception. For fans of Fringe, Mythbusters,Medium, Heroes, Nova, and Lost, Volk’sscintillating journey into mystery illuminates the furthest boundaries ofpossibility and wonder.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

STEVE VOLK is a longtime staff writer and regular contributor at Philadelphia magazine. His work has been published by Rolling Stone, VIBE, Men's Health, Men's Journal, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Weekly, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and St. Petersburg Times. Volk has received dozens of journalism awards and lives in Philadelphia. Visit the author online at www.stevevolk.com.

À propos de la quatrième de couverture

More than seventy percentof Americans believe in paranormal activity. Buteven with a family-ghost story lurking in his ownbackground, seasoned journalist Steve Volk hasbeen like most of those millions of Americans—reticent to talk about his experience in politecompany. If so many of us have similar stories totell, why are we so reluctant to take them seriously?

Paranormal claims don’t traditionally sit well withreporters, but Volk decided to focus his gimlet-eyedtenacity on a new beat: the world of psychics, UFOs,and things that go bump in the night. It’s a rollickingride as Volk introduces us to all sorts of fringe-dwellers,many of them reluctant to admit to their paranormalexperiences: a NASA astronaut-turned-mystic, aworld-famous psychologist who taught us about dyingand then decided death may not exist at all, andbrave scientists attempting to verify what mysticshave been reporting for millennia. Volk investigateswhat happens in the brains of people undergoingreligious experiences, learns how to control his owndreams, and goes hunting for specters in hisfamily’s old haunted house.

From his journey into the bizarre, Volk returns witha compelling argument that we need to allow for amiddle space, a place where paranormal phenomenacan be weird and compelling; raise crucial questions;and, quite possibly, remain unexplainable. He rejectsthe polarized options the twenty-first century seemsto offer us: to passionately embrace or hotly reject,to revere only science or only spirituality. And heunderscores, again and again, that by raising ourmost existential questions—why are we here, are wealone in the universe, and what happens when wedie?—paranormal stories are in fact a crucial pointof connection. It turns out that these “fringe”experiences strike at the core of what it means tobe human.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: HarperOne
• Date d'édition: 2011
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0061857718
• ISBN 13: 9780061857713
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 336
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Product Safety Manager; enquiries@harpercollins.ie; ; HarperCollins, Macken House, 39/40 Mayor Street Upper; Dublin 1; D01 C9W8; Irlande