Experimentelle Parapsychologie. Eine Einführung [Experimental Parapsychology. An Introduction] by Stefan Schmidt

Abstract

It might be a little bit unusual for a reviewer to have (almost) nothing to criticize about a book, and not to list, at least, minor errors which occurred to the author, because a lot of critics see their main function in doing so (the more so as this might point to the 'real expert' in the field).

It has been a long time since the last German overview of the actual state of parapsychological research has been published with the intention to inform a broader audience, beyond specific scientific and academic communities. The first one of this kind was written by biologist and philosopher Hans Driesch (Parapsychologie, published in 1932), followed by Hans Bender's Unser sechster Sinn (1971), and Walter von Lucadou's Psyche und Chaos. Theorien der Parapsychologie (1995). Hence, the book under review, Experimentelle Parapsychologie. Eine Einführung by Stefan Schmidt continues a small, even so long and important, line of tradition.

The author might not quite be unknown to the readership of the JSE because he has been doing experimental parapsychological research since mid-1990s, and published several articles and books relevant to parapsychology (see http://prof-stefan-schmidt.info/publikationen). He is member of the Parapsychological Association, and the Society for Psychical Research, among others. In 2001, Schmidt received the Gertrud Schmeidler Award for Outstanding Student Contribution to Parapsychology, and in 2004 he chaired the 47^th Annual Convention of the Parapsychological Association in Vienna. Since 2010, he has been assistant professor at the Institute for Transcultural Health Studies of the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt a.O. (Germany), and, since 2012, head of the Academic Section for the Evaluation of Complementary Medicine, as well as of the Center for Meditation, Mindfulness and Neuroscience Research at the University Medical Center Freiburg (Germany).