Psychics

Reading people's minds. Predicting the future. Finding missing people. These are just some of the amazing things psychics claim they can do. Can someone really predict a president's death? Can a man really bend a spoon with his mind? Read about psychics and what researchers have discovered about their claimed abilities.

Children's Literature

This volume in the "Unexplained" series looks at the mystery of psychics. The author defines psychics as people who believe they have powers to predict the future, contact dead people or read the minds of others. As an example, Miller cites Julia Dent Grant's "terrible feeling" and her insistence that she and General Grant not attend the theater with President Lincoln on the night of his assassination. However, she points out that skeptics doubt these abilities exist and that psychics are most often proven wrong. Throughout history, people have consulted seers like the Delphic Oracle and Nostradamus. However, in the late nineteenth century, serious efforts were made to investigate popular psychics of the day; most were found to be frauds. Today, research into the paranormal goes on. Scientists offer several theories to explain one's belief that he or she is psychic, including migraines, schizophrenia, and hallucination-causing brain disorders. Skeptics say that predictions are often ambiguous or that anyone using common sense could have made similar guesses. Readers are left to wonder: "Why do some people still believe?" Illustrations are photographs, drawings, and paintings. Includes a glossary, an index, and a short bibliography, although the websites suggested by FactHound are inappropriate for these ages.