COMMENT:Couttie is a magician who lectures and broadcasts on the paranormal, and has investigated paranormal claims. The topics covered here are <a href="/bibq/geller">Uri Geller</a>, mediums, psychic detectives, children with unusual powers, astrology, and dowsing. Most of the claims are meticulously taken apart and shown to be fraudulent, misguided or plain wrong. One exception is dowsing, for which the hard evidence "remains ambiguous," and the other is the Gauquelin effect, which requires more research (Couttie feels that CSICOP mishandled the <a href="/bibq/mars,effect">Mars Effect</a> controversy). Couttie shows how paranormal claims can be positively harmful, as in the case of medium Doris Stokes who put an innocent man under suspicion during the hunt for the "Yorkshire Ripper." Claimants themselves can be victims, as with the "Cottingley fairies," where the girls involved felt unable to confess their prank once the famous Conan Doyle gave them his support. The book goes on to examine the relationship of science to the paranormal, and why people believe in it. The final chapter explains "How to be psychic."
