A lot of loose talk circulates about various ESP phenomena with the consequence that many do not believe they even exist. But drowned in all the loose talk is a lot of serious scientific investigation that has demonstrated the reality of some of these phenomena under controlled scientific conditions, many done under double-blind protocols.

Harold Puthoff and Russell Targ, at Stanford Research Institute, probably the #2 scientific "think tank" in the U.S.A., did many of these studies beginning in the early 1970s under the sponsorship of several three-letter agencies concerned with national defense. This book is basically a reprint of many of their scientific reports, first published in the IEEE Symposia On The Nature Of Extrasensory Perception.

I found the scientific study to be much more interesting than the shallow gee-whiz stuff often found in the popular press. To give a taste of the book, I list some of the chapter titles:

2.) A Perceptual Channel for Information Transfer over Kilometer Distances... by Puthoff and Targ.
3.) Direct Perception of Remote Geographical Locations.
4.) Multiple Subject and Long-Distance Precognitive Remote Viewing of Geographical Locations [replicates the work of Puthoff and Targ at SRI at another institution by other investigators, validating the earlier work]
5.) EEG Correlates to Remote Light Flashes Under COnditions of Sensory Shielding

11 Chapters and a lengthy Appendix gy Robert G. Jahn who was Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University at the time he wrote it.

I highly recommend this book to those interested in these things from a scientific point of view instead of a mystical one.

Hampton Roads Publishing Company has begun
to reissue classical metaphysical texts in their
new series, Studies in Consciousness/Russell Targ
Editions. Mind to Mind, originally written by
telepathy researcher Rene Warcollier, is one of
the first classics chosen for the series.

Ingo Swann has written a new preface for this
edition, noting that while Warcollier's 1948 book is
still valid, "it is useful to partially reset
Warcollier's seminal work into a larger, and now more
inclusive, historical overview." For one thing, little
was known in Warcollier's time about psychic phenomena.
Additionally, Warcollier's pioneering research has
withstood the test of time.

Contemporary physicist and psychic researcher
Russell Targ, along with Jane Katra, Ph.D., wrote an
interpretive introduction, which describes current
investigations into remote viewing, distant healing,
prayer, and self inquiry. They "conclude that the
scientific and spiritual implications of psychic
abilities are evident in the continually unfolding
mystery of the space-time in which we live."

The remainder of the book details Warcollier's
meticulous experiments, which provided "impressive
scientific evidence for the untapped power of human
consciousness." He was a chemical engineer, who became
interested in telepathy after studying psychology. He
sought to answer questions about what information is
actually transmitted during telepathy, how it's
transmitted, and its relation to the unconscious. He
eventually collaborated with researchers worldwide,
including the United States.

Mind to Mind is an excellent resource for all
readers interested in understanding the foundation and
background of research into telepathic phenomena and
human consciousness.

I am greatly impressed with how well this classic book holds up over the years. MIND-REACH conveys the early excitement felt by researchers investigating psychic phenomena in America at the same time as it illuminates the need for careful consideration to the implications of psychic phenomena. Numerous photographs, charts, and sketches help make the descriptions of remote viewing experiments tangible and real for the reader.

Authors Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff bring their experience as physicists at the world-famous Stanford Research Institute (SRI) to bear on the subject of paraphysical phenomena, and help ensure that scientific methods are followed throughout their experiments. Targ and Puthoff are pioneers in the field of remote viewing, and many of the experiments described in MIND-REACH are classics which are frequently referred to today.

Many of the subjects who participated in the experiments described in MIND-REACH are well-known figures today: Ingo Swann, Patrick Price, Uri Geller, and "Jonathan Livingston Seagull" author Richard Bach. Margaret Mead wrote the introduction for this outstanding book, and Richard Bach wrote the forward.

It's well worth the effort to find a copy of this classic book, if you are interested in reviewing some of the original remote viewing experimental results.

I enjoyed this book, but I didn't think it was really about how to experience God without belief. Many of the belief systems in the world were touched upon in this text. I was inspired to explore Christian Mysticism and Gnosticism more deeply after being introduced to these ideas. I did not find the sections on ESP and transpersonal psychology interesting. I find them both to be weak equivalents to traditional science. Still the book offerred me a lot of food for thought about how man can explore the existence of God.

I read this through in one sitting, I found it so absorbing. It had a looser feel to me, though, than their first book, and I wonder whether I would have found it as engaging had I not already read their MIRACLES OF MIND first. As an artist, I am fascinated by nonlocal consciousness in the creative process. As a very secular University of Chicago-trained economist, however, hearing the word "God" is like a red-flag. Uh oh... I just can't take seriously "God," that Big Bearded Daddy in the Sky who's going to love you or punish you or whatever, depending on whose "Bible" you want to consult. As for the "Goddess" stuff, don't get me started. What I'm saying is, it was a relief and a delight to read a book about nonlocal consciousness and the creative process without, as the book says, having to believe in "god". I highly recommend this book, though one might want to have a look at MIRACLES OF MIND first. This is the desert, that was the meat 'n veg.

Most people accept God "on faith." People who need evidence of some kind have been left to manage as best they can. Jane Katra, Ph.D. and Russell Targ wrote In The Heart Of The Mind: How To Experience God Without Belief to "describe a comprehensible spirituality, one in which experience takes primacy over religious belief." They add that, "as scientists we are convinced that a person need not believe or take on faith anything about the existence of the universal spirit, because the experience of God is a testable hypothesis." Dr. Katra has been a spiritual healer for more than twenty-five years. She holds a doctorate in health education and also works with people in strengthening their immune systems. Targ helped develop the laser, and has researched psychic phenomena since the 1970s. He's written several books, including Miracles of the Mind with Dr. Katra. Their research clearly indicates that "consciousness extends beyond the individual self." They maintain that anyone willing to quiet their mind and open their heart will experience the universal spirit. It isn't necessary to "embrace the dogma of any particular religion in order to have spirituality in our lives." Katra and Targ's premise is that people do not have to give up their minds in order to welcome God into their lives. They cite documented research that confirms the existence of "consciousness unimpeded by the limitations of time and distance" and describe hospital research that verifies the benefits of prayer and spiritual healing. They also discuss the laws of physics and traditional philosophies, showing how "modern scientific evidence of parapsychological phenomena fits with millennia of mystical wisdom teachings." The Heart Of The Mind is for all those caught between desiring to experience something more than themselves, but unable to accept traditional religious concepts. It provides the foundation for recognizing their inherent spirituality and expanding their awareness of an universal spirit.

Sandra I. Smith Reviewer

Targ has turned a common preliminary misdiagnosis into a pseudo-religious platform for promoting himself and exploiting the subject of cancer and healing. He has openly admitted that his so called initial diagnosis was quickly reversed, not because of any spiritual practice but because his doctors were uncertain of their initial findings. When the tentative diagnosis was not confirmed in a subsequent test, Targ boldly claimed that a miracle had happened. As much as he glosses over this critical fact in this sleazy and overblown volume, it is a familiar kind of problem to those of us who deal with the issue of cancer diagnosis everyday. The only miracle here is that Targ found a publisher and an audience gullible enough to believe in his scam. He should be ashamed of himself but is probably as comfy with his guru-dom as Ira Einhorn. If anyone is stupid enough to believe in this nonsense, let us hope they are not also stupid enough to ignore the advice of qualified medical professionals. This book is an insult to those of us working on real research to relieve the suffering of those who really do have cancer. It is also an insult to those brave souls who live quietly with their disease and did not get sick as Targ and Katra imply because they were not spiritually advanced enough to overcome a true illness that knows no morality and takes no prisoners.

Russel Targ and Jane Katra have compiled an excellent book that unites the experimental implications of non-local interaction with the practical applications of spiritual healing. Often we miss the point, believing that spiritual healing has failed if some great cure isn't instant, or believing that magical secret energies must come from a persons hands to heal, or that only certain people ordained by a being of light can be a spiritual healer. This book hopefully dispells those myths. Spiritual healing is for everyone because everyone is a part of this non-local sea of intelligence. Although it may take some practice to become great at it, it is a dormant ability in everyone.It is not about curing a disease, or "fighting" illness, but about resonating with a fellow human being, and serving as an open channel to the infinite for the greatest good.

"There is no doubt," write the authors, "that we have contact with the future in a way that shows unequivocally that we misunderstand our relationship to the dimension of time." There it is -- the turning point for the entire ballet of this stunning book. Thank you, Russell Targ and Jane Katra for bringing between these covers the stories of your professional lives and the pas de deux of such different approaches -- cutting-edge physics research and spiritual healing. It is a brave and beautiful book. Message to those who would disparage this book: first educate yourselves a little bit about quantum physics. Then come back and read it again with all your heart.