The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal

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The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal

• Reference Book Analysis
• LIBR 150
• Kamal Lombardi

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Bibliographic Entry
The Encyclopedia of the Paranormal. Ed. by
Gordon Stein Amherst, N. Y. Prometheus Books,
1996.
KCLS, Bothell Regional Library
Image obtained from http//commons.wikimedia.org/w
iki/ImageCartas_Zener.svg Used due to being
under public domain as is explained at this site.
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Arrangement and Indexing
The arrangement is alphabetic. The only indexing
is a table of contents.
Scope
It is the first scientifically based encyclopedia
dealing with the paranormal. It contains
information on the paranormal up to 1996. It
contains mini bibliographies indicating further
works on each subject at the end of each section.
It contains 91 entries and 851 pages of
double-columned text.
Currency
Some information may be out of date. It only
contains information on the subjects up to what
was available in 1996.
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Purpose
Intended The purpose was to provide a
scientifically researched encyclopedia to do with
paranormal phenomena, the paranormal being
defined as anything that is put forth as an
explanation of the natural world using as a part
of that explanation elements that appear to
violate what has already been offered and
accepted as a scientific explanation of given
phenomena. (Encyclopedia of the Paranormal,
xxi.)
Additional Additional uses for the reference
item might be to simply look up facts regarding
strange/paranormal phenomena and/or the
supernatural by looking up topics such as The
Amityville Horror, Bigfoot, or The
Philadelphia Experiment(all topics in the
Encyclopedia of the Paranormal.)
Physical Format(s)
The reference item is only available in book
form.
Special Features
Each entry has a bibliography entry that follows
where additional sources are given. There is a
foreward by Carl Sagan.
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Authority and Review Opinions
The reference item is edited by Gordon Stein, who
has a PH. D. in physiology. Stein has written
prolifically over the years for a variety of
different causes. He Is also the editor of
Encyclopedia of Unbelief and Encyclopedia of
Hoaxes, As well as having been the editor of
American Rationalist. Additionally,
the Encyclopedia of the Paranormal also had an
editorial advisory board made up of A variety of
Ph.D.s in various related fields. A review of
the text by George P. Hansen at
http//www.tricksterbook.com/ArticlesOnline/SteinR
eview.htm points to whether or not Steins
position as librarian for the Center of Inquiry
And thus, relationship to the Committee for the
Scientific Investigation of Claims of the
Paranormal (CSICOP) has had an influence on
whether or not The book is proparanormal. In
that selfsame review Hansen, who has been
professionally employed by paraspychology
laboratories, states, Steins volume has more
similarities to a handbook than to an
encyclopedia. Its main competitor, though
narrower in scope, may be Kurtzs A Skeptics
Handbook of Parapsychology (1985). The
Encyclopedia under review seems oriented to two
market niches libraries and CSICOP supporters.
Perhaps the book was undertaken so the publisher
would have a product to compete with other
encyclopedias on paranormal topics.
(http//www.tricksterbook.com/ArticlesOnline/Stei
nReview.htm)
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Personal Impression
My personal impression of the reference item is
that this is a solid reference on paranormal
phenomena, albeit it might be one written more by
skeptics of the paranormal and the supernatural
than adherents. As a handy guide to topics
related to the subject and a way of finding
further references on a variety of paranormal
areas It certainly seems to do its job.
Reference Use Examples
Several examples of questions that might be asked
that could be looked up are What is extrasensory
perception?, How has it been studied?, What
kind of research has been done into ghosts and
haunted houses?, and What is astrology and
where did it come from?
Searching ESP
A search for ESP on the world wide web elicits
the following pages, (http//www.themystica.com/m
ystica/articles/e/esp_extrasensory_perception.html
) (http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extra-sensory_perc
eption) Both of these sources start to describe
ESP with experiments conducted by J.B. Rhine in
the 1930s, but the entry in the Encyclopedia of
the Paranormal starts with looking at the Society
for Psychical Research founded in England in
1882. Along with Rhines Zener card
experiments it also discusses research done by S.
G. Soall which were an attempt to replicate
Rhines experiments.