This book consists of a collection of essays informing readers as to the contemporary status of selected cutting-edge issues in parapsychology (or "psi research"). Each chapter comprehensively reviews a controversial topic from a critical stance, and updates its status based on the latest theoretical and empirical considerations. Chapter authors are authoritative experts in their fields who have captured the complexity and importance of their topics. This is a resource for both the serious scholar and interested follower of psi research, containing in-depth analyses and discussions of topics that cannot be found elsewhere. Topics include cross-examinations of psychical investigations; a meta-analysis of anomalous information collected by mediums; an examination of the relationships between parapsychology, quantum theory and neuroscience; and a study of psychics' involvement in police investigations.

Contemporary parapsychology tends to be preoccupied with ESP (telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition) and psychokinesis. In contrast, this cutting-edge anthology assembles an international team of experts from the fields of psychology, parapsychology, philosophy, anthropology and neuroscience to examine critically what is referred to as the survival hypothesis: the tentative statement or prediction that some aspect of our personhood (e.g., consciousness) persists subsequent to the death of the physical body. The appraisal of the survival hypothesis will be restricted to the phenomenon of mediumship; that is, humans who ostensibly communicate with the deceased. The book has been divided into four main sections: Explanation and Belief; Culture, Psychopathology and Psychotherapy; Empirical Approaches, and The Present and Future. The issue of postmortem survival is supremely relevant to us all because in our consensual space-time reality the human encounter with death is, of course, a certainty.

The essays in this volume 9 of a series inform readers of the present status of leading issues in parapsychology (or psi research). The authors are experts in their fields and have written in a reader-friendly way that captures the complexity and importance of their topics. Each essay comprehensively reviews a controversial topic from a critical stance, and updates its status based on the latest theoretical and empirical considerations. For readers who need to keep pace with the evolution of thinking in psi research, this volume is authoritative. The series as a whole has traced the development of psi research over decades, providing a longterm definitive resource.