The series has previously devoted one volume to each of the conventional senses tied to physical organs, and here moves into less charted waters. The readings offer anthropological and historical perspectives on sensations that are common but not explained well or at all by science. Essays and excerpts of longer texts from the 19th and 20th centuries examine such topics as the sense of direction, the anatomy of mysticism, the Mesmerism investigation and the crisis of sensationist science, the erotics of telepathy in the British Society for Psychical Researchs experiments in intimacy, some thoughts on the afterlife from spirit photography to phantom films, the sense of being stared at, tactility and distraction, peyote and the mystic vision, and the embodiment of symbols and the acculturation of the anthropologist. Distributed in the US by Palgrave Macmillan. Annotation ©2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) The assumption that we have five senses, each with its own domain, has a long history. But throughout the ages and across cultures there have been those who questioned the adequacy of the model of the five senses and posited the existence of additional faculties of perception. The Sixth Sense Reader covers a startling array of cases, ranging from kinesthesia and intuition to shamanic flight and extrasensory perception. With contributions from Anthropology, History, Religion and Biology, among other fields, this volume showcases many fascinating and provocative insights into the varieties of extra/sensory perception and experience. It concludes with an ABCDERIUM of so-called psychic and other powers, which provides a concise reference glossary and opens further avenues for investigation. The Sixth Sense Reader will prove vital to all those interested in probing the far borderlands of consciousness.
