The Thought Reader Craze

Victorian Science at the Enchanted Boundary

By: Barry H. Wiley

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Paperback | 10 October 2012

At a Glance

Paperback
240 Pages

Age
18+

Dimensions(cm)
22.86 x 15.24 x 1.4

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Beginning in 1870, the hunger for scientific discovery in Great Britain drove prominent scientists, philosophers and others to promote the legitimacy of telepathy. At the same time, mind-reading as a form of entertainment gained increasing popularity as persuasive performers like John Randall Brown, W.I. Bishop, and Stuart C. Cumberland convinced reporters that they truly could read the thoughts of others.

The widely publicized, sometimes bizarre, interactions between scientists and these charlatans ushered in the Thought Reader Craze, a period that lasted through about 1910 and saw entertainers make and lose fortunes and scientists make and lose reputations. This volume explores this unusual cultural phenomenon, showing how it was aided through the years by public scientific pronouncements, astonishing performances by the thought readers, and the rapidly changing industrial society.

Industry Reviews

"Valuable"-Psypioneer Journal; "rigorously researched"-Journal of the Society for Psychical Research; "fascinating accounts...the author's fluent style makes for enjoyable reading, the book is well illustrated, thoroughly referenced"-The Magic Circle; "fascinating reading. Wiley has combined exhaustive archival research with keen insight to bring this story to light"-Magic; "a remarkable job...highly recommended"-The Linking Ring; "Barry Wiley is a first rate researcher...thorough piece of work...required reading"-Genii, The Conjurors' Magazine.

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