Book review -- "Spook"
by SouthernFriedInfidel | Published on September 5th, 2007, 8:09 am | Arts
OK... here's a few thoughts on a non-fiction book that I received as a gift some time ago. Mary Roach, fresh off her success with "Stiff" has written a book about scientific attempts to establish the existence of ghosts. As before, Ms. Roach not only tries to do a thorough and even-handed survey of this very peculiar landscape, but she gets into the act personally whenever possible.Her style is easy to read, almost like she's sitting by a fireside and chatting with you about her adventures. And boy, did she have some adventures in doing her research! From looking over the literature of reincarnation and efforts to define, detect and communicate with disembodied souls to people doing ghost hunting with electromagnetic fields and ultra-low frequency sound sources, she gets into everything.
I found it interesting that she spent a lot of her ghost-hunting research time here in North Carolina, where Duke University has some research going on, and there was a strange case where a ghost's apparition was used as part of a dispute over a will in Mocksville.
In general, I thought that everything she presented pointed to negative findings. I was therefore surprised at the end of the book to see that the author still had room in her mind for lending credence to claims for "life after death." What a weird ride, filled with schools for mediums and ectoplasm. Definitely worth picking up for a fun read on a dark, cold night.