As Hodgson obsessively studies this medium, the story grows weirder and weirder, but Blum, who was nominated for an L.A. Much of the society's efforts were devoted to exposing charlatans, but even the most dogged of the members, Richard Hodgson, was baffled by Boston's Leonora Piper, a reluctant medium of rare gifts. Blum unearths the history of their research, their passionate friendships and debates, as well as their private doubts about the meaning of their work. Foremost in the Society for Psychical Research in America was the brilliant philosopher and psychologist William James, who like the others, risked his reputation in this unorthodox pursuit. In a compelling tale with resonance for today, Blum evokes a surprising sympathy for her band of tough-minded intellectuals-among them philosophers, psychologists, even two future Nobelists-who, around the turn of the 20th century, pursued the paranormal in an attempt to bridge the gap between faith and science at a time when religion was besieged by the theory of evolution and a new scientific outlook.
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