Irreducible Mind

We reviewed the hardback edition of this book about five years ago. It is one of the most important publications in the field over the last 30 years, and ranks alongside the work of Ian Stevenson in terms of scientific and philosophical rigour. As readers know only too well, current mainstream scientific opinion insists that 'all aspects of human mind and consciousness are generated by physical processes occurring in brains.' This volume claims to demonstrate empirically that reductive materialism is not only incomplete but false. They cover current debates in consciousness studies, the seminal work of Myers, psychophysiological influences, memory, NDEs, genius and mystical experience. As a result of these studies, they propose that the range of phenomena is better explained by a 'transmission' or 'filter' theory as proposed by William James, FCS Schiller, and Henri Bergson at the end of the 19th century. A comprehensive psychology for the 21st-century will have to take these phenomena into account.