Extrasensory Deception by Henry Gordon.

The world of the paranormal can be a strange and fascinating place. Mystery and adventure may lurk around every corner, waiting to be explored. Henry Gordon has journeyed through this realm of psychic powers and has come back kicking.

In an eye-opening collection of essays, aptly titled ExtraSensory Deception, Gordon, a professional magician and journalist, takes on psychics, astrologers, myth-makers and other assorted purveyors of the paranormal, and shines the light of common sense into the murky darkness that is the world of paranormal claims.

Culled from Gordon’s weekly columns for the Toronto Sunday Star, this book collects his commentaries on “The Paranormal”, “Prophecy”, “Spirits”, “Superstition”, “Pseudoscience”, “Higher Life”, and “Truth”. Not one to pull punches, he gives a hard-hitting, often humorous, first-person account of his adventures among some of the “big names” in the paranormal movement, including New Age heroine Shirley MacLaine, faith-healer Peter Popoff, UFO guru Stanton (the Flying Saucer Physicist) Friedman, and psychic superstar Uri Geller.

Gordon exposes the methods used by “psychics” and other practitioners of “extrasensory” powers for what they are – the sleight-of-hand and mentalist tricks that he and other magicians have used on stage for decades.

The focus of the book is not, however, to merely debunk the excessive and unverifiable claims made by the paranormalists. As Gordon states, “It seems clear. Once a person comes under the influence of these supernatural beliefs, his or her mind ceases to function at a normal level of reasoning.” By laying bare the dangers of uncritical acceptance of such claims, this book makes an impassioned plea for an increased use of rational intelligence and critical thinking skills for solving our problems.