Friday, November 21, 2008

ExtraSensory Perception

Believing in ESP is almost like believing in a certain religion. While there are many experiments that fail to show it exists, a few, a very few seem to point to it being a real power... a sixth sense. Unfortunately, most of the tests that have shown ESP to be an effective force were questionably designed or simply stage shows that mystified the crowd, scientists included.

A very religious man once told me that he believed that things like witchcraft and demons simply proved that one side of the spiritual equation existed. He could then, by inference, believe in the other side... God, angels and Heaven. It was a working argument for him. Alas, I've never seen an experiment that showed ESP or any spiritual belief is demonstrable. That doesn't matter to me. I believe what I believe. That kind of belief requires no proof or duplicatable experiment. It is a gut feeling that doesn't have to be justified.

All this is leading up to what almost convinced a very hard nosed psychologist that ESP was a working force. During my senior year in university, I took a course in experimental psychology. It was fascinating. The experimental designs and statistics used to interpret the results were rigorous and could actually be duplicated with similar equipment and environment.

We were assigned the task of designing and implementing an experiment that would either show that ExtraSensory Perception existed or not. Of course, it was a given that the negative hypothesis in this case would not prove ESP's non-existence. "Absence of proof is not proof of absence." I don't remember who said that, but it applies.

We were given access to state of the art, electro-mechanical test equipment and used it to see if a subject, chosen at random from the student body could predict which of five symbols was going to appear on the screen in front of him. Results were tallied on the experimenter's control board. I was running a subject through the test and didn't notice Dr. Gardner entering the lab. The first I knew of his presence was when he asked, "How long have you been doing that?"

He had been watching me and I was recording the results without looking at the tally board. Dr. Gardner was just a little spooked. While none of our results indicated that any of our subjects could forecast what would appear, it looked like I was doing just that with the results.

Calm down. Remember that we were using electro-mechanical equipment, not digital. Each of the symbols' tally used a different electric motor and gear mechanism. My hearing was still good enough that I could detect the differences between them. That hearing is about gone now, thanks to the Army, but the memory of Dr. Gardner's face remains.

Sorry, no pictures for this memoir.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Three book reviews

Some time ago, I noted a few of the authors that I particularly like and recommend. I have just finished the books whose reviews I will write this evening.

"The Accidental Time Machine" by Joe Haldeman, Ace Books edition published August, 2008. ISBN 978-0-441-01616-7
paper back $7.99

Matthew (Matt) Nagle did not set out to invent a time machine. He was working on a calibrator. When he pushed the 'reset' button, the thing disappeared for a second. When he pushed it again, it disappeared again, for a little longer this time. Matt is a bright, young PhD candidate at MIT. It doesn't take him long to work out that he has a time machine and that each time he pushes the button, the machine goes farther into the future. After all, Einstein worked out that you can't go backwards in time.

Matt works out how to go along with the machine, then proceeds to head farther into the future. His first trip takes him just far enough that he discovers that his vehicle (borrowed from a friend) is in the middle of traffic and has no tires. He also discovers that his friend has been murdered. Matt is the prime suspect, but the authorities lock him up for auto theft. A strange person who looks like Matt pays his bail and tells him to take the car and go. He pushes the button again and goes farther ahead in time. Soon he picks up a companion, Martha. She is from a time when radical Christianity dominates the east coast of America and has nothing to do with the west. Each time Matt pushes the button, he not only goes into the future, but moves west as well.

The problem is how to get back to bail himself out of jail and whether Martha will go with him or return to her own time and place. The situation is made more interesting when he discovers that he is the only one who can push the button and get a time displacement.

Haldeman is an outstanding writer. This novel caught me within a few paragraphs and held me through the end. The physics are all too plausible. We have a good adventure story with a little romance, a lot of mystery and some humor.

"The Bell at Sealey Head" by Patricia A. McKillip, Berkley Publishing Group, published September, 2008. ISBN 978-0-441-01630-3, hard cover $23.95.

In the coastal town of Sealey Head, a bell rings at every sunset. No one knows why. Nor does anyone know where the bell is located. The bell has been ringing for so long that most town folk don't notice it anymore. Judd Cauley still notices. He runs an inn at Sealey Head, just as his father did. Dugold, his father is now blind. Judd reads to him every night. Another person who notices the bell is Gwyneth Blair. She and Judd have been friends since childhood. But her family is rich and the inn, both poor and declining. Their meetings are infrequent, but welcomed by both.

On the day the story begins, a stranger comes to Sealey Head and stops at the inn. He is Ridley Dow and he has come to investigate the bell.

Emma is a maid at Aislin House. Since she was small, she has been opening doors that do not always lead to her Aislin House. She has met Princess Ysabo, a resident of the other house. Ysabo is caught in a mysterious ritual that enfolds all the residents of her house. She is shortly to be married and is well trained in the ritual that keeps their world turning.

The owner of Emma's Aislin House, Lady Eglantyne, is old, ill and declining. The heir is sent for from the big city of Landringham. Miranda Beryl will soon arrive with her staff and friends for the death watch. Among the friends is a Mr. Moren. Apparently Beryl is afraid of him. At the same time as the guests arrive, Judd is lucky enough to hire a new cook. (His old one is possibly the worst cook in the world.) Mr. Pilchard, the cook says that he has been a sailor and can cook for two or two hundred. His cooking is superb.

Ridley makes his way to Aislin House and meets Beryl. He also meets Emma and, through her, Ysabo. Ridley does something that neither woman has dared. He crosses from Emma's world to that of Ysabo. Ridley has the talent for being inconspicuous to the point of invisibility. He stays in Ysabo's world for a few days, then is chased away by the ritual crows and the knights of the House.

Ms. McKillip writes in a fascinating, dreamy style that has always appealed to me. Her way of conveying mystery and magic are irresistible. The complex story lines of her novel are expertly woven together to produce a startling, but altogether satisfying ending.

"Carol for Another Christmas" by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, Ace Books, published October, 2008 (first publishing 1996). ISBN 978-0-441-01646-4, paper back $7.99.

This is a retelling of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". What Ms. Scarborough has done is to bring the story into the 21st century, replacing Scrooge with an irascible software company CEO (Monika Banks) and Marley with her brother, one of the geniuses who began the company. The company is failing. Banks has hired a team of software specialists to develop a program for the US government that will track people without their knowing.

The ghost of her brother works a program manager into the computer system. Scrooge, now converted to a Christmas spirit gets the job of guiding Banks around her Christmases past, present and future with the desired result.

This is not the first time that Ms Scarborough has updated a fairy tale. Her "Godmother" was a wonderful look into the business of being a fairy godmother. Her style is engaging and the story has all the tender, tear jerking pathos of the original. This is definitely a six Kleenex novel. She has managed to insert believable technology, humor and a bit of romance into the original. This book is going out to most of my friends who like to read... as a Christmas present.