Leaps of Faith: Science, Miracles, and the Search for Supernatural Consolation

The chapter title above perfectly synopsizes Humphrey's aim in writing this book. A long-time scholar of "paranormal" phenomena, he is well suited to examine and explain the foundations for belief in the irrational. A skeptical critic and insightful observer, he brings many years of experience to present this assessment of the "paranormal". He is anxious to dispel the emotional delusions of supposedly extrasensory experiences. Such events must not overwhelm reason, he argues. In this well-written and researched book, Humphrey examines how science has addressed and answered many questions over the centuries. Religions and quasi-religions, he contends, are nurturing and explanatory medicinal packages for "orphaned minds". Seeking consolation, distressed people will cling to such weak reeds with desperate intensity. Attempts to assert rationality over many years have been repulsed or constrained by those who had easy answers to probing questions. The easy answer has always been found outside the realm of nature - the "super"-natural. While these answers are nearly universal, Humphrey focusses on Western European traditions and illusions. Of these, naturally, it is the Christ story which claims his attention. Humphrey's handling of the Messiah phenomenon is unique. Jesus, instead of a "redeemer", is portrayed as a skillful conjurer from a young age. Using modern child prodigies as models, Humphrey suggests that Jesus, too, exhibited extraordinary talents in childhood. These need not have been "supernatural", but they certainly garnered attention. Following the example of a father-son mutually reinforcing alliance to perform "spoon-bending" feats, he suggests Jesus was the victim of a "virtuous circle" of family and friends encouraging him. While those in his home town remained skeptical, Jesus' talents in sleight-of-hand were applauded elsewhere. The acclaim grew widespread enough that even non-Christian paranormal practitioners rely on the model Jesus established. It's a compelling idea, both in accepting an historical Jesus while explaining how supposedly irrational events can gain wide-spread acceptance.Readers are well-served by Humphrey's efforts to shunt the paranormal aside and replace it with analytical considerations of miracles, "psychic" phenomena and charlatanry. These habits are too easily ingrained into common thinking simply because they fulfill a desire to envision a future. Science, according to Humphrey, has failed to address the paranormal so as not to give it the credibility of attention. Perhaps a full-scale campaign, he contends, would dispel the myths and leave the gullible public in a more enlightened state. It would, he suggests, help dispel the disquieting view so much of the public has of science. Whether to understand the paranormal's tactics or to see why it should be fully discounted, this book is an excellent analysis of a dubious topic. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

There are now, thankfully, a number of very good books debunking paranormal beliefs (Shermer's Why People Believe Weird Things, Sagan's Demon Haunted World, for example). Most provide a devasting critique of those beliefs and almost all approach belief in the paranormal in a similiar manner. Humphrey provides some new arguments and insights and hence, Leaps of Faith serves as both a great introduction to skeptical literature and as a source of new insight for people who have already sorted through most of the traditional arguments against the existence of supernatural forces in our daily life.Humphrey's 'Argument from Unwarranted Design' turns out to be an incredible analytical tool and he uses it compellingly in a number of contexts. While most author's content themselves with trotting out the litany of scientific disproofs of the supernatural, Humphrey raises logical objections to alleged paranormal phenomena. Why should strange little phenonoma such as spoon bending bother to exist at all? How and why would they have been created in contravention to the rules of science and the dictates of normally parsimonious design? In short, Humphrey makes a strong case that the supernatural is both empirically AND logically unlikely.One more thing, Humphrey has a very readable style. If the concepts sound complicated and off-putting, they become vivid and immediate as Humphrey gives simple examples and compelling illustrations. Wonderful to read!Buy the book!

What has always turned me off about debunkers and "professional skeptics" is the low, (very low), road they often take of ridicule, snobbery and an almost Evangelical Skepticism. Then there is this wonderful book by Nicholas Humphrey. Where other would-be Rationalists fail, Humphrey succeeds. He lays out for us elegantly, reasonably, sanely and with humour and compassion, the Materialist case; pointing out more succintly than anyone else I've read the flaws, not only in the logic of "Paranormalists", but many of the logical flaws "debunkers" fall into. The style of the book is relaxed and conversational, honest and straightforward and enjoyable. Sane medicine for the intellect. Highly recommended.

This is a very good, profound and readable book of why religion and superstition are, well, not good for you. Without hesitation the author shows that they are not just unscientific but actually anti-scientific. It may not convince the die hard "believers" but who could? The supernatural hypothesis will always win by default -- it is unbeatable, not because it is right but because one can always invoke those powers as to having done everything to confuse us. Sounds familiar ...?!Just one warning: The book was published in Great Britain under the title *Soul Searching*. If you own this one you do not need *Leaps of Faith*, better look for *The Inner Eye*.

Humphrey's book has two major virtues that every book should have: it is very entertaining (in an intelligent way), and it actually manages to make a couple of novel points, which is more than can be said for a lot of contemporary publishing... The topic of "Leaps of faith" is what seems to be the eternal (but is in fact only about a couple of centuries old) battle between science and myth. Where "myth" includes the paranormal and in general, explanations of the world around us that are non-naturalistic, or transcendental. Telepathy, psychokinesis, ghosts, and the power of prayer are all under fire in this fascinating compendium of skepticism and logic. But, Humphrey criticizes the usual ways in which scientists have defended their skeptical position, such as directly challenging people like Uri Geller (the infamous "spoon-and-fork-bender"). The author explains that some courageous approaches to the rebuttal of the paranormal may be dangerous and ineffective. For example, the notorious magician James Randi has for years challenged people to bring forth claims of paranormal phenomena. Randi offers a prize if he cannot repeat by perfectly normal means the supposedly supernatural feat. However, Humphrey points out that there are two flaws in this strategy. First, just because James Randi (or whomever) can imitate a phenomenon by normal means, that does not automatically prove that the phenomenon itself is not genuinely paranormal. Second, what if some day the good Randi is actually unable to duplicate a supposedly paranormal phenomenon? Does para-Randi imply para-normal? Of course not, but since it is possible - indeed likely - that Randi's abilities are limited, his strategy might dramatically and embarassingly backfire one of these days... What's the alternative? What the author refers to as the "argument from unwarranted design". It works quite simply and convincingly. Humphrey asks what are the circumstances surrounding the manifestation of paranormal phenomena, regardless of what specific phenomenon (telepathy, psychokinesis, miracles, or what have you) has allegedly occurred. There is no a priori reason why these circumstances should not be as varied as the human beings, times, and countries in which they purportedly happen. But upon even a superficial scrutiny, we do not find anything like a random background. Somehow, paranormal phenomena always manage to occur under circumstances that can be quite reasonably defined as "suspicious". Either there is only one witness, or they can never be repeated in front of an investigator, or their physical evidence somehow disappears without leaving a trace. Indeed, even parapsycologists recognize this, and have elevated it to a "principle", which states that for whatever reason, the presence of an investigator, or of circumstances leading to repeatability (the cornerstone of scientific investigation), somehow "depress" the likelihood of the paranormal phenomenon actually happening. Now, would you by