Syndetics cover image
Image from Syndetics

Presence : the strange science and true stories of the unseen other / Ben Alderson-Day.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York, NY : St. Martin's Press, an imprint of St. Martin's Publishing Group, 2023Copyright date: ©2023Edition: First editionDescription: xv, 285 pages ; 25 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781250278258
  • 1250278252
Other title:
  • Strange science and true stories of the unseen other
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Preface: What is there? -- Part 1: Phantom others. A thickness in the air -- "Things which should never be spoken of" -- The double -- Luke -- The presence robot -- "I'll set the table for three people when it's just me and my wife" -- Part 2: Fellow travelers. The walnut of reality -- The Marathon Monk of Billingham -- Seeing darkness -- Spirit -- In two minds -- You never asked.
Summary: "These experiences of sensing a Presence when no one else is there have been given many names--the Third Man, guardian angels, shadow figures, "social" hallucinations--and they have inspired, unsettled, and confounded in equal measure. While the contexts in which they occur are diverse, they are united by a distinct and uncanny feeling of visitation by another. But what does this feeling mean, and where does it come from? When and why do presences emerge? And how can we even begin to understand a phenomenon that can be transformative for those who experience it, and yet so hard to put into words? The answers to these questions lie in this tour-de-force through contemporary psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, and philosophy. Presence follows Ben Alderson-Day's attempts--as a psychologist and a researcher--to understand how this experience is possible. What is a voice when it isn't heard, and how otherwise do we know or feel that someone is in our presence? Is it a hallucination connected to psychosis, a change in the working of the brain, or something else? The journey to understand takes us to meet explorers, mediums, and robots, and step through real, imagined, and virtual worlds. Presence is the story of who we carry with us, at all times, as parts of ourselves"--Publisher, page 2 of dustjacket.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Dr. James Carlson Library NonFiction 133.901 A362 Available 33111011066103
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 133.901 A362 Available 33111011288996
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A psychologist's journey to understand one of the most unusual experiences known to humankind: the universal, disturbing feeling that someone or something is there when we are alone.

These experiences of sensing a Presence when no one else is there have been given many names--the Third Man, guardian angels, shadow figures, "social" hallucinations--and they have inspired, unsettled, and confounded in equal measure.

While the contexts in which they occur are diverse, they are united by a distinct and uncanny feeling of visitation by another. But what does this feeling mean, and where does it come from? When and why do presences emerge? And how can we even begin to understand a phenomenon that can be transformative for those who experience it, and yet so hard to put into words?

The answers to these questions lie in this tour-de-force through contemporary psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, and philosophy. Presence follows Ben Alderson-Day's attempts--as a psychologist and a researcher--to understand how this experience is possible. What is a voice when it isn't heard, and how otherwise do we know or feel that someone is in our presence? Is it a hallucination connected to psychosis, a change in the working of the brain, or something else?

The journey to understand takes us to meet explorers, mediums, and robots, and step through real, imagined, and virtual worlds. Presence is the story of who we carry with us, at all times, as parts of ourselves.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"These experiences of sensing a Presence when no one else is there have been given many names--the Third Man, guardian angels, shadow figures, "social" hallucinations--and they have inspired, unsettled, and confounded in equal measure. While the contexts in which they occur are diverse, they are united by a distinct and uncanny feeling of visitation by another. But what does this feeling mean, and where does it come from? When and why do presences emerge? And how can we even begin to understand a phenomenon that can be transformative for those who experience it, and yet so hard to put into words? The answers to these questions lie in this tour-de-force through contemporary psychology, psychiatry, neuroscience, and philosophy. Presence follows Ben Alderson-Day's attempts--as a psychologist and a researcher--to understand how this experience is possible. What is a voice when it isn't heard, and how otherwise do we know or feel that someone is in our presence? Is it a hallucination connected to psychosis, a change in the working of the brain, or something else? The journey to understand takes us to meet explorers, mediums, and robots, and step through real, imagined, and virtual worlds. Presence is the story of who we carry with us, at all times, as parts of ourselves"--Publisher, page 2 of dustjacket.

Preface: What is there? -- Part 1: Phantom others. A thickness in the air -- "Things which should never be spoken of" -- The double -- Luke -- The presence robot -- "I'll set the table for three people when it's just me and my wife" -- Part 2: Fellow travelers. The walnut of reality -- The Marathon Monk of Billingham -- Seeing darkness -- Spirit -- In two minds -- You never asked.

Powered by Koha