The best books on remote viewing
Remote viewing is the claim that a person can describe a distant or hidden target using only the mind. It was tested at the Stanford Research Institute from the early 1970s and then used, for more than two decades, in US government programmes.
The books here are of three kinds: the laboratory accounts by the researchers, the memoirs of the people who did the viewing, and the histories that tell the story from outside. Read one of each. Every title is non-fiction and is cited in Brendan D. Murphy’s work.
- 1
Mind-Reach
Russell Targ and Harold E. Puthoff, 2005
Two physicists describe their laboratory experiments at the Stanford Research Institute and what they concluded. The primary account of how the work began.
Brendan cites it in The Grand Illusion (The Question of Consciousness; The Mystical Experience; Telepathy; Clairvoyance)
- 2
PSI Spies
Jim Marrs, 2007
A journalist’s history of government interest in psychic spying. A good overview before you read the participants.
Brendan cites it in The Grand Illusion (The Question of Consciousness; The Mystical Experience; Clairvoyance; Psychokinesis And The Belief Effect)
- 3
Mind Trek
Joseph McMoneagle
A member of the US Army unit explains how the work was done, what the sessions were like and what the unit was used for.
Brendan cites it in The Grand Illusion (Clairvoyance)
- 4
Penetration
Ingo Swann
Ingo Swann’s own account of his work and of the research programme that grew from it.
Brendan cites it in The Grand Illusion (Clairvoyance)
- 5
The Seventh Sense
Lyn Buchanan, 2003
Lyn Buchanan’s memoir of his years as a remote viewer in the Army unit, and what the training involved.
Brendan cites it in The Grand Illusion (Selected Bibliography)
- 6
Remote Viewing
Tim Rifat, 1999
Tim Rifat’s history and science of remote viewing and psychic warfare, covering the programmes on both sides of the Cold War.
Brendan cites it in The Grand Illusion (The Human Aura; Clairvoyance)
- 7
Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain
Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder, 1970
Ostrander and Schroeder report on Soviet psychic research, the book that did much to bring the subject to Western attention.
Brendan cites it in The Grand Illusion (Quantum Weirdness And Cosmic Oneness; The Occult Aether; The Human Aura; Telepathy)
- 8
Psychoenergetic Science
William Tiller, 2007
A Stanford materials scientist reports experiments on whether focused human intention can change physical systems. Related territory, with a scientist’s caution.
Brendan cites it in The Grand Illusion (Science Ain’t Always Scientific; Quantum Weirdness And Cosmic Oneness; The Human Aura; Psychokinesis And The Belief Effect)
The Grand Illusion treats remote viewing as one of several lines of evidence that perception is not limited to the senses and the brain. The Consciousness Transition Model builds on that: if awareness can reach beyond the body in life, what it does at death is a structural question.
Brendan cites every book here. That does not mean he agrees with all of it.
All 10 books
Take one down to see why it is here and where to find it.
What is remote viewing?
A protocol in which a person, usually given only a code number for a target, describes it using the mind alone, and the descriptions are then compared with the real target. The books here describe how it was developed and tested.
Was remote viewing used by the US government?
Yes. The US Army, working with researchers from the Stanford Research Institute, ran a remote viewing unit that operated for more than twenty years under several code names, including Stargate. It was closed in 1995.
Is there scientific evidence for remote viewing?
Researchers report effects above chance, and a 1995 review of the programme reached opposite conclusions on what the results meant. Read the researchers’ own accounts, then the critics, and judge the evidence for yourself.
Where should I start with books on remote viewing?
Begin with Mind-Reach by Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff for the laboratory work, then Mind Trek by Joseph McMoneagle for what the practice looked like inside the Army unit.
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