In writing this book I am first indebted to those whose research
it compiles, and in particular I would like to express my gratitude
to Charles Tart of the University of California and Charles
Honorton of the Maimonides Medical Center, New York, the
two leading authorities in the field to whose work I have made
frequent reference.
Special indebtedness is also due to John Beloff of the
University of Edinburgh for suggesting the venture and for
reading and commenting on the manuscript.
As well as referring to experimental research, I have found it
valuable to illustrate extrasensory perception and altered states
ofconsciousness by means ofdescription. For permission to quote
in this area I am grateful to the Society for Psychical Research,
the American Medical Association, Robert Masters and Jean
Housten of the Foundation for Mind Research, and Celia
Green and Charles McCreery of the Institute for Psychophysical
Research (together with Hamish Hamilton, their publisher)
.
Thanks are also due to Dr George Glass for his openmindedness
in allowing me to quote one of his case histories in
criticism of the medical approach to psychedelics, and to
Dr Ronald Shor for his permission to include examples from
the Personal Experiences Questionnaire.
I extend thanks to David Bate and other friends who, through
discussion, helped me in the formation of ideas.
And, finally, I would like to express appreciation to my
parents, and to Bertil and Ulla Wettmark, for providing such a
pleasant environment in which to write the book during my
tenure of the Perrott-Warwick Studentship in Psychical
Research of Trinity College, Cambridge.