Showing posts with label parapsychology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label parapsychology. Show all posts

Nightmareland: Travels at the Borders of Sleep, Dreams, and Wakefulness by Lex "Lonehood" Nover (2018)

, 10 Jan 2025

Lex Nover has been the producer of the American overnight radio show Coast to Coast AM since 2022 and has an interest in the paranormal, fringe science and alternative theories. It shows here because his book reads like a podcast or radio show. 
 
Nightmareland is unpretentious, entertaining and informative at the same time. It has a good mix of entertaining stories, good notes, science, history, folk culture, parapsychology, interviews with or reference to serious researchers on the different subjects he discusses in the book.

This is not a book just about dreams or nightmares (and night terrors), is also a book about many other dream-related stuff: sleep paralysis (when alleged psychic attacks or spirits or alien visitations occur), parasomnias (which include sleep talking, sleep eating disorder or SRED, sexsomnia, sleepwalking, sleep driving, sleepwalk murders, REM Behaviour Disorder or RBD), sleep deprivation (sleeplessness, and fatal familial insomnia or FFI), hypnagogia or liminal states (Exploding Head Syndrome, Hypnagogic Jerks, Incubi and Succubi visitations, etc.) and lucid dreaming (and Dream Yoga) Fascinating subjects all of them, some of which I had never heard of. There are many real life examples some of which made it to the news. All fascinating. There also two chapters devoted to paranormal lucubrations: psychic attacks and Aliens.

Although many of the subjects Lonehood talks are well-known, especially if you are into dreamwork and dream history, they are still interesting for the general public. I love the fact that the book doesn't have any pretentiousness, something that  counteracts its weakest points.   
 
Jason Jam is the author of the lovely illustrations in the book.
 
SOME NUGGETS
> The are many cross-cultural references throughout the book, something I really liked because they show that some of the phenomena described are Universal but have regional variations.
> The advice on how to prevent sleep paralysis and to break the spell, so to speak, when you are having one.  
> Sleep terrors generally don’t involve dream narratives.
>  Unlike sleep eating, where the demographic is more likely to be female, most people with RBD are male and over age fifty. (...) research now suggests that RBD is typically an early sign of Parkinson’s and related diseases (p. 51).
> About 7 percent of parasomnias are classified as “nocturnal dissociative disorders” arising from a damaged psyche. (p. 55).
> The expression sleep like a baby is a bit of a misnomer, as the dreams of the very young are often far from tranquil. There’s even some evidence that fetuses experience parasomnias and that their adorable kicking emerges out of their primordial sleep state. (p. 115). 

 
THE SO-SOS
> The book is sometimes too anecdotal. Too many examples.
> A good deal of the information provided is well-known already. 
> The chapters about psychic attacks and aliens are enjoyable to read, but there is little there about dreams. The tone of these two is different from the rest and I found that most of the content didn't add to the the subject of sleep, dreaming or nightmares.   
 
KINDLE EDITION
Although the edition is pretty good overall, I found some examples of bad editing regarding the way time is quoted. Two examples:
> p. 66  "just past ten thirty p.m." Use either use 10.30pm or half past ten in the evening.
> p. 75 "At around four forty-five a.m." Use either 4.45am or quarter to five in the morning.
 
I also found a typo: p. 96. "I’m talking about the 1890s" For what he's saying, it's most likely the 1990s.
 
The footnotes are well linked back and forth. The short version of the notes in the body of the text doesn't have the hyperlinks active but the version at the end does.  However, many of the external hyperlinks referenced are broken and not working. Too many to mention here. 
 
I always love having a subject index at the end of a book. Here, each entry is properly hyperlinked to the corresponding pages.

IN SHORT
This is one of those books that you can easily read while commuting, on holidays or when you want to learn about an interesting subject that can expand your conversation. It discusses many subjects that relate to sleep and dream disorders, some of which aren't well -known or popular. The notes referencing to YouTube videos or news items add to the enjoyment. Good for the lay reader, this book is easy to read and full of curiosities. Perhaps not as interesting for the dream aficionado or the dream nerd.  Yet, some of the cases discussed would fascinate everyone.

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The Premonition Code: The Science of Precognition by Theresa Cheung & Julia Mossbridge (2018).

, 3 Dec 2019

The Premonition Code is a book that intends to explain precognition and promote controlled precognitive training called controlled precognition based on positive grounds and well-rounded ethics; the trainees are called Positive Precogs.

The book starts with an introduction to how the book came to be, the stories that inspired it, and the analysis of some scientific information that relates to precognition: the nature of time, causality law, retrocausality, causal loops, and multiple futures. The second part is actually where the training to develop or further your precognitive abilities and skills is discussed and explained in detail. Part three is mostly devoted to the FAQ and to speculation about what the future holds for precognitive people and precognition.

 

THE CORE OF THE BOOK

  • There is more to this life than meets the eye, precognition exists. The definition of precognition that the authors use is consistent with the many-futures theory.
  • There may be a spiritual dimension to precognition.
  • Most of the precognitive stories that people have, despite being real, they are not scientifically verifiable, or easily verifiable either. How do we know that someone has had a genuinely precognitive dream experience is nothing can know with 100% certainty at present.
  • There is a lot of disagreement about how the flow of time works and how or whether one thing causes another. 
  • The criteria necessary to validate that a precognition is genuine: 1/ Two or more correspondences between the precognition and the event. 2/ Less than two weeks delay between the precognition and the event). 3/ One could not have the way to predict the event using the conscious mind. 4/ You recorded the experience before the event happened.
  • The training to become what they call positive precogs, i.e. rained precognitive people who follow a code of contact and use their abilities for good purposes.  This code is based on:
    •  Following the R.E.A.C.H. principles: Respect for the unknown — Ethics in our use of precognition — Accuracy of our precognitive skills — Compassion for ourselves and others —Honesty in all our dealings. 
    • Adhering to the Positive Precog Time Worldview: 1/ Events in the future can influence events in the past and vice versa. 2/The future isn't fixed. 3/ No one has complete control of the future.
    • Daily practicing on controlled precognition, and record of dreams, premonition experiences, and strong impulses an insights related to future events. 
    • Following the six steps for controlled precognition: Step 1: Prepare physically, mentally and practically. Step 2: Reverse the polarity: write down an intention that supports you, and open yourself to receive. Step 3: Connect to the target: give your session a random 4 digit number, draw a squiggle, and set the intention of connecting with the target. Step 4: Learn and discern. Step 5: Disconnect from the target. Step 6: Experience the target.
    •  Following a professional code of ethics with clients.

CURIO

  • The frequency of precognition increases as the event being predicted nears. It’s really rare to have a precognitive dream that predicts an event as far as a year after the dream itself, although it happens.
  • Some personality traits are more conducive to performing well at precognition experiments in the lab. These are: Openness to experience, extroversion, belief in precognition, agreeableness, neuroticism and conscientiousness.  They are enhanced by meditation and affected by hormonal changes.   
  • Alpha and theta entrainment might help with controlled precognition.
  •  Pursuing controlled precognition in an environment that is not supportive can be destabilizing, and affect patients mentally, especially if they already have underlying psychological problems, or have a history of mental illness in their family.

I LIKED

> The authors are direct and honest about the subject, and show an unwavering enthusiasm about the benefits that training in controlled precognition can bring to one's life and the future of society. 
> The different approaches that both authors bring to precognition: science and spirit, academic and lay.
> The book is written in a very direct personal way, plain English, and is easy to understand by any lay person.
> I especially loved this statement by Dean Radin in the foreword:
"Some scientists today assert (with the same misplaced confidence displayed by Lord Kelvin) that now we understand just about everything there is to know about the physical world. They are sure they know what is and is not possible. To them, precognition is flatly impossible because today’s theories don’t allow for such nonsense. Some philosophers also believe that precognition is impossible because they think the idea of knowing the future is logically incoherent. What these scientists and scholars forget is that our theories about reality are always provisional. Our college textbooks are revised into new editions every couple of years because our understanding of reality is continually advancing." (p. 6).
> The precognitive and premonitory personal stories included in the book. I don't think there are too many!
> The controlled precognition system. It is really well explained and structured. Although they suggest the use of paper, I think it can be easily done on a tablet where you have stylus to draw.
> The presence of summary  boxes throughout the book. Also, the way the authors stop to summarize what has been said and what lies ahead. It's very didactic and helpful for the reader.
> Some of the scientific stuff related to precognition is not easy to process by lay readers. Mossbridge has really made an effort to explain those things as simple as possible, and present us with the complexity of issues that relate to precognition explained in a simple way.
> Their definition of precognition (a “memory” of the future) and the explanation on what's the difference between precognition and premonition.
> The reflections on the nature of time in chapter 2 are among my favorite thing in the book. I especially liked seeing how neither physicist, philosophers nor psychologists agree on the flow of time existence, and how little we know about this subject. I wonder if this is like the "flat earth" fallacy of our times.
> The way the authors question the law of causality using real precognitive dreams.
> The information about retrocausality.
> The code of ethics and REACH protocol that they want 'positive precogs' to follow.
> The use of proper academic notes, something especially important when some heavy scientific stuff is mentioned.
> The FAQ in part 3.
>  The controlled precognition troubleshooting guide. 
> Appendix A, which contains an example of controlled precognition, step by step. 
> Appendix B, contains a list of bibliography, websites and phone applications related to precognition. All up to date, hyperlinked and ready to use. Something that I never take for granted and that makes using any book a pleasure.
> Mentions to figures in the book are hyperlinked. Thank you. 

I DIDN'T LIKE.

> Use of the expression Higher Self to mean subconscious/the unconscious. It is confusing because HS  is commonly used in New Age books and has a standard and a status that might confuse readers.
> They call the training on precognition they promote "controlled precognition", but it is just a form of remote viewing. If they had made that clearer in the book description, I might have not purchased it. Whey? Because there are some very good books by the remote viewing masters themselves, and some of them have websites where to practice, as well.
> They speak of precognition as a gift. I think it is just an ability that one can develop, like playing an instrument, or playing sports. Of course, if you are at the top of your game in any activity you might really have a gift. Otherwise, I don't think so.
> I found difficult wrapping my head about causal loops. It might be just me, but it relates to precognition but it is not the same, but it might be  related... confusing.
> Some parts of the book are highly speculative and generic. This is especially the case when they describe how life will change if you practice controlled precognition, and the last words devoted to imagine how the future might be if controlled precognition was a mainstream activity.
>  Constant promotion of their website. Granted, they don't sell anything or charge you for joining their training program. However, it is a bit tiring, and at a certain point the reader feels that the book is just an accessory to the website.
> I don't like precognition being used or recommended to be used in anything related to the stock market. The stock market is highly unethical, so why would anyone with a good code of ethics have anything to do with a system that is populated by companies and corporations that contribute to global warming, war, poverty and destroy nations and  ruin complete families who have nothing to do with it?
> Despite the fact that they state that most spontaneous precognition arrives via dreams, there is little space devoted to discuss how premonitory dreams can come to be; leaving aside the specific dreams that they mention in the book, the information that they present on dreams is really basic.
>  One of the criteria mentioned for a genuine precognition to be valid is that there should be less than two weeks separation between the precognition and the event it referred to. My personal experience says that this is not always the case. Besides, I've read tons of books on dreams, and there are cases of premonition that take years to occur.

WHERE WAS THE EDITOR?

 I think the book needs of another reading by the editor. I found the following examples of bad edition, some of which might be just the result of the conversion of the book to electronic format. Others, no.
  • Bad bullet list —  the sentence "Wait, you might now ask – what exactly is a causal loop?" should go underneath the numbered list that summarizes what the authors had said before.  (p. 42).
  • Badly done bullet list — There is a list of the traits that 'positive precogs' tend to have, it is an example on how to make a list. The list start with three items bulleted, then comments on others, which are also part of the list but not bulleted. Homogenize please! (p. 83)
  • Not formal or really good English — "updates on what she’s found". (p. 87).
  • Badly written — "First, it’s because remote viewing an event not known until the future is not really what it sounds like – as if you see something far away in space" (p. 90).
  • Missing hyphen or space — "complex decisionmaking" (p. 93) or "anxietyproducing" (p. 162).
  • Repeated words — "can be experienced by by practicing" in (p. 123).
  • Footnotes seemed to have converted badly, and some numerical ones alternate with lettered ones.
  • Besides, some of the lettered notes are not hyperlinked (K and M especially) while others are. 

IN SHORT

Overall this is a good book, packed with information, which touches on subjects that go from the mundane to the highly scientific, from the personal to the transpersonal.

I was expecting something different from what I got, as their controlled precognition training is pretty much remote viewing revamped. However, I also think that they have a fresh new approach to it, and that their system is uncomplicated to put it into practice, although it needs of training and constant practice. 

For the rest, the book reads well, is very enjoyable, and it has a good mix of personal stories and complex scientific matters digested for the masses. However, I would have liked it more if it was written a bit less colloquially, it had been better edited, and had less references to their website. These ladies depart from ethical principles for the use and training on precognition, something that must be praised.

A very enjoyable reading and I learned a lot about things I knew nothing about.

The Premonition Code is such a great title!



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