Product Description

Dogs know when their owners are returning. Cats answer the telephone when a person they are attached to is calling. Horses can find their way home over unfamiliar terrain. Animals anticipate earthquakes. Rupert Sheldrake, one of the world's most innovative scientists, explores ways in which our own family pets can teach us to question the boundaries of conventional scientific thought. Much that seems paranormal at present looks normal when we expand our ideas of normality. This is a book of recognition - a recognition that animals have abilities we have lost. Once part of ourselves has forgotten this; another part has known it all along.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #90225 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
It's rare for a book's title to say so clearly what the book is about. In the case of Rupert Sheldrake's latest work, the controversial content is right on the front cover. Pet owners will see it and smile in recognition; sceptical scientists will shake their heads and mutter about "maverick scholars." We all know of cases of dogs (and cats) who know when their owners are coming home, who go to wait at the door or window 10 minutes or more before their human arrives. Conditioned by the tight rigour of contemporary scientific thinking, we either look for rational explanations or we file the phenomenon away in our minds as "unexplained" and are careful not to talk about it to our scientist friends. Sheldrake, famous for his theory of morphic resonance, has shown in the past that he is not afraid to be labelled a maverick. He accepts that the case histories he details so thoroughly in this book are anecdotal, but that makes them no less real; and as a scientist himself he sets up experimental conditions for studying this previously ignored phenomenon, which show beyond any doubt that the phenomenon exists. He castigates traditional scientists for their refusal to countenance anything that doesn't fit in with their existing paradigms (or prejudices) and challenges them to come up with some more "acceptable" explanation--but none is forthcoming.

The "telepathy" between pets and humans, or between flocks of birds or schools of fish that move as a single organism, can be explained by Sheldrake's theory of morphic fields. Sheldrake is less happy about anecdotes that suggest animal clairvoyance--warning of something in the near future--but refuses to disallow the possibility.

This fascinating book is a first attempt at a scientific investigation into a puzzling but quite common occurance. One hopes that other scientists will follow Sheldrake's brave lead. -- David V. Barrett

Irish Times
'Serious… readable… Sheldrake does not have to pull the heart-strings; his book stands on its rational approach…'

David V. Barrett, Amazon.co.uk
'...a first attempt at a scientific investigation into a puzzling but quite common occurrence.'

Customer Reviews

Extremely interesting
Sheldrake has done some simple, very interesting and potentially revolutionary scientific research into widely-reported phenomena such as (as the title indicates) pets' apparent ability to predict reliably the arrival of their owner some minutes in advance.

He designs experiments to rule out all obvious causes such as the pet hearing the owner's car, and even distiguishes the pet *predicting* the owner's arrival from the pet detecting the owner's *intention* to return home. (It turns out that it is the latter which counts, indicating telepathy rather than a more improbable foresight.)

Sheldrake includes accounts of other experiments relating to telepathy, such as the ability to delect when you're being stared at, and some not, such as a very spooky experiment in which a day-old chick appears to be able to influence a random number generator.

Some parts of the book (e.g. about the healing abilities of pets) are somewhat vague and wishy-washy, as is his morphic fields theory (which is little more than a restatement of the problem it seeks to solve), but don't let that put you off buying it.

No doubt the subject matter will be ignored by the scientific establishment for the time being as too off-the-wall, but the results are extremely significant, both statistically and in their implications for biology and physics.

On the Provability of Unexplained Animal Powers
This is Dr. Sheldrake's most accessible book to date, which is not to say it is a vulgarisation. Far from it. In his characteristically sober yet charming prose, he has miraculously dodged the danger of compiling a list, but has rather presented the world with an impressionistic florilegium of mind-expanding instances of powers of animals. Some ideas are particularly compelling, such as "an animal-based earthquake warning system". Once more, he deals a blow to institutional science by beating it on its own turf, and that is, by piling up impressive evidence, a database, etc., so as to substantiate his claims. In all likelihood, many more "cases" will be added to his database after the general public has read this book. Perhaps tens of thousands. If institutional science will continue to ignore these phenomena, rather than join the author in the research, it will have de facto discredited itself in the eyes of the world. The Appendices are also valuable, C in particular, in which the author provides the Cliff's Notes to his own books. The concepts he summarises are so fascinating that they should prompt the unfamiliar reader to read all his books, where the ideas are given the space they deserve.

Making science a quality social experience
Sheldrake makes scientific inquiry not just adventurous and rigorous, but also playful and friendly. His experiments are designed to involve many people in testing theory after theory to account for animal behavior. How do pets know when the vet is coming? How do animals anticipate earthquakes? How do they know to give up waiting by the door, when their owners change plans and postpone coming home?

Sheldrake's experiments, surveys and documentation always prove entertaining. With Sheldrake, science becomes a community experience, open to all who are curious and willing to put their minds together.