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The Ghost Studies: New Perspectives on the Origins of Paranormal Experiences
The Ghost Studies: New Perspectives on the Origins of Paranormal Experiences
Brandon Massullo | 2017 | Paranormal, Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences
7
6.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
Interesting and thought provoking.
The Ghost Studies was an interesting read. One that I definitely scribbled in, ear-marked pages, and all that stuff you do when you want to cross-reference and remember things. The author makes a lot of salient points, and a lot of times I found myself sitting back and just reconsidering things I had previously brushed off.

It was also, truth be told, a difficult book for me to read. Not because it was bad, but because it oftentimes required more concentration than I was capable of. This is not a book you want to skim. You want to sit down with it when you have the time to truly pay attention to it, and the ability to concentrate on what the author is saying.

I think my favorite topic was that of quantum entanglement. I hadn't heard of it before I started this book, and, funnily enough, right before I got to the section in The Ghost Studies, I read a book involving it for the first time. (I read multiple books at once, if that sentence confused anyone.) The section on EMF was very interesting as well.

Now, I won't say that this has influenced my belief (or lack thereof) in ghosts one way or another, but I definitely enjoyed the way it made me think. I do wish the author had spent a little bit more time on the Not Everything is Paranormal section, though. I felt like that one skimmed a bit.

Overall, a good read but not a quick one. Whether you're a skeptic or a believer, I think you'll find something interesting about paranormal experiences in The Ghost Studies.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher for review consideration.
  
THE GHOST, THE EGGHEADS, AND BABE RUTH’S PIANO
By Larry Sweitzer
Genre: YA Fiction
Rating: 4.5/5

Freddie is a nerd, and he likes it that way. He keeps his grades up, he holds honors positions at his school, and he studies hard. But he’s only second best. Tony is his rival, and Tony is always putting him down. Tony and Freddie both go to Camp Mason over the summer, where Billy Mason died many years ago. Supposedly, there’s a ghost haunting the camp, but nobody has ever seen him.
Freddie is desperately trying to do three things: one, keep Tony from winning the scholarship at the end of the camp, two, find out about the ghost, and three, get a little closer to his crush, Ginny. But there are plenty of things stopping Freddie. How is he going to solve the mystery, win the scholarship competition, and put together sentences that make sense when he talks to Ginny?

The Ghosts, the Eggheads, and Babe Ruth’s Piano was hilarious. I enjoyed this story immensely! The story had the perfect amount of adventure, romance, tension, comic relief, and baseball. Now I’m not really Red Sox fan like Freddie is, but I now have a healthy respect for baseball. The cool part is, the baseball parts weren’t boring to me because of the way they were presented.

My favorite character was Zoe, the perky lively girl who ended up as Logan’s (Freddie’s friend) girlfriend by the end of the book (My second favorite had to be Harry Potter… Monty’s pet rat.), but I loved all the characters in this story. They had a lot of personality and were relatable and likeable (or in Tony’s case, hate-able.)

There were a lot of twists and turns that I didn’t expect! The pacing was perfect—it wasn’t too fast or too slow, and clues and keys were presented in a logical fashion. The end was totally unexpected and exciting, and got my blood racing. Freddie finally solves this mystery of how Billy died… and even though he didn’t win the scholarship competition, somehow ends up with money for college anyway.

Content: This book was wonderfully clean of everything.

Recommendation: Ages 10+, but suitable for teens as well.

**Thank you to Larry and Dorothy from Pump Up Your Book for supplying my review copy!**