Super Minds: People With Amazing Mind Power - Softcover

Grade 4-7-Straightforward accounts reveal strange mental abilities exhibited by famous and little-known people in the 19th and 20th centuries. Short chapters cover topics such as Eileen Garrett's telepathic powers, Padre Pio's healing and bilocation phenomena, Helen Keller's extraordinarily perceptive talents, Solomon Shereshevskii's complete memory recall, and George Washington Carver's reliance on prayer and love for direction in his discoveries. Near-death experiences and the characteristics of several feral children are also described. At the end of some chapters, readers are encouraged to try activities, such as pretending to be an animal, covering their eyes for a day to experience blindness like Helen Keller's, trying memory-enhancing exercises, or practicing yoga-style breathing. A brief list of acknowledgments identifies some sources for the information presented, but most of the text is not documented. The sketches scattered throughout are merely decorative. Altogether, this is an odd mixture of strange, not clearly substantiated descriptions of events and New-Age style spiritual activities. It can be used for entertainment, but not for research.
Ann G. Brouse, Big Flats Branch Library, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.