Reviews for The Stepchildren of Science: Psychical Research and Parapsychology in Germany, c. 1870-1939

The average rating for The Stepchildren of Science: Psychical Research and Parapsychology in Germany, c. 1870-1939 based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-10-31 00:00:00 Chester Slonaker I thought I'd like this book more as it is a more contemporary look at the German left-wing insurgencies (see my review on Hitler's Children). Alas, its main line of thought - connecting violence to some artistic aesthetic - somewhat evades me, and I am left unconvinced in its substantiation. The evidence the papers bring to back their claims is too feeble. Plus, the pieces I read were not particularly engaging or well written either, with the exception of Sabine von Dirke's 'The RAF as trauma and pop icon in literature since 1980s'. Anyway, there are some redeeming features to this book, like the reference to the art of Gerhard Richter in Gerd Koenen's article, for example, who produced some very controversial political pieces in the 1980s, and about whom I knew nothing till now. So I am going to give B-M Returns a few more chances before I put it in the 'abandoned work' section.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-12-10 00:00:00 A. P. Lilley A wise, provocative book. Some quotes: "Health is organic innocence. It must be lost, like all innocence, so that knowledge may be possible." "The laws of physics and chemistry do not vary according to health or disease. But to fail to admit from a biological point of view, life differentiates between its states means condemning oneself to be even unable to distinguish food from excrement. Certainly a living being's excrement can be food for another living being but not for him. What distinguishes food from excrement is not a physicochemical reality but a biological value. Likewise, what distinguishes the physiological from the pathological is not a physicochemical objective reality but a biological value." "No one innocently knows that he is innocent since being aware of adequation to the rule means being aware of the reasons for the rule which amounts to the need for the rule. It is appropriate to contrast to the overly exploited Socratic maxim no knowing man is evil, the opposite maxim that no one is good who is aware of being so. Similarly no one is healthy who is aware of being so... But it is in the rage of guilt as in the clamor of suffering that innocence and health arise as the terms of a regression as impossible as it is sought after." Comment would be superfluous.