"Mr. Koestler's main concern is with demonstrating that, contrary to what one might expect- namely, that...paranormal events are most disturbing because they seem to break what most of us think are the laws of the real world- it is precisely modern physics that offers a "rapprochement" between the real world and parapsychology, even if the rapprochement is "negative in the sense that the unthinkable phenomena of ESP appear somewhat less preposterous in the light of the unthinkable propositions of physics." As Mr. Koestler so lucidly and wittily demonstrates, modern physics depicts a world of noncausational paradoxes- a wonderland of Heisenbergian Principles of Uncertainty, of mysterious elementary particles, of psi-fields, anti-electrons, multi-dimensionality, and time running forward and backward. And unlike Newton's clockwork universe, this new world is not at all uncongenial to the dice-shooter convinced that he has a "hot" hand or the sensitive who insists that his dreams are premonitory" -- by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times, August 11, 1972.

Although much has been said and written about coincidences, there is a marked absence when it comes to the development of a comprehensive model that incorporates the many different ways in which they can be understood and explained. One reason for this omission is undoubtedly the sharp divide that exists between those who find coincidences meaningful and those who do not, with the result that the conclusions of the many books and articles on the subject have tended to fall into distinct camps. The Many Faces of Coincidence attempts to remedy this impasse by proposing an inclusive categorisation for coincidences of all shapes and sizes. At the same time, some of the implications arising from the various explanations are explored, including the possibility of an underlying unity of mind and matter constituting the ground of being.

Ever wonder what the odds are of being struck by lightning? Or winning the lottery? Or meeting someone from Timbuktu with the same middle name as you? BEYOND COINCIDENCE recounts and analyzes over 200 amazing stories of synchronicity, the likes of: Laura Buxton, age ten, releases a balloon from her back yard. It lands 140 miles away in the backyard of another Laura Buxton, also age ten. Two sisters in Alabama decide, independently, to visit the other. En route, their identical jeeps collide and both sisters are killed. A British cavalry officer was fighting in the last year of World War One when he was knocked off his horse by a flash of lightning. He was paralyzed from the waist down. The man moved to Vancouver, Canada where, six years later, while fishing in a river, lightning struck him again, paralyzing his right side. Two years later, he was sufficiently recovered to take walks in a local park when, in 1930, lightning sought him out again, this time permanently paralyzing him. He died soon after. Four years later, lightning destroyed his tomb.

"An eye-opening and engrossing look at rare moments, why they occur, and how they shape our world"--