Dead and indefensible offshoots of both hard and soft sciences often get labeled “pseudoscience.” It’s one of those words that’s supposed to tell us that these complicated (and often fraught) pursuits were driven by credentialed academics at institutions of higher learned and contained elements – sometimes stretched or misinterpreted – of the scientific method, but ultimately fell short of meeting the unbiased rigor demanded by peer review needed to solidify into a self-sustaining part of discovery and investigation. Instead, it’s a label that quickly and (often) completely relegates some endeavor to the laugh-bin of contemporary society (dowsing, graphology) or the dustbin of history (vitalism, perpetual motion machines, hollow Earth theory).

What’s often not clear to us today is how hard it can be in many instances to tell just how far from the path of the scientific method one has strayed. If I ever write another book, parapsychology offers a wealth of fascinating opportunities and stories. Parapsychology enjoyed an uneven popularity during the last 150 years, and foremost among its adherents was a well-respected member of the American Psychologist Association who served as the organization’s president. Gardner Murphy (1895-1979) was a pioneer in humanistic psychology and played a formidable role in shaping research methods and disciplinary understanding on a wide range of topics central to the history of psychology. He was also a devoted investigator of remote viewing, telepathy, and precognition.

“In Search of Method: Gardner Murphy and the Transformation of Experimental Psychology in America” would be a critical biography of this fascinating man, and how he squared the world of parapsychology against an otherwise prolific and grounded career.