Extra Sensoryby Brian CleggSt. Martin's Press, 2013 Expert science popularizer Brian Clegg, whose 2010 book Armageddon Science (as nifty and hair-raising a compendium of doomsday scenarios as even the cheeriest person could ever want) made such excellent reading, has a new book in shops at the moment: an extremely engaging waste of time called Extra Sensory: The Science and Pseudoscience of Telepathy and Other Powers of the Mind. In it, he warns against intractable prejudice ("we should certainly not follow the lead of those skeptics who dismiss such powers out of hand") and calls for impartial scientific investigation ("What I want to do is go into this exploration open-mindedly, to examine the evidence, consider possible physical mechanisms, and come up with an educated view on the main fields of paranormal ability"). In the course of eleven fast-paced chapters, he looks at both the history of paranormal phenomena and the present-day fascination with such phenomena - from nuts to Nobel laureates, and everybody in between.Nearly 50 years ago, the stage magician "The Amazing Randi" issued a $1000 challenge to anyone who could demonstrate psychic powers under the kind of controlled laboratory conditions used to test actual scientific phenomena. Over the years, the cash prize has grown to a cool $1, 000, 000. It remains unclaimed.