The Holographic Universe [Paperback]

This book is the crowning achievement of the late Michael Talbot, mystic and science fiction writer whose short life ended in 1992 when he succumbed to leukaemia at the tragically young age of 38. "The Holographic Universe" is the only work by Talbot which most people have ever read or heard of, though he wrote other books on the "new physics" and on reincarnation. This book has been influential in popularising the holographic model of reality, postulated by the respected London University physicist David Bohm who originally hypothesised it to explain the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox and other quantum anomalies, and separately by Stanford neurophysiologist Karl Pribram to explain the many complex workings of the human mind.

In "The Holographic Universe" Talbot takes the original models of Bohm and Pribram, backs up his thesis with the work of psychologists like Fred Alan Wolf, Stanislav Grov and others and extends the holographic model to postulate an all-embracing idea to explain: the nature of human experience and spiritual awareness, the nature of memory, the nature of time, near death experiences, paranormal phenomena of all kinds, multiple personality disorder and religious experience no less - and this list is by no means comprehensive. It's thought-provoking stuff with some good science but manages to be at the same time racy, absorbing and accessible to the non-science reader. This is quite a trick to pull off, but Talbot succeeds splendidly.

Examples of strange and mysterious phenomena outside the classical Newtonian-Cartesian model abound, from people who see the human energy field to telepathy, stigmata, psychokinesis, clairvoyance, prophecy and spontaneous healing. Talbot's thesis tries to fit all these paranormal phenomena into the holographic model and largely succeeds.

More scientifically literate readers, especially those versed in quantum theory, have used terms like "populist" and "shallow" to describe this book, but this criticism is only partly justified. The less educated reader may take Talbot's door-opening, paradigm-shifting thesis and investigate deeper and further into the physics underpinning the theory. It's not a scientific paper: it's a layman's book about a theory, written to sell and generate widespread popular discourse about its subject.

Talbot does however exhibit the zeal of the young and over-eggs it a bit, coming across more as an evangelist for the hypothesis than an impartial investigator using the scientific method to arrive at a sustainable model of reality. The fact is, some of the underlying physics is not very thoroughly understood by the author and alternative interpretations of the anomalies found in quantum mechanics have gained stronger support from many in the scientific community in the two decades since the book was written. In the assessment of this reviewer however these developments do not invalidate this important book, and though imperfect and pushing a scientific model which is incomplete and may well soon be obsolete, reading it is still time well spent. Talbot was a good writer, is never dull, and knows how to make you think.

It is interesting to speculate if, had Michael Talbot lived, he might have revised and deepened his thesis in the light of recent discoveries in quantum physics and developments in parapsychology into a more mature and serious work. We'll never know.

Quote from book

"We are addicted to our beliefs and we do act like addicts when someone tries to wrest from us the powerful opium of our dogmas. And since western science has devoted several centuries to not believing in the paranormal, it is not going to surrender its addiction lightly"

Michael Talbot writes with such flair and passion, this book has one of the best introductions you are ever likely to read and you actually get excited at the prospect of turning the pages before the adventure as it were has even begun. The 'adventure' unfolds in two parts, 1 part 55 pages long devoted to the holographic model 1st put together by David Bohm and , It does include science and to those of us uninitiated with scientific realms, do not fret the basic gist of what the Holographic Universe is about can be grasped because Michael has done his best to simplify the terminology and I personally do not think he could have done any better explaining the concepts.

Part 2 is a much better read and is devoted to a collection of paranormal events, which is where the Author's heart really lies. The old phrase of, 'Minds are like parachutes they only operate when open' springs to mind but a cord has to be pulled on the parachute first, and this is the vein in which this book was written, to act as the cord to open our minds, if you let it, you can be witness to other possibilities, other suggestions and other realms.

Some things are still in the 'strange but true' category of events, what Michael Talbot using the Holograph Universe 'theory' does is try to put these events into a form that can be rationalized and so no longer appear strange.

There is very little humour in this book but this does not matter because of the fascinating content. At times this content could challenge your belief system which in turn makes you think what is written is a farce and untrue, if you let it, however if you accept that these things quite possibly have happened then you will have a wonderful adventure and I wish you all the best for your journey back home 302 pages later.

I would cautiously recommend this book to people interested in the possible ramifications of some of the shocking interpretations of Quantum Theory. There are numerous fascinating ideas and concepts put forward in this book and it certainly provides food for thought. The downside is that the author is a non-scientist and this is abundantly apparent in both his incomplete presentation of the physics underpinning the Holographic Model (including just the bits that do agree with his argument) and also in occasional examples of appallingly bad science presented as either objective fact or plausible hypotheses based on fact. Simple investigation of the sources referenced in this book reveal some really quite dubious supporting evidence for the author's claims and this can break the spell that is easily cast by his highly engaging style of writing.

What is missing from this book is true accuracy with respect to the underlying physics and also perspective of what it does present compared to the alternative interpretations of quantum mechanics and why they have actually accrued more supporters amongst experts. The author dismisses this situation as being symptomatic of the arrogance and ignorance of institionalised science but this is far from the truth - don't forget these are the same people who in the last century have revolutionised the fundamental concepts of space, time, matter and energy. Closed-minded they are emphatically not. It is just a cheap shot from someone who feels they are not being listened to.

Overall I think the book is definitely interesting and worthy, but that the reader should follow-up on some of the author's quoted references and that it should be read in conjunction with other, more scientifically accurate, texts such as Roger Penrose's "The Emperor's New Mind", and "Quantum Questions: Mystical Writings of the World's Great Physicists" by Ken Wilber. Also Googling "James Randi" might yield valuable counter-points to some of the more extreme supernatural claims made in this book (claims which, ironically, damage the scientific integrity of the Holographic Model and make it even less likely to be investigated further).