Ian Wilson (1) (1941–)

Interesting factual study which looks at what evidence there might be for the existence of ghosts. Wilson starts off by considering what ghosts aren't - he debunks ghost photographs for example, and rules out the type of apparition seen at the point that someone dies by a friend/family member - and he goes on to investigate various cases, including those feted by celebrities in the field, and ruling out those which have poor quality evidence or documentation. He is rather hard on Peter Underwood (now deceased, but very active when this book was published in 1992) who was a leading light of the field at the time.

Wilson concludes that there is evidence and that the way to treat ghosts is kindly and to help them find rest rather than forcibly exorcise them, on the basis that the cases that seem genuine do relate to people who had 'unfinished business' in the sense of not feeling their burial had been carried out with the appropriate respect and consideration.… (plus d'informations)

I bought this book, on the recommendation of a friend, sometime between the 1999 publication of the edition I own and 2005, when I was living in the Seattle area and regularly seeing four "Shakespeare in the Park" performances every summer. Author Ian Wilson presents voluminous research in this biography to make a convincing argument that William Shakespeare did in fact write the plays and poetry attributed to him. Included are numerous photographs and contemporary drawings and other illustrations, as well as 30 pages of endnotes and references, three appendices (including family trees and a helpful chronology), a nine-page bibliography, and ten-page index.

Wilson writes a lot about the inspirations and sources for each play (and some of the sonnets). An example (from pages 351-355) is one of my favorite plays, The Tempest, inspired by contemporary accounts of a 1609 Bermuda shipwreck of the Sea Venture, which was on a resupply mission to the Jamestown, Virginia colony. The weather phenomenon St. Elmo's fire described in one of those accounts may have been the spark for the character of Ariel in the play. Most interesting to me was Wilson's supposition (with copious evidence) that Shakespeare was a closet Catholic, a dangerous thing to be in Elizabethan and Jacobean England.… (plus d'informations)

Ian Wilson is the World's foremost expert on the history of the Shroud. Barrie Schwortz was the official photographer for the Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP), a team of scientists employed by various organizations such as the US Air Force Academy, NASA, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Medical community including Forensic Pathologists and Blood Porphyrins.

STURP conducted a battery of tests on the Turin Shroud in 1978 thus leading to the controversial Carbon 14 Dating tests conducted by several research universities in 1988.

The book offers a pictorial array of photographs of the Turin Shroud as well as photgraphs of the scientific testing and microscopic detail.… (plus d'informations)

I tend to read non-fiction books a chapter a day, in conjunction with something lighter. So it says something tat I laid aside the novel and devoured this in three days. Unputdownable!
Enlivened with many maps, photos of ancient artefacts, I think my lasting impression was that the author considers the historicity of the Bible- when examined against archeology, other sources etc - in an extremely even-handed manner. Never fearing to point out apparent inconsistencies or events lacking independent evidence, the more sceptical reader would never feel he was being steam rollered into accepting the Scriptures. Indeed, I began by wondering if an author who seemed to dismiss Adam & Eve etc as a likely myth, could have much to say to me.
However I found the book FASCINATING - taking us from Eden, through the whole OT and up to Jesus. The author 's conclusion, that "the Bible..embodies real history, and for all prepared to listen to it, enshrines what are still the truest, the most important and the most influential life-guidance messages ever written."… (plus d'informations)