Psycho-Phone Messages cover

Psycho-Phone Messages

Rating 2.1
Word count
75K words
Chapters
8

Tags

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Psycho-Phone Messages by Francis GriersonAuthor: Grierson, Francis, 1848-1927,Language: English, Class: BF: Philosophy, Psychology, Religion: Psychology, Philosophy, Psychoanalysis, Release Date: Mar 25, 2011

Editor's review

This book is an English essayistic work by Francis Grierson built around the concept of the "psycho-phone," classified under philosophy, psychology, and psychoanalysis. It is brief but intellectually dense. Writing against the backdrop of the intersection between early psychology and spiritualism, the author explores the blurred territory between consciousness, suggestion, and extrasensory perception, in a rhetorical style reminiscent of late Victorian prose. Its value lies not in empirical conclusions but in showing how an era understood the boundary between mind and technology; for readers studying the spiritualist movement, the history of early psychology, and pseudoscientific discourse, it offers both historical material and intellectual provocation. Read it with critical distance, as a document in intellectual history rather than a scientific guide. It suits slow, sectional reading in a quiet setting, with notes to trace the author's core assumptions and argumentative leaps.

Who it's for

A good fit for

  • Readers interested in the history of early psychology and the spiritualist movement
  • Academic readers studying pseudoscientific discourse and the boundaries of science
  • Advanced readers who enjoy speculative essays and can read English originals
  • Cultural researchers needing late-19th-century intellectual history material

Not a good fit for

  • Readers expecting a systematic psychology textbook or empirical research
  • General readers seeking practical self-help psychological methods
  • Readers who struggle with English and need a fluent modern Chinese translation

Reading tips

  1. Read the table of contents and preface first, marking the author's core propositions on consciousness and suggestion before proceeding chapter by chapter.
  2. After each chapter, write a note of skepticism, distinguishing the author's assumptions from verifiable evidence.
  3. Read alongside background material on early psychology or the spiritualist movement to avoid understanding it in isolation.
  4. Limit each reading session; the essayistic arguments are dense, so one or two chapters at a time suits slow reading.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8

FAQ

Is this book about telephone technology?
No. The "psycho-phone" in the title is a metaphorical concept borrowed by the author to discuss telepathy, suggestion, and extrasensory perception; it has nothing to do with the history of communications technology. It should be understood within the intellectual context of the late 19th-century intersection of spiritualism and early psychology.
Do I need a psychology background to read it?
No professional degree is required, but you need some English reading ability and patience for abstract argument. The book engages with psychological and spiritualist concepts popular at the time; it is advisable to learn the basic background first and read critically, without taking the author's views as scientific conclusions.
What is the status of this edition?
This edition is released by Project Gutenberg as a free eBook in English, classified under philosophy, psychology, and psychoanalysis. It preserves the historical text as it was, without modern editorial notes, so readers must supply background knowledge themselves.

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About the author

Grierson, Francis, 1848-1927 Author · American · 1848–1927

Francis Grierson (1848–1927) was an American writer born in Ohio who lived for many years in Europe and was known for his memoirs and essays. Drawing on personal experience and the memory of his times, his writing is elegant and reflective, often weaving together narrative with observations on historical figures and the life of the spirit. Two of his works are held in this collection: Abraham Lincoln: The Practical Mystic, which examines Lincoln's character and the practical wisdom of his conduct, and Psycho-Phone Messages, which deals with telepathy and kindred paranormal subjects and reveals the author's interest in mysticism and psychic phenomena. Public information about the details of his life is limited, and existing accounts focus mainly on the themes and style of the works mentioned above.