Episode · Stuff You Should Know · 2025-10-18
Books mentioned on Selects: How ESP Works (?)
Even though almost half of Americans believe in it, ESP usually is treated as a load of bull by skeptics. But some respected researchers have dared to apply the scientific method to investigate ESP and a few have found some surprising results.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Dead Zone
The Dead Zone by Stephen King is a classic thriller novel about a man who awakens from a coma with psychic abilities that allow him to foresee catastrophic events and dark political futures.
Discussed“And that's uh what I like to call the dead zone, right? Christopher Walkin. He would place his hands on you and he would see something. Man, I think we talked about it recently about how that movie holds up still.”
Where to get it
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Futility
Discussed“Um this article gives a really good one about um an 1898 book called Futility. Yeah. That was written by a guy named Morgan Robertson.”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (1) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing The men who stare at goats
“where um the news broke that the CIA had been studying ESP and trying to do remote viewing. What Ronson was talking about in the men who stare at goats.”