Koestler looks at the evidence for ESP, psychokinesis, telepathy, etc and suggests possible partial explanations. This involves a brain-hurting chapter on atomic physics and quantum theory, Jung apparently causing "detonations" in Freud's bookcase, the endearingly weird and disgusting animal that is slime mould and just about everything else. Koestler doesn't pretend to have all the answers, but it's a fascinating journey and it certainly makes you think.

We picked this up in New York City, but I didn't read it until completing C.G. Jung's Collected Works and writing a thesis about Kant's influence on him. The reference in the title is to Jung's Synchronicity ("meaningful coincidence") theory which hinges on a metaphysical bridging of the physical and the psychic which the psychiatrist called "the psychoid." Koestler discusses this and ranges at some length into parapsychological research and modern physics in order to suggest its plausibility.

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I can't help it, I love coincidences. So did Koestler. Just to prove how incredibly clever he is despite this, I offer from Theodore Dalrymple:

Someone who had known Arthur Koestler told me a little story about him. Koestler was playing Scrabble with his wife, and he put the word vince down on the board.

“Arthur,” said his wife, “what does ‘vince’ mean?”

Koestler, who never lost his strong Hungarian accent but whose mastery of English was such that he was undoubtedly one of the twentieth century’s

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Facts and data presented about the phenomenons and the current academical research on them are useful. The analysis and reasons behind some rationalizations seem poor.

This book changed my view of the universe and humanity.
It is out of print and can likely only be found at University libraries.

Along with Secrets of the Great Pyramid, this was one of the most mind-blowing books of the early seventies. Koestler combines explorations into ESP and psychokinesis with quantum mechanics and Jung's theory of synchronicity in an effort to explain life, the universe and everything. I found this book great fun, and am curious to discover how well it has weathered the past few decades.

surprised how this book never got reprinted.

it is still relevant today, after 40 years.

I read this on mushrooms- locked in my room.