Uncanny (What Coincidence, Déjà vu, Telepathy and Other Strange Phenomena Reveal about How Our Minds Work)

An acclaimed neuroscientist explores uncanny phenomena such as coincidence, déjà vu, telepathy, and more to reveal the hidden workings of the human mind.

We’ve all encountered coincidences. Whether you are skeptical or superstitious, you are bound to have at least one good story about an uncanny experience you just couldn’t explain. Perhaps you decided to write to a long-lost friend moments before they gave you a call; or perhaps you managed to predict a tragic event in a dream. You might encounter a word for the first time and then hear it later the same day. To experience a bizarre coincidence is to be enveloped immediately by feelings of the uncanny, of a sense of unsettling strangeness.

In Uncanny, neuroscientist Paul Broks examines what these strange occurrences tell us about the universe and ourselves. Is the human experience of coincidence entirely a function of chance, or is there something deeper at work? Why do some people seem to be much more prone to coincides than others?

Improbable things happen, sometimes absurdly improbable things, and bizarre coincidences can turn even the most rational minds to thoughts of the paranormal. Some coincidences are so unsettling they push even skeptics to doubt. Such occurrences might lead us into the shallows of the uncanny, but more extraordinary coincidences take us instantly to its depths, to a world full of strange connections and forces.

Though he’s an Oxford-educated scientist, Broks approaches this magical material with a deliberately open mind. Among the other phenomena Broks tackles: the placebo effect, NDEs, out-of-body experiences, jamais vu, telekinesis, the “uncanny valley,” and more—all from his perspective as a rational but curious neuroscientist who has also studied psychology extensively.

Feelings of uncanniness have long been largely neglected by researchers. Until now, thanks to Uncanny.