The Truth about Medium

Review from School Library Journal

Adult/High School–

For 10 years, Schwartz has been running experiments regarding people who claim to talk to and/or see the dead. One of the most famous of these, Allison DuBois, was one of his research subjects. As a result of public interest generated by the show, the author, a psychology professor, saw the need to share the results of his research, hence his book. Truth and DuBois’ own book, Don’t Kiss Them Good-bye (S & S, 2005), reinforce one another. Kiss will change many skeptics to believers. Schwartz’s book, on the other hand, may cause believers to feel skeptical unless they read the whole thing. Schwartz seems unwilling to completely believe the results of his own double- and triple-blind experiments. While he presents the evidence (some of which involves the work of DuBois), he sometimes hedges his bets, using such words as “apparently” to qualify the actuality of his researcher/mediums’ connections with the dead. Schwartz writes in a popular style, readily accessible to teens, and he raises some fascinating questions not addressed by the earlier book.–Judy McAloon, Potomac Library, Prince William County, VA