Book Review: The Truth About Medium

PSYCHIC SMACKDOWN
PART 2 of 3
Part 1 | Part 3

Today I take a look at a book written by the academic who tested the real life Allison DuBois‘ psychic abilities.

Let’s get one thing out of the way up front: This book annoyed me. I would hate to mislead you into thinking this is an impartial book review. Call it more of a critique.

The Truth About Medium, written by Gary E. Schwartz, Ph.D. with William L. Simon, is about “extraordinary experiments with the real Allison DuBois of NBC’s Medium and other remarkable psychics.”

Gary Schwartz has a Ph.D. in personality psychology from Harvard and was a professor of psychology and psychiatry at Yale before joining the University of Arizona, where he teaches and directs the Human Energy Systems Laboratory. He is the author of The Afterlife Experiments and The Living Energy Universe. He lives in Tucson.

It says all of that right on The Truth About Medium’s book jacket. Very impressive. I am here for a professional discussion about the truth behind the fictional TV show Medium. I feel good about checking this book out from my local lending library.

But then Schwartz says this in the Introduction:

I have written this book in a straightforward and sometimes playful manner that even a teenage can understand…I sometimes get silly, and every now and again, you will witness my silliness creeping into this book.

Okay, I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to experience a 60 year old guy’s idea of silliness when I’ve come for serious information on a controversial topic. I mentally thank him for the warning and feel a little less enthusiastic about my choice in reading material.

What follows are chapter summaries which are really chapter spoilers because I became disillusioned as early as Chapter 1. At several points, I just wanted to slam the book shut and throw it across the room. I value books, however, and I didn’t think my local library would approve of book launching. So, if you plan to read the book STOP READING THIS POST NOW. You have been warned.

Tags: allison dubois, book, book review, medium, medium nbc, gary schwartz, truth about medium

CHAPTER SPOILERS

Introduction

Along with the “I’m a silly 60 year old” comment I mentioned earlier, Schwartz tells us he wrote the book to expose skeptic frauds yet makes no mention of medium frauds. Shouldn’t that be a big part of it? I will be disappointed if he doesn’t offer evidence of fake mediums as compared to real mediums so we, the readers, can understand how he distinguishes one from the other. I start to get a bad feeling.

Chapter 1 – Dearly Departed
Allison DuBois provides evidence that a just-departed friend is still here

Trivia: It turns out Allison had a real life medium-mentor and her name is Cathrine Yunt. That’s where the psychic-medium Catherine on Medium gets her name.

In chapter one, Schwartz describes his first meeting with Allison and is obviously quite taken with her. He effuses compliments about both her appearance and her personality and compares her brash-at-a-young-age self to himself at that age.

So much for professional skepticism and scientific neutrality.

Schwartz was completely unprepared for his first session with Allison. Apparently she was added to his calendar unbeknownst to him a month earlier. His good friend and mentor Suzy Smith died unexpectedly a few days earlier so he asks Allison and Catherine to do impromptu readings in the hopes of contacting Suzy. He doesn’t tell them who he wants to contact, just that someone close to him recently died.

He claims he remained very still throughout the reading and kept a good poker face, but really…the only way to know your facial expressions aren’t giving anything away is to be completely shielded from the reader’s sight. Why didn’t he do that? And why on earth did he allow the mediums to hear each other’s readings?

We find out later in the book that this is his first reading as a participant. Previously he had observed others but had not sat for a reading himself. But let’s put that aside for a moment since I didn’t know this at chapter one. What I did know was a grieving man participated in an impromptu dual-medium reading with people who have worked together as mediums for quite some time and who had a month to prepare for their meeting with him. He gets what he believes to be an accurate reading from them before
he ever gets to a scientifically controlled experiment.

Schwartz’ impartiality is completely tainted. Book-throwing impulse #1.

The readings were unremarkable except for the last message from Allison. The message wasn’t remarkable, but Schwartz’ interpretation was:

Allison: “The deceased is telling me ‘I don’t walk alone.’”

Schwartz: Suzy must now be walking again after 20 years confined to a wheelchair and she always said she would dance with William James and walking is dancing to music so it must be Suzy.

Book-throwing impulse #2. Think about how many ways such a generic statement can be interpreted. It could signify “Yes, Virginia, there is a God” or “I am here with my beloved friend/relative/spouse/pet” and onward infinitum. I love that he decides “walking” really means “dancing” and doesn’t see any problem with that. No self-fulfilling biases here, no sirree.

Oh, and that great poker face he claims to have? He said it “took great effort to suppress my tears” when Allison delivered the “I don’t walk alone” line. I am no expert on body language but I am pretty sure “suppressing tears face” and “poker face” cannot exist on the same face at the same time.

Schwartz also claims Suzy was a medium in her own right and couldn’t wait to die “to prove I’m still here” so, if she were going to deliver a quote, wouldn’t she be more specific like, “I am walking again” or “I don’t need the wheelchair anymore” or “That William James is a nifty dancer”?

Intermission
I am so disgusted at this point I want to put the book down forever, but I don’t. Instead I think of you, loyal reader. If I do not persevere, you might take time out of your busy life to read what you think will be an enjoyable, informative book, only to discover you have wasted hours on a bunch of hooey. I make this sacrifice for Medium fans everywhere and take one for the team. The remaining chapter summaries will be brief because, frankly, this post is too long already. Onward.

Chapter 2 – More From Suzy Smith
How Allison’s informal reading was anticipated by medium Laurie Campbell

Laurie Campbell provided a reading for Schwartz two days earlier that was very similar to Allison’s, yet he shows much more skepticism with her reading than he does with Allison’s. On the flip side, he states Laurie had never met Suzy so could not possibly have known some of the information she was relating thus she must be getting it from dead Suzy herself. Suzy wrote many books during her lifetime. Schwartz had been working with Laurie for four years and everyone knew he and Suzy had a close working relationship. It didn’t occur to him Laurie could have read Suzy’s books during that time and learned all about her?

Chapter 3 – Deepak Chopra’s Father Speaks
Allison and other mediums help Deepak Chopra through a dramatic reading with his father

Why did they tell the mediums the reading involved a high-profile person if it was intended as a blind study? And what about this statement:

The truth is that experiments like this one tell us only whether the particular mediums are genuine. They do not tell us, scientifically, how or from where the mediums are getting this information.

If you admit you don’t know how or from where a medium is getting her information, how on earth can you claim the experiment proves she is genuine? Book-throwing impulse #3.

Chapter 4 – An Unplanned Experiment
Allison DuBois, it turns out, is also charmingly effective in unplanned, of-the-moment mediumship readings-even in a restaurant

Laurie Campbell’s daughter claims that she has been in contact with Suzy. Allison confirms. Another young medium is brought into the fold.

Chapter 5 – Princess Diana Saves a Life
Did the late Princess Diana really play a dramatic role in a reading?

Yet again, Schwartz allows the mediums to be in the same room as the subject where they can observe visual cues and where the sitters (Schwartz among them) admit they exchanged significant looks when the mediums mentioned Princess Diana.

He also told them the subject was from overseas. (More of the part where he provides advance information to the mediums and I don’t understand.)

Chapter 6 – Believing a Triple-Blind Experiment
Even with the protection of an extra layer of scientific precaution, readings are still successful

• Blind #1: The mediums are blind to the identity of the sitter, the person for whom the reading is done.
• Blind #2: The sitter is blind as to which reading is theirs. The experimenter acts as proxy-sitter while the real sitter is not present. The reading is transcribed for later scoring by the real sitter. Two transcripts are provided and the sitter must score them both, not knowing which is his/her actual reading.
• Blind #3: The experimenter who works with the mediums is kept blind to the identities of the sitters and the deceased to prevent the experimenter from providing information, inadvertently or deliberately, to the mediums about whether their statements are correct or not as the reading unfolds.

My head hurts. I have no idea what the actual triple-blind experiment was that they conducted.

Chapter 7 – A Trap Foretold
Allison foretells an “ambush” by two famous skeptics

Schwartz, Allison and another medium are invited to be guests on a pilot of The Lawrence O’Donnell Show, which never made it to air. Allison gets there first and tells Schwartz that (dead) Suzy sent a message to “prepare to be ambushed.” O’Donnell and Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller fame are indeed hostile, as is the audience. Question 1: It didn’t occur to him that Allison got there first and could sense the mood? People don’t have to be psychic to do that. Question 2: Why did they stay once the verbal attacks began? The hosts called the mediums frauds, Schwartz a fool, and said he lied about having a degree from Harvard. And yet they all stayed for the entire show, or at least their respective parts of it. Bizarre.

Chapter 8 – Dead Parapsychologist Meets Live Medium
Allison provides evidence for the survival of a deceased psychic scientist’s consciousness

A friend of Schwartz dies suddenly and unexpectedly. Schwartz “had the opportunity of watching the tape of his heart attack and his ultimate death.” Why oh why would you want to do that? The Steve Irwin Phenomenon before the Steve Irwin phenomenon.

Chapter 9 – Skeptics
Fact and Fantasy: Why professional skeptics say Allison and other mediums are committing fraud – when they are not

A giant rant against James Randi, aka The Amazing Randi. Schwartz doesn’t actually say how the mediums are not committing fraud, as he asserts in his lead sentence. This is where I hoped for information about fake mediums vs real mediums, how to tell the difference, case studies of really good fakers…but no. Disappointing.

Chapter 10 – The Meaning For All of Us, Including the Mediums

Schwartz had three waves of mediums in his lab. Waves two and three each had an overlap of one medium from the prior group. Does anyone else see the problem with this?