Print on Demand

When you buy books on Amazon, the company often presents a list of related works you might also be interested in. A while back one such list showed a work by Frederic W.H. Myers (1843-1903). The book was Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death. It appeared in 1906 and represents a collection of Myers’ writing compiled after his passing. The book on Amazon is a 460 page abridgement of a work that originally that came in two volumes and had 700 pages. This particular book cost $9.99. I bought it.

It appeared a few days later. Then I discovered that the book is a literal photocopy of the original abridgement—but that it had been printed on December 15, 2014—no doubt after I had ordered it. To be sure, Myers is a very big name in parapsychology. He was a cofounder of the Society of Psychical Research (with four others) in 1882. His writings about the Unconscious, which he dubbed the “subliminal” mind, influenced many, not least William James and Carl Jung. And the subject of this book is rising (you might say) what with the biggest single American generation now commencing its journey to the Hereafter. Human Personality is filled with the nineteenth century view of science hard, soft, and beyond. Very interesting reading but also very dense. Back then people took the time to read…