Due to a sudden, unexpected passing in the family a few years ago and another more recently and my subsequent (mental) health issues stemming from that, I was unable to download this book in time to review it before it was archived as I did not visit this site for several years after the bereavements. This meant I didn't read or venture onto netgalley for years as not only did it remind me of that person as they shared my passion for reading, but I also struggled to maintain interest in anything due to overwhelming depression. I was therefore unable to download this title in time and so I couldn't give a review as it wasn't successfully acquired before it was archived. The second issue that has happened with some of my other books is that I had them downloaded to one particular device and said device is now defunct, so I have no access to those books anymore, sadly.

This means I can't leave an accurate reflection of my feelings towards the book as I am unable to read it now and so I am leaving a message of explanation instead. I am now back to reading and reviewing full time as once considerable time had passed I have found that books have been helping me significantly in terms of my mindset and mental health - this was after having no interest in anything for quite a number of years after the passings. Anything requested and approved will be read and a review written and posted to Amazon (where I am a Hall of Famer & Top Reviewer), Goodreads (where I have several thousand friends and the same amount who follow my reviews) and Waterstones (or Barnes & Noble if the publisher is American based). Thank you for the opportunity and apologies for the inconvenience.

Anthony Peake’s The Hidden Universe focuses on spirits, or, as he broadly refers to them, “non-human intelligences.” Spiritwork interests most witches such as myself, but this isn’t your average book on the subject. Peake writes from a largely non-occultist perspective, and his book has more of a Fortean flavor than anything witchy.

Peake is well-known in Fortean circles, mostly for his writings about near-death experiences and related phenomena. I hadn’t read any of his work prior to picking up The Hidden Universe, though.
While he references many of his earlier works here, I don’t consider familiarity with them to be a prerequisite for fully reading The Hidden Universe.

Witches interested in a non-occultist’s views on the existence of spirits can quite easily pick up this book, with or without any previous delving into Forteana beyond the usual occult faire.

This was an extremely fun book to read. Peake truly writes with a charmed pen, and his personality and humor shines in each chapter. Nevertheless, take his perspective on anything scientific or “quantum” with a grain of salt. While he writes about these things with great eloquence, some of his science is extremely spurious.

For example, at one point, he argues that children might be more prone to psychic experiences because their brains are less “insulated” by myelin. In the words of my friend with multiple sclerosis (no stranger to the woes of damaged or missing myelin), “Yeah, that’s really, really not how it works.”

I guess you could argue that many of his conclusions and claims are non-falsifiable, and thus don’t really deserve to be approached rigorously. This is true of, as I said, the conclusions, though - his attempts to support them with quantum mechanics leave much to be desired. While some of what he says is accurate, his attempts to link quantum mechanics to consciousness fall flat. The

The strangest thing about this book? I agree with many of his conclusions, even though I find his science problematic. So much of this is possible, probable, and indeed fits with what I’ve experienced of spiritwork. Yet, Peake seems to lack the hefty scientific literacy that would be necessary to even begin seeking proof of the claims.

So, the science is not that great. Still, this book’s main strength rests in the author’s broad survey of spiritwork traditions throughout the world. I was especially interested in his comparison of older spirit encounters with modern alien abduction lore. As someone who absolutely devours anecdotes about spiritwork and encounters with “non-human intelligences,” I found much that interested me.

I’m not sure spoiler warnings are appropriate for a nonfiction book like this, but I do want to mention the ultimate conclusion Peake draws from all this research (and “science”). Towards the end of the book, he devotes a lot of time to the simulation hypothesis.

He suggests, as his primary take-away from all this, that if reality were a simulation, perhaps spirits and other “non-human intelligences” might be avatars for whoever exists beyond the program. An interesting idea, but thus far, completely unfalsifiable. Who knows?

(Needless to say, if you’ve unreality as a trigger, this book might not be easy reading material for you.)

I assign this book three out of five stars. The missing stars mostly owe to Peake’s attempts at a scientific approach, which, as I’ve said, fall flat. Still, I would consider this book worth recommending to anyone interested in spiritwork just for the sheer diversity of perspectives and historical information it contains.

This is my first book by this author. It's well researched and go wherever the topic takes the author. Which is to say it is unpredictable, which is usually interesting. If you're not open minded don't bother. Otherwise, you my enjoy this. It was a little to disorganized for me and went deeper than I needed many times. The stories and accounts are unusual and interesting. There's no definitive info here, just lot of info.

I really appreciate the NetGalley advanced copy for review!!