I have always loved the paranormal and this book gave me a scientific view on ghosts. I found it very interesting and I did learn a bit. I also really loved hearing about this case. I would recommend this book to anyone who like the paranormal or has an open mind.

As a big fan of the show ghost hunters and of the paranormal, I thought I was going to love this book. I unfortunately found it repetitive- I had hoped that the book would cover more aspects of the classification system with lesser known cases from the show, but it didn’t.
As far as the audiobook, I was not a big fan of the audiobook narrator. I tend to listen to my books on 2x speed and this narrator was difficult to listen to on the higher read rate and made me not want to pick up the book as often.
Thank you to NetGalley for providing an audio arc of Elements of a haunting.

My daughter and husband love watching Ghost Hunters and have even gotten me into it. When I saw this audiobook was coming out, I knew it was one I had to get a listen to. I have to say that everything in this book intrigued me and it was definitely one that I wasn't expecting. From how they got started to how they know of a haunting. While I couldn't listen to the book at night because it creeped me out, during the day while I worked it was nice to listen to this. For anyone who is intrigued on how a haunting works or what the elements are for a haunting, get this book and listen to it.

An interesting look at the science behind ghost hunting. Believers or skeptics, both sides of the argument are made here.
It can become a bit dry and goes on longer than you think it should, but the audiobook makes this a much easier read.

The narrator Michael Butler Murray did little to distinguish between the voices of Alvis and Gatollari but that did not impede the book at all.

Thanks to @netgalley, tantor audio, Brandon Alvis, and Mustafa Gatollari for the opportunity to listen to this audio in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* pretty good read, i don't think i realyl learned much for this book about the science behind ghosts but i did get to hear some cool cases so that was still good!

The book has a great start and gets very engaging as you dive deeper into the stories. The investigation techniques were something that I was wowed by!
There are a handful of incidents that will give you goosebumps.

Though I did have a few turnoffs when I felt no connection with a few areas of the book (because they looked like fillers).

The overall reading experience of this book was average, but I do have second thoughts that maybe I enjoyed this a little less because of the narration. It might result in a different opinion if one reads the book instead of listening to it,

I wanted to read this book because I am fascinated with ghost every since I was a kid. I remember watching the original Ghost Hunters with my parents when it first came on. Then I watched all the other paranormal shows that followed. Then when Ghost Hunters came back on with Grant and a new team, I was so excited. Brandon Alvis and Mustafa Gatollari were two of my new favorites on the show.

Now on to the review: This was a very easy book to get into and very easy to understand. You can tell both Brandon Alvis and Mustafa Gatollari very knowledgeable in their field. Even thought they were knowledgeable, they wrote the book that even the newbie could understand. I can also see others that are experts learning from this book as well. I can't to see what Brandon Alvis and Mustafa Gatollari accomplished in this field.

Narrator wasn't my favorite but I did enjoy his reading of this book

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher letting me read and review this book.

It’s difficult to review this book because it seems like it would be a review of the TV show, Ghost Hunters; many of the stories in this book are based on episodes of the show and what was found on those investigations with a few anecdotes to give it a personal touch. I enjoyed the section in the beginning that detailed how the conducted their investigations and the scales they use to keep everything classified. I like that the scientific method plays into their investigations but the ghost stories have been told before (and documented on TV) so I didn’t feel like there was anything new to learn from this aside from their stories on how they got started that were offered in the introduction. Still, the stories were interesting enough to get me through a day of work so it wasn’t a total loss.

*I received this book for free through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

DNF'd @ 34%

If you are a paranormal fan you might want to skip this one. It focuses more on science than apparitions. I was extremely bored and it seemed like it never got to the point. If you really like the show or the guys then this would be for you.

I found the guys unlikeable. They were rude. And they clearly aren't writers but just entertainers.

For example, the book said the lady should have been able to defend herself from getting killed because she was 5'6 and 150 pounds.

Example 2, when slave ghosts were mentioned the guy said their work shaped our country for the better. And he said the ghost said "thank you" in reply. I don't think there is any benefit of slaves and it is insensitive being as they didn't have a choice.

All-in-all, this wasn't what I thought it would be.

Thank you Tantor Audio for the audiobook review copy!

This book was very intriguing. I hadn’t ever watched the show associated with the book but I enjoyed the “science” behind the book. This isn’t my usual book but I found it entertaining and interesting enough. Thank you to netgallery for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

2.5 stars

Two paranormal investigators (of the Ghost Hunters TV show) share their “scientific” investigative protocols & discuss several investigations they’ve done as a team. This book isn’t great, but it was decently entertaining & the writers come across as genuine people.

[What I liked:]

•I do love a good ghost story, so I did enjoy the case studies of some of the investigations the writers have done. I especially enjoyed the background & history of the places they investigated & characters they supposedly communicated with. (Their investigative rigamarole with barometric pressure detecting devices was much less exciting.)

•Both writers got into paranormal investigation due to personal experiences: for Brandon, it was a hope for an afterlife after losing two siblings at a young age; for Mustafa, it was childhood experiences with paranormal activities in his home. Both of them come across as very genuine people with a true interest in helping others. I’m glad this book wasn’t sensationalized.


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•I do personally believe in spiritual beings & have had experiences I consider to be supernatural. That said, I’m pretty firmly in the camp that science isn’t useful for investigating non-natural events & beings. The supernatural is outside the realm of what science can measure & explain, & so I’m highly skeptical of anyone claiming to “prove” their existence with science.

And unfortunately, this book falls into that trap. The writers state that if a phenomenon can’t be explained by natural causes, then there must be a paranormal cause. I disagree! Just because the writers didn’t find a natural cause (& tbf, they do try to rule those out first) doesn’t mean one doesn’t exist—there could well be one they just missed.

•I was interested in the writers’ classification system for different types of hauntings, but was disappointed because they never explained how they developed it. Why 6 categories, not more or less? How did they choose these? Why are these 6 relevant & important?

•There’s a section in chapter 4 where the authors discuss what hauntings might be—maybe spirits, or maybe energy imprints, or maybe time warps of living people—& this section is confusing. I’m very unclear on what the proposed link between barometric pressures changes & black holes is. It almost seemed like they’re proposing that black holes can cause time travel, but I’m not sure if that’s what they actually meant?

•Related to the above point, instead of quoting academic sources the writers quote news articles about scientific studies. Why not quote the actual studies & go to the primary source? The whole thing is just messy.

CW: suicide, murder

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

Interesting audio book! I love ghost stories so this was a good listen in the car.

Their take on telling their story is to use a scientific approach to discuss hauntings.

While a scientist myself, I found this an interesting take.

It was a good listen for my commute.

We have all experienced something that we can’t explain. Some get skeptical while others try to understand what they have experienced. I’ve had some happen to me recently. The most recent time I was staying in my GF’s room and the fairy lights were turned on. I was having trouble sleeping so I got up and tried to shut them off. Her noticing I wasn’t in bed anymore asked what I was doing. She proceeded to explain that those aren't plugged in to any outlet and are battery operated. I proceeded to open it up to remove the battery and it was empty. This leads me, like the author of this book, to research the paranormal. It explains how the show Ghost Hunters got started and stories from the show. It is an interesting tale and those who have watched the show and enjoyed it will enjoy this book. It is really intriguing to learn how they investigate. This can help serve as a “text book” of sorts for ghost hunting. Even though this intrigues me, ghost hunting can be entertaining, but at the same time I can’t fight that feeling of it being pseudoscience made to sell books, equipment, and views. Some may do it for these reasons, but not these authors. They do a great job trying to turn this into a real science. They explain the data they collected to try to get it scrutinized by the public. They are very ethical and I can recommend this book to try to further paranormal research. They do not shy away from evidence against anything and question everything. They also admit that the equipment is flawed. They always scrutinize anything they collect and have a third party review everything. I respect their efforts and make me want to try to use these techniques to figure out the paranormal stuff in my own life and use this book as the text book for understanding what is going on.

I’ve never watched Ghost Hunters but I was intrigued by what goes on behind the scenes at these paranormal shows. Likes the authors, I’m a sceptic who wants to believe, so their approach to their investigation was fascinating. It’s so interesting to learn how they research not only the historical context, the history behind the buildings, the people involved in the past and the present, living and dead, how they rule out rational explanations to the phenomena they experience and how they keep an open mind. They are not trying to convince anyone of anything, just explaining how they planned some of their investigations and what happened, not shying away from the hauntings that they debunked. Some parts were really creepy, while others were heartbreaking. I was surprised that the audiobook was not narrated by the authors. Michael Butler Murray does a great job and it’s always clear which member of the team is speaking. Fans of the show will really love this book, but even newbies will enjoy it.
I chose to listen to this audiobook and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, NetGalley/# Tantor Audio!