A practising anaesthetist routinely turns off and restores the consciousness of his patients daily. But theories about the mechanism of action of anaesthetic agents and drugs on the brain always reach an impasse because orthodox science does not have an understanding of the exact nature of consciousness. Dr Graham Grant looks at the situation and considers that the one area of study that can possibly advance our insight in this regard is psychical research. Recognising that most people have little or no proper knowledge in this field, he gives a brief introduction and summary of some of the evidence available. This book will be of interest to genuine truth-seekers in the medical and scientific community, and general readers who have an interest in unexplained phenomena. It features a number of original diagrams representing human dimensions, the normal conscious physical state, natural deep sleep, the out-of-the-body experience, general anaesthesia and typical death processes. The author takes a brief look at some of the unusual psychic communications, purportedly from now-deceased famous men of science, received and transcribed by members of the Unarius organisation in the U.S.A. The investigations lead to certain philosophical considerations of general interest. He concludes with some simple hypotheses and looks forward to the possibility of the emergence of a new physics in the not-too-distant future, as recent discoveries in orthodox science combine with the evidence accrued in the last hundred years from serious psychical research.
About the Author: Dr Graham Grant was born in Sydney, Australia, the son of a civil engineer. He grew up in the city and later country areas and graduated BE in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering from the University of Sydney in 1957 with a thesis entitled "Medical Apparatus". Interested in what is now known as biomedical engineering, he worked in industry for a number of years, in Australia and the U.K., developing and designing various items of medical equipment. In 1961, in order to broaden his knowledge and access to the clinical medical situation, he went back to university to study Medicine at St Mary's Hospital Medical School in London and graduated MB.BS from the University of London in 1967. Following his junior house appointments at St Mary's Hospital, he had a stint as a ship's surgeon, travelling around the world. He then undertook three years training in anaesthetics and subsequently practised mainly as an anaesthetist, but continued to develop apparatus. Equipment he developed included an improved portable premature infant incubator and a safer humidifier for anaesthesia and intensive care, both of which involved new and different application of physical principles. In 2007 he was elected Fellow Charted Professional Engineer of Engineers Australia in the Biomedical College, and in 2011 received the David Dewhurst National Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the profession of Biomedical Engineering. He is also known as a jazz pianist and songwriter. He had always had an interest in psychical research and following his retirement from practice in 2006, decided to summarise and clarify some of the knowledge he had accrued in this area.