Gifts of Unknown Things

This astonishing book is more than an exotic adventure; it is a spiritual journey that is at once mysterious and real. In it, the author of two world-famous best sellers, Supernature and The Romeo Error, recounts the story of his voyage to a small volcanic island in Indonesia, where he shares the hardships, the joys and the extraordinary daily life of the islanders. That life is a source of wonder and mystery, for the inhabitants of Nus Tarian accept as everyday realities phenomena that are terrifying, miraculous and inexplicable to the average Westerner. Theirs is a world in which magical feats are regularly experienced as "normal" occurrences and skills; in which extrasensory perception, psychic healing, precognition and even the survival of death are possible. Dr. Watson, a distinguished biologist as well as a superb nature writer, blends his scientific knowledge with his imaginative vision to explore "explanations" that are compatible with the ever-changing theories of biology and physics, and to guide us beyond them into a dimension where the natural and supernatural coexist. At the same time, he tells the moving and terrifying story of Tia, a young girl with startling gifts and powers who is gradually drawn into an awesome psychic struggle for control of the island and its people. Dr. Watson, who worked under Desmond Morris, describes the beauty, the richness and the endless perplexity of nature, and records his own feelings about the haunting and disturbing abilities of Tia as he delves deeply into the island culture that is so strangely different from our own. He also shows us in the world of Nus Tarian a compelling and vital alternative to our "Western way of cause and effect. Above all, in a narrative of indescribably power and drama, he recounts a scientific exploration into the unknown that is at once an imaginative adventure and a life-changing experience, challenging every belief we have about the "real" world.