The Revolutionary Theory of Reality - The Holographic Universe

A clarion call to start the investigation of experiences which are paranormal . There has been biased quantitative scientific rejection of any experience not measurable by our instrumentation. This book gives a large body of anecdotal information and explores both objective and subjective aspects to which it may be pointing .

If you liked the films "Mind Walk", and "What the Bleep..." and are interested in the spiritual repercussions of the latest findings in quantum physics, and Unified Field Theory then you will probably love this book too. If you are unfamiliar with these concepts know that although not religious, this book explores some recent discoveries made by science that may have seemingly spiritual repercussions. Talbot elegantly explains the very intriguing Holographic Theory coined by Bohm. It's a theory that the universe, our memories, even our senses are based on the idea that fractales exist in our lives that are similar to a hologram.

A true hologram looks like a series of squiggles and lines. You need to shine a laser through it to produce a 3-D image. Imagine the image is of an apple. Even if you cut the hologram into pieces, and shine a laser through, the image of the apple is visible and intact. The smaller the holographic piece, the fuzzier the image becomes, but it still creates the entire image, not a portion of it.

There are several other examples of this principal throughout the book as applied to other fractales in nature. Similarly, if you remove 1/8 of the brain, you don't remove 1/8 of a memory, the whole memory simply becomes fuzzier, but you still remember the whole experience. A holographic image emerges from the seemingly chaotic patterns of interference in wave patterns, yet when a laser is shone through an image appears. The brain appears to be organized on the same principal of criss-cross patterns as well. One chapter provides additional examples to suggest that there are several chaotic patterns in nature that when studied closer, actually have an exceptionally high order. This suggests a more infinite order to the universe than previously realized. There are several examples of mathematics and quantum physics in this book that are used to explain this theory more clearly.

Despite the fact that I am more oriented toward the arts, linguistics, and biology, I found this book to clearly explain some very paradigm shifting concepts. This is one of those pieces that I had to own so that I can refer to it throughout my life as well as reccommend to friends, because it is hard to see the world the same after considering the concepts within.

I bought this for my husband while he finishes up his last couple months in prison and he LOVED it!! It will make you re-evaluate your perceptions of reality - but in a good way! I highly recommend this book to anyone that loves reading anything scientific/spiritual!

I became interested in the holographic paradigm as a result of doing some other wiki searches. I then stumbled upon Talbot's essay which led me to this book. I cannot say enough about the clarity of his writing style. He has taken an extremely abstract concept and a way of thinking that defies our "everyday" logic and written a book that is mind-blowing. Not only do I "get it" but I want to know more. The implications of this research are so broad I can see why mainstream bias sweeps it under the rug. Incredible read. Kept me up for hours.

I have always been interested in understanding more about deeper truth in life and wrote a book "How do I find inner peace, a step by step guide" before reading The Holographic Universe. What makes the book wonderful is that Michael Talbot's orientation is scientific, yet relatively easy to understand, and he covers a wide variety of fascinating topics.

For the first couple of chapters, I was constantly putting the book aside to do further research on the topics he raised such as how the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research Center over twenty years, documented statistically significant variation in machines, when students sat nearby and concentrated on a desired outcome. The head of that center was a rocket scientist who initially was highly skeptical of the possibility raised by one of his students, yet could not ignore the evidence they uncovered.

I also found the work of Dr. Stanislav Grof fascinating in the way he expanded the frontiers of psychology by developing a more holistic approach.

For some time I have known of the placebo effect, yet Talbot's chapter on "The Body Holographic" went into details of which I had been unaware. For example, how multiple personality disordered individuals shift between personalities resulting in profound measurable, physical changes. Also intriguing were people who through language or mental deficiency, were unable to comprehend the severity of their terminal diagnosis, and exhibited a 30% lower mortality rate.

I continue to contemplate how a hologram is able to contain the entire image in each fragment of a broken holograph, but the basic idea is that everything is interconnected, and the image is complete in every part.

For some time I have known of the quantum physics principle known as "non-locality" or "entanglement" yet I found the exploration in this book fascinating. For example I handed a relative the book opened to the foreword where this is discussed in the second paragraph, asking them to read the first paragraph and see if they didn't feel compelled to continue reading more, and they too found the material very interesting.

I just loved reading this book and actually, went through it a second time, laughing often, not because it is humorous, but because profound issues are explored so clearly. On the second reading, I hit the part that kind of rocked my world in a way that changed my ordinary waking consciousness, when I read about the image formed on the retina of the eye not actually being "out there" as part of the question regarding how we distinguish between sensation within or outside of our body, and how our brain does the interpretation.

Talbot includes detailed references and I found myself often flipping to the back of the book to check the Bibliography, and then doing my own follow up research of the topics mentioned, which were also fascinating and enlightening. It may be that due to my prior exposure to many of these topics I found them easy to assimilate, yet I imagine anyone with an interest in understanding more about the nature of the universe would find Talbot's book worthwhile.

Very interesting book! It's a little heady/intellectual for me to read very far at a time, especially when it's describing the research and theories. Sometimes I have to stop and think about it for awhile then come back to it. I agree with its premise and have wondered about it myself, without knowing how to describe it. I would highly recommend it!

Excellent read. However, it's a deep read and you must have high reading comprehension to understand the information. Scientific point of view of the reality of what we are and what we are doing here.

The first two chapters intrigued me greatly. The whole book is great, though the book gets bogged down in the middle with too many descriptions of various supernatural occurrances straight from C. Fort and others to back up the holographic theory. Still, the book is a great read for anyone interested in quantum physics or books such as the Tao of Physics.

I discovered this book when it was first published (in the early 1990's) and the concepts are still valid, to the point the U.S. Government is right now conducting high energy particle experiments at Lawrence Livermore Labs and at Brookhaven lab to research such things contained in this book.
Prepare for your head to implode after reading this AWESOME book.
I continue to buy these books and give them away to open minded people I encounter in my life's journey.
Just buy the darn thing.

Talbot brings us a great compilation of information from many fields including physics (Bohm's holographic theory of physics and its related implications), psychological theory of mind to psychic phenomena.

I offer four stars rather than five due to his uneven evaluation of the information he's surveyed. He seems to be hiding a prejudicial view of reincarnation, while lending credibility to other phenomena which carry only heresay validity, such as Saints walking through a firey furnace.

But without his efforts in this book I would not have been given as wide a survey of these subjects anywhere else. Buy the book and ignore his inconsistencies.

If you are even considering purchasing this book, I would highly recommend it. It provides an insightful approach to conceptualizing, understanding and applying the holographic model to our own understood realities.

Fascinating material wish I had found this years ago.The author deftly mixes science facts and a enjoyable discussion. Thoroughly recommend. Very sad the author passed away only a year after it's publication.
This is for anyone interested in finding out who and what they really are.

All the pieces fall together and make sense now. It's a pity we won't be seeing more books from Michael Talbot, to guide our steps on our paths in this holodeck called Earth. But at least Michael is seeing it all from the "other side;" his untimely death occurred in May 1992 (I only found this out while trying to search out more about him on the Internet). Be well, Michael Talbot ... and thank you.

This book explores the holographic universe theory of many physicists and is easy to understand if you do not happen to be a physicist. I am trying to discover the relationship between quantum physics and energy (I am a Jin Shin Jyutsu Practitioner)and, as the author promised, it has changed the way I look at the world. Next book, on my discovery road, will be "The Dancing Wu Li Masters" by Gary Zukav.

Please read this. Michael Talbot uses his own drive to discover truth and check facts to bring profound information about the nature of our reality to your eyeballs!
What you think you know is all an illusion...

Well written and easily understandable by the non-scientist, this book pulls together many formerly unexplained 'psychic' mysteries, ties them in with current scientific thought and makes a rational case for a reality which is in fact holographic by nature.

Approximately the first half of the book is brilliant, introducing us to wonderful minds like Bohm. The second half is, unfortunately, sullied with goofy guru stories presented in the same credible voice as used to describe quantum mechanics. No matter, it is a riviting read, not to be missed. The author died of leukemia in his 30's, unfortunately, but this is a significant legacy full of mind-expanding ideas which will lead you to read and learn more of reality and perception.

This book started off tremendously. A heretofore little popularized scientist, Bohm, is detailed. His ideas are shown to be way in advance of much of our 21st century style thinking in physics, neurophysiology, and elsewhere.

However, somewhere along the way, hard science seemed to give way to...I'm not sure what! Tony Robbins? One minute I'm reading about fascinating experiements, and the next about faith healing. And when someone tells me about astounding results that others "ignored" -- for the ninth time -- my skepticism begins to grow.

As metaphor, the hologram is a wonderful one. But science does not end at the metaphor, it begins there. It is a jumping off point, whether the metaphor is holography, an ocean wave, or a rice pudding. These models must be confirmed. They must provide predictive power. Instead of moving that way, all I kept hearing is Spike Lee's voice repeating "hologram, hologram, hologram, hologram, ..."

Please read this. Michael Talbot uses his own drive to discover truth and check facts to bring profound information about the nature of our reality to your eyeballs!
What you think you know is all an illusion...

Well written and easily understandable by the non-scientist, this book pulls together many formerly unexplained 'psychic' mysteries, ties them in with current scientific thought and makes a rational case for a reality which is in fact holographic by nature.

Approximately the first half of the book is brilliant, introducing us to wonderful minds like Bohm. The second half is, unfortunately, sullied with goofy guru stories presented in the same credible voice as used to describe quantum mechanics. No matter, it is a riviting read, not to be missed. The author died of leukemia in his 30's, unfortunately, but this is a significant legacy full of mind-expanding ideas which will lead you to read and learn more of reality and perception.

This book started off tremendously. A heretofore little popularized scientist, Bohm, is detailed. His ideas are shown to be way in advance of much of our 21st century style thinking in physics, neurophysiology, and elsewhere.

However, somewhere along the way, hard science seemed to give way to...I'm not sure what! Tony Robbins? One minute I'm reading about fascinating experiements, and the next about faith healing. And when someone tells me about astounding results that others "ignored" -- for the ninth time -- my skepticism begins to grow.

As metaphor, the hologram is a wonderful one. But science does not end at the metaphor, it begins there. It is a jumping off point, whether the metaphor is holography, an ocean wave, or a rice pudding. These models must be confirmed. They must provide predictive power. Instead of moving that way, all I kept hearing is Spike Lee's voice repeating "hologram, hologram, hologram, hologram, ..."

One of the most remarkable books I have read! Bringing most of what I already imagined into a new reality. For me this book has made me realize I'm not the only one out there that thinks beyond the simple, far beyond the visible and very deep into the imaginal. Note only is this book amazing, it opens up a vast vault of informational books for reading pleasures that would otherwise go undetected. Simply put it is "Mind Food"

Never before has a book ventured to explain such a comprehensive range of supernatural and metaphysical phenomena within one single theoretical framework. The ability of the Holographic Model to shed light on a prolific scope of inexplicable "psychic" occurrences (that has eluded conventional science) with such simplicity is just too "beautiful" not to be considered an integral component in the fabric of reality itself. This sentiment is similar to those held by modern physicists regarding the concept of super-string theory; that it is mathematically able to unify all matter and forces in the universe under one elegant principle. In a way, one may be so bold as to say that these two theoretical constructs could be viewed as two sides of the same coin; whereas super-string theory can tell us the "hows" of the universe, the holographic model helps us understand the "whys".

Employing irrefutable anecdotal evidence and eye-witness accounts, Michael Talbot builds his book, example by example, on the foundations of the holographic model as set forth by the intellectual union of Karl Pribram and David Bohm. Through their respective disciplines in neurology and quantum physics, Pribram and Bohm have both amazingly arrived at the same ground-breaking concept: That reality itself is a hologram. According to the theory, reality is the unfolding of a densely rich interference pattern (the implicate order) that is given holographic form by our consciousness (acting like a laser) and stored in such a manner by our brains as memories. As such, all information, regardless of time, space or dimensionality, is "non-local" whereby every seemingly "fragmented" entity (you, me, the computer screen you are sitting in front of, or even the Titanic) in existence contains the information for the construction of the whole. In the implicate order, one is all and all is one, the proverbial "universe in a grain of sand". The implications are nothing short of staggering. Telekinesis, telepathy, psychokinesis, poltergeist activity, human energy fields (auras), precognition, remote-viewing, psychometry, object manifestation, miraculous healing, OBEs (Out of Body Experiences), NDEs (Near Death Experiences), lucid dreaming, hypnosis, Marian visions and UFO sightings, all become tenable manifestations of the Holographic Model.

Central to the book is the idea that, in modern times, human consciousness, en masse, has become complacent and passive in its unfolding of the implicate order under the influence of "objective" science. Since we are inclined to believe that there is an "in here" (mind) subjected to an "out there" (reality), we view ourselves nothing more than impotent bystanders in an infinite universe, vulnerable to its machinations, unobtrusive observers to its processes. However, the Holographic Model tells us that the in-here/out-there dichotomy is but an illusion we have become accustomed to. Through our beliefs, the accumulated body of our dominant thought patterns, we are subconsciously and unconsciously reinforcing the "solidity" of our reality. According to a variety of phenomena cited in the book, some people have been able to "tap" into their deepest beliefs in order to become active participators in the creation of the explicate order. All matter in existence, like the holograms we create of it in our memories, are nothing more than a mere collections of waves, interference patterns that can "molded" by us as potently as it "molds" us, like a never-ending feed-back loop.

This book is a keeper, one that has the ability to shatter our deepest held notions of reality by impelling us to expand our dogmatic horizons so as to acknowledge all the well documented possibilities of the power displayed by the human psyche that science has been so keen to sweep under the rug.