© 2024 Chris French

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used to train artificial intelligence systems or reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.

The MIT Press would like to thank the anonymous peer reviewers who provided comments on drafts of this book. The generous work of academic experts is essential for establishing the authority and quality of our publications. We acknowledge with gratitude the contributions of these otherwise uncredited readers.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: French, Chris (Professor), author.

Title: The science of weird shit : why our minds conjure the paranormal / Chris French ; foreword by Richard Wiseman.

Description: Cambridge, Massachusetts : The MIT Press, [2024] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2023013925 (print) | LCCN 2023013926 (ebook) | ISBN 9780262048361 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780262375771 (epub) | ISBN 9780262375764 (pdf)

Subjects: LCSH: Psychology. | Parapsychology. | Ghosts.

Classification: LCC BF121 .F72 2024 (print) | LCC BF121 (ebook) | DDC 150—dc23/eng/20231116

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023013925

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023013926

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