From the Foreword by Kenneth Ring, Ph.D.:
... [This book is David Ritchey's] definitive and groundbreaking study of just why some people (his term for them
is "anomalously sensitive persons" [or ASPs]) are able to detect alternate realities and of the various
factors - neurological, environmental and psychological - that together tend to facilitate this type of
sensitivity. . [He has produced] such a richly textured and multi-faceted delineation of the origins and nature of
the person who is sensitive to alternate realities that he has not merely given us a few clues to this former
enigma, he has answered virtually every question about it. In short, a more masterly blend of original research and
synthesis of the findings of others on this important topic is difficult to conceive. But [he] has accomplished far
more than this, for in drawing this portrait of the ASP, he has also humanized her (for most ASPs, he finds, are
women, so I will use that pronoun here). Like the writings of the neurologist, Oliver Sacks, who has made us so
keenly aware of both the humanity and rare talents of those whom others might have once seen only as victims of
severe neurological impairment, [Ritchey's] depiction of the ASP shows her also to be a person of unusual giftedness
and extraordinary sensitivities. Though she may indeed suffer from various illnesses and other unenviable conditions,
the realities she perceives cannot be dismissed as fictive or hallucinatory, nor, as [his] research shows, is it
reasonable to discount, much less pathologize, her perceptions and abilities. There are realms beyond those of
consensual reality, and what the majority regards as real is only normative, not definitive. The ASP, on the other
hand, tends to perceive beyond normal boundaries, which have hitherto been unacknowledged by science, and her insights
and sensitivities must ultimately be recognized and legitimated. [Ritchey's] work, though it carefully avoids advocacy,
will clearly serve that laudable end.
... Though this book is a thoroughly serious, and even at times ponderous, consideration of the roots of the anomalously
sensitive person, . [it] is, for the most part, written in the most accessible style, free of jargon, and full of humorous
asides. Moreover, it features many amusing cartoons, specifically drawn for this book, and it is strewn with witty epigraphs
and quotations, which leaven the text and provide many a chuckle for the reader.
This is really a richly rewarding book and it represents a monumental achievement in the study and understanding of those
individuals who are anomalously sensitive. As such, it will be of profound and indispensable interest to all therapists,
scholars and researchers who deal with such individuals, and to ASPs themselves in their search for both self-understanding
and public recognition of their undeniable contribution to our appreciation of realities that transcend normal waking
consciousness.
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