“Memories of a Maverick: Andrija Puharich M.D., L.L.D.” by H.G.M. Hermans

"H.G.M. Hermans’s 1998 Memories of a Maverick: Andrija Puharich, MD, LLD is a biographical sketch of the parapsychologist written by his ex-wife.

Of Croatian parentage, Karel (the Andrija was a nickname) Puharić (1918-1995) was born in Chicago. Originally interested in medical research, and eventually filing several dozen patents, he devoted much effort to parapsychology though he continued to undertake more mainstream investigations. Hermans mostly concentrates on his paranormal activities but does refer to his other work.

In the paranormal field he is best known for publicising psychic surgeon Arigo ("he of the rusty knife"), Dutch psychic Peter Hurkos (whom Hermans did not warm to), and above all Uri Geller. He also studied telepathy, mediumship, altered states of consciousness using mushrooms, and worked with medium and psychic Eileen Garrett. During sessions with Indian D.G. Vinod in 1952, the Hindu mystic claimed to have been contacted by a group of higher intelligences called "The Nine" existing outside time and space, and over two decades later The Nine came back into Puharich’s life when psychic Phyllis Schlemmer channeled them.

Puharich was intellectually restless and charismatic, able to secure generous funding from willing benefactors. Unfortunately, while open to unorthodox ideas, he did not always exercise sufficient judgement — Hermans particularly notes the derision his credulous association with Geller generated — and he proved unable to capitalise on his scientific endeavours. He was brave though: according to Puharich, Arigo removed a tumour from his arm, while even more alarmingly the Mexican psychic surgeon Pachita successfully operated on his ears using a hunting knife with a seven-inch blade, but then he was confident in her abilities after having seen a large number of procedures, including a literal brain transplant one would love to know more about.

Dutch-born Hermans (known as Bep) writes an affectionate, if sometimes exasperated, account of Puharich’s energetic life and career, including his rackety self-centred personal relationships. She has drawn on her direct memories of their time together and letters he sent her after they separated, supplemented by access to his files to fill in the last two decades of his life when they had little contact. The result is a valuable inside account of his parapsychological pursuits, and the general tone is respect for his dedication and the breadth of his activities, and optimism his mainstream researches would find general applications, though it is fair to say the fruits have largely failed to materialise in the twenty-five years since his death (including his claim to have found a cure for cancer). He was never one to undersell himself.

It is also an entertaining look at a period full of amazing paranormal claims and amazing paranormal people. There was a lively counterculture, an interest in eastern religion, in psychedelics and altered states, claims about the suppression of unorthodox technologies that threatened the big corporations but would change the world, fear of mind control, attempts at telepathic communication with dolphins, and paranoia about the intentions of the Soviet Union, the development of secret super-weapons, and the role of the American security services in policing dissent. Puharich intersected with all these currents, and whatever assessment of his achievements one comes to, there is no doubting he was a man of his times."

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