Other worlds

the long version

For a long time, people have argued that the rise of science has caused the decline of religion. Other Worlds presents a different perspective, showing that modern Europeans and Americans often used scientific ideas in imaginative ways to develop new, enchanted views of nature, its fantastic borderlands, and the hidden spaces that might lie beyond it. This book examines the history and imaginative power of one scientific idea in particular, an idea that has become crucial in many settings, from modern physics to fantasy literature and science-fiction film--namely, the idea that the universe has higher, invisible dimensions. Drawing on archives from across the U.S. and the U.K., the author analyzes how scientists, writers, artists, screenwriters, televangelists, and others have used this idea to make supernatural phenomena such as ghosts and miracles seem more reasonable and make religious or spiritual beliefs possible again for themselves and others.--