Part 2, Travels 1971-1986: Chapters 11-16 Summary and Analysis

In chapter eleven, as time goes on, Crichton becomes more interested in the world of psychics. The author discusses the "psychic smorgasbord" that is the Spiritualist Association of Great Britain. The psychics there practice everything from tarot to palmistry to psychometry. Crichton discusses the various skills of the psychics and how he has become interested in psychic phenomena. The traveling has opened Crichton's eyes to different cultures, experiences, and ideas. This is a long way from the purely scientific student at Harvard just a few years earlier.

The most famous member of the Spiritualist Association is Arthur Conan Doyle. Like Crichton, Conan Doyle was a physician. Unlike Crichton, Conan Doyle had been interested in metaphysics even in medical school. The subject would eventually show up in many of his later works, including "The...