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Non-Fiction, History & Politics

The Premonitions Bureau

Sam Knight (author)

Paperback Published on: 06/04/2023

£10.99

19 reviews

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Bookseller Reviews

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Something Wicked This Way Comes

Fascinating account of a little known part of British social history. This is the story of a psychiatrist who seized upon the idea of collating visions, dr... READ MORE

Jo at TCR

Wonderfully strange

Discussing at length the details of the Aberfan disaster, from the premonitions of the children who died during the tragedy, and accounts of the workers le... READ MORE

Molly at Nuneaton

science vs the supernatural

If you could see the future, especially your own, would you still want to know what happens? I really enjoyed this book. It's not just a quirky tale about ... READ MORE

Richard Keay

A compelling account of death foretold

Probably one of the strangest but most fascinating books I've read all year, The Premonitions Bureau is the weird and wonderful story of John Barker, a psy... READ MORE

Gaby Lee

I have a hunch that this book is going to delight you

This book is so fantastic in all senses. It's so bonkers and yet it's all true and that's so much of the allure here. It's one of those books that makes yo... READ MORE

Katy Wheatley

Unusual but absorbing

A highly unusual but absorbing book, the Premonitions Bureau is genuinely brilliant. Covering at its centre the formation of an investigation into the poss... READ MORE

Sean Farrell

Life and Fate

Takes a fascinating story with a great hook - if you can predict the future, then can you prevent it? - and uses it to ask all sorts of gently searching qu... READ MORE

Matthew Hennessey

Synopsis

What if you had a vision that something terrible was going to happen? A train crash, a department store fire, an assassination. What if you could share your vision, and prevent a disaster?

In 1966, John Barker, a British psychiatrist working in an outdated British mental hospital, established the Premonitions Bureau to investigate this very idea. He would find a network of curious correspondents, and among them two highly gifted 'percipients'.

Together, they predicted calamities and international incidents with uncanny accuracy. And then, they gave Barker their most disturbing warning: that he was about to die.

Publisher information

Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 9780571357574
Number of pages: 256
Dimensions: 198 x 129 x 15 mm
Weight: 215g
Languages: English

Customer Reviews

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Intriguing, thought-provoking, strange ... I couldn't put it down

I absolutely loved this book and read it in two sittings. The writer takes us through the scientific, philosophical and ethical issues surrounding precogni... READ MORE

Beverley Burgess

!Kaleidoscopic!

Just as the book's cover is mesmeric and kaleidoscopic in its appearance, so too is the contents of Knight's retelling of John Barker's The Premonitions Bu... READ MORE

Ian Simpson

Very underwhelming and unengaging..

Very underwhelming and unengaging.. Maybe because I expected something entirely different, but even then.. It is very chaotic and broken up.. Throughout t... READ MORE

Kate

An interesting factual read

‘The Premonitions Bureau’ by Sam Knight focuses on the ability of those folk who believe they see visions or experience sensations that can sometimes consi... READ MORE

Hansyogaman

Fascinating

I found this an unsettling yet fascinating read. It starts with the 1966 Aberfan mining disaster and those who foresaw it which led to the establishment o... READ MORE

Tamsin Cobden

Curiouser and curiouser...

This book feels like a quirky film plot. In the wake of the 1966 Aberfan disaster, psychiatrist, Richard Barker, visits the Welsh village and is struck by ... READ MORE

Selena, Guildford

What a story!

Best book of the years so far, and it's only July. The story of John Barker and Shelton Hospital is quite magnificent on it's own, but add in the Premonit... READ MORE

Tyneside Ted

Not what I was expecting but an interesting read, nonetheless.

I bought this book on the recommendation of a bookseller in my local Waterstones. It wasn't quite what I was exepcting - more a biography of Barker than a... READ MORE

Sharyn Farnaby

The Hiding Place

Internet error - review tagged to wrong book

Ashrae

Strange and captivating!

This book was eerie and fascinating while delivering a strange bit of history-- highly recommend!

Kylie Hull

Facinating

I really didn’t know what to expect from this book, and I have to say I very much enjoyed it. It’s not my normal go to genre of book, but it’s fast paced a... READ MORE

Lou B

A strange corner of post-war history

I surprised myself by enjoying this book: it covers an aspect of modern history about which I previously knew absolutely nothing, and as such was fascinati... READ MORE

Rachel Swaffield

The Premonitions Bureau

Bookseller Reviews

Synopsis

Publisher information

Customer Reviews

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