Dowsing and Science: Essays / Smith, J. D.

The essays in Dowsing and Science touch points on the map, including Texarkana, Chicago, and Ocean City, Maryland, with stops in Latin America and Aurora, Illinois. The collection’s mental range extends even farther, questioning the use of common phrases such as “the real world,” suggesting how Romanian history stands in for the human condition at large, and making a case for the survival value of esthetics. While several selections represent variations on the short memoirs known as the personal essay, most are examples of the “impersonal essay,” meditating on and engaging with a world larger than any writer’s psyche.