REVIEW FOOLS’ GOLD? THE CHALLENGE OF REAL WORLD PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS * Stephen E. Braude, The Gold Leaf Lady and other Parapsycho- logical Investigations. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007. Pp. xxii + 205. US$22.50 HB. By Caroline A. Watt Stephen Braude is a philosopher whose interests have ranged from demonstrating the inadequacies of mechanistic theories in psychology and cognitive science, through writings on Ôphilosoph- ical psychopathologies’ such as dissociation and dissociative iden- tity disorder (multiple personality), to careful scrutiny of questions about the nature of mental mediumship and the evi- dence for survival of bodily death. All these topics challenge our conceptions about the nature of the self and the mind/body rela- tionship. It is perhaps not surprising, then, that Braude found himself being contacted by individuals claiming extraordinary mental or physical experiences or capabilities. To his great credit, Braude was prepared to get out of his comfortable armchair of philosophical musings and, unlike many parapsychologists (including me), get his hands dirty in the real world by investi- gating some of the claimants. The Gold Leaf Lady describes these adventures, some of which I am sure Braude would wryly admit could more accurately be described as misadventures. But, as we shall see, such is the hazard of real-world investigations. The book cuts straight to the chase by immediately describing the case of Katie, a Florida housewife who repeatedly found Ôgold’ leaf spontaneously appearing on her body, often in large quantities. Analysis later demonstrated that the foil was similar in composi- tion to commercially available brass leaf. Although witnesses (of * I am grateful to Professor Etzel Carden˜a for his helpful editorial comments on this review. Metascience (2008) 17:251–255 Ó Springer 2008 DOI 10.1007/s11016-008-9185-2