Rupert Sheldrake studied biochemistry at Cambridge and the philosophy of science at Harvard. He then became a fellow at Clare College Cambridge and was their director of studies in biochemistry and cell biology. He went to India in 1974 and worked for 6 years as Principal Plant Physiologist at the International Crops Research Institute in Hyderabad. His doubts about the ruling ideology of modern scientism, and the experience of Indian civilisation, led him into a radical break with mainstream science. Sheldrake went to live in an ashram for nearly two years and while he was there, produced his first book, "A New Science of Life" (Blond and Briggs, 1981). In this book, he put forward his hypothesis of "morphic resonance": "Natural systems, or morphic units, at all levels of complexity are animated, organized, and coordinated by morphic fields, which contain an inherent memory. Natural systems inherit this collective memory from all previous things of their kind by a process called morphic resonance, with the result that patterns of development and behavior become increasingly habitual through repetition."

Sheldrake was immediately attacked as a heretic and the editor of the journal "Nature" suggested that his book would make excellent kindling! But Sheldrake insists that what he is doing is science in the best sense of the word. He has put forth testable hypotheses, suggested and carried out experiments to prove them and invited others to replicate his experiments. Some of his ideas may seem strange to people who are used to a certain mechanistic paradigm about nature, but he is not asking anyone to accept them blindly. He is saying: here is the idea and the evidence I have for it, test it out and see what you find. While some mainstream scientists continue to avoid him like the plague, this reasonable attitude (and a certain fraying of the ruling mechanistic paradigm) have led to increasing acceptance, even within the academy.

"Dogs That Know When Their Owners Are Coming Home" is his latest book. As is obvious from the title, this is a book about the unexplained powers of animals. The premise is straightforward: thousands of pet owners and animal handlers believe matter-of-factly in their animal's telepathic powers. Conventional scientists dismiss such talk as ignorance, usually without bothering to investigate. Sheldrake decided to do this investigation and this book is a summary of what he found. And what he found, quiet simply, is this: the evidence that animals have powers beyond those predicted or explained by conventional biology is overwhelming and clear. Sheldrake presents case histories, anecdotes, controlled experiments and video-taped demonstrations; page after page after page until the reader feels like crying out: "enough already, I get the point!"

It's not just dogs that know when their owners are coming home; its cats, parrots, horses, chickens, even an owl. He tries to look for alternative explanations and deals with possible objections, but concludes that the evidence that certain animals seem to have some kind of telepathic power is just too overwhelming.

But it's not just about animals that know when their owners are coming home. He discusses other unexplained powers that are better documented and perhaps even more amazing. Like the ability of animals to find their way home. The homing pigeons, the cats taken away in closed cages, the salmon who come back thousands of miles to their place of birth. And again, its not just one animal or one species; bees do it, birds do it, fish do it. Even butterflies do it. Sheldrake offers morphic resonance as an explanation for these powers. It may well be that the explanation lies elsewhere, but his point that these phenomena are worth exploring is well taken.

Finally, Sheldrake tackles premonitions. Animals that get nervous hours before an earthquake; dogs that can give warnings of coming epileptic seizures, and so on. Undoubtedly, some (if not all) of these are not truly premonitions, but reflect the animal's ability to pick up something subtle that starts well before the actual event occurs. But even so, they deserve to be investigated further, if only to find out how animals can do what the best technology has not yet managed to do.

The book, like all of Sheldrake's books, is easy to read and understand. Sheldrake avoids jumping to conclusions and makes every effort to be scientific and reasonable. Naturally, he is eager to show how morphic resonance can explain many of these phenomena, but he insists that he will accept an alternative explanation if it fits the evidence better. This is more than can be said of his detractors. While science has to take a stand against charlatans and frauds, it is becoming increasingly hard for scientists to explain why they wont even investigate these claims instead of dismissing them out of hand. There are, indeed, more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in textbooks. And Sheldrake and friends intend to look into them.