Supernature: A Natural History of the Supernatural was published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1973, becoming an international bestseller translated into twenty-seven languages. Watson (who held a PhD in ethology from the University of London under Desmond Morris) brought scientific credentials to territory that mainstream biology refused to explore — and the combination of rigorous vocabulary with heterodox subject matter made the book enormously influential in the counterculture and New Age movements.
Watson’s thesis is that biology — properly pursued — should encompass phenomena that current scientific orthodoxy dismisses as supernatural: the sensitivity of plants to human emotion (drawing on Cleve Backster’s controversial experiments), the ability of organisms to communicate through means not explained by known sensory channels, the patterns of biological rhythm that connect organisms to cosmic cycles, and the existence of fields of consciousness that may extend beyond individual brains.
The book is organized around a biological calendar, following the cycles of life through seasons and examining at each point the evidence for phenomena that exceed orthodox explanation. Watson writes with a biologist’s precision about experimental methodology (when it serves his argument) and with a poet’s enthusiasm about the implications of anomalous results.
Critics — and there were many — argued that Watson selected evidence uncritically, that he reported discredited experiments as valid, and that his scientific training gave undeserved authority to pseudoscientific claims. The “hundredth monkey” phenomenon that Watson popularized has been thoroughly debunked. Yet the book’s influence on popular culture and alternative science remains enormous.
Collecting Supernature
First edition (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1973): Cloth binding, dust jacket.
Market values:
- First UK edition in dust jacket: $20–$50
- US first (Anchor Press/Doubleday, 1973): $10–$25
- Signed copies: $40–$100