The OSHO Source BOOK: A Bio-Bibliography. By Pierre Evald

Nova Religio 136 Copyright © 2024 Association for the Academic Study of New Religions, Inc. promptings to produce inaccurate memories. Our judgment and thought processes are far more influenced by our surroundings, peer groups, and the media than any of us really want to admit. The section On Witness Testimony further develops that fact from the perspectives of scientists and humanities scholars. For instance, Luise White, the well-­ known scholar of African history and culture, explains that for many witnesses UFO encounters are quite relevant to modern social anxieties about the environment, war, and reproduction. Richard Noll, a historian of medicine, draws parallels between the alien abduction boom in the 1980s and the Satanic Panic occurring at the same time, in which many Americans were convinced by rumor and media coverage that Satanic cults were infiltrating neighborhoods and daycare centers. Noll and White, in different ways, both argue that stories of UFO encounters are deeply marked by the culture in which they occur. The final essays in this section bolster these claims with social scientific research, examining survey data and medical studies. The essays throughout this lengthy volume range widely in style and method, but that is appropriate. UFOs do not appear to be any single thing, either. Despite its variance, its repetition, and its occasional unevenness , in its very structure this collection offers us a way of thinking about a consistently baffling phenomenon. Matthew Bowman, Claremont Graduate University Publication Notes The OSHO Source BOOK: A Bio-­ Bibliography. By Pierre Evald. Self-­ Published, 2014, 2019, with Supplement and Update 2024. https://​ oshosourcebook​.com/. Bhagwan Rajneesh (Chandra Mohan Jain, 1931–1990) used many names and titles throughout his controversial career. Osho was the final name the guru adopted after fleeing Rajneeshpuram, his Oregon city/ ashram, in 1985 and being deported from the United States. While Rajneesh wrote very little, he loved to speak, giving a huge number of talks to his many followers. It seems that every word of every lecture was recorded, transcribed, and eventually published, collected in more than 500 pamphlets and books, in both English and Hindi. Thousands of audio and video recordings have been preserved by his neo-­ sannyasins (initiated followers) as well. The OSHO Source BOOK (capitalization by its author/compiler/ curator) is a sprawling internet archive of all things Rajneesh, organized into three "volumes," each with many subdivisions. Its creator, Pierre Evald, is a long-­ term neo-­ sannyasin as well as a retired faculty member NR-27-4_Text.indd 136 NR-27-4_Text.indd 136 5/9/24 3:33 PM 5/9/24 3:33 PM Reviews Copyright © 2024 Association for the Academic Study of New Religions, Inc. 137 from the Royal School of Library Science in Skagen, Denmark. Consequently , this massive online collection seems to be both a work of devotion and an ongoing academic undertaking. Osho as "a bookman" is the overarching theme—the books he read, the books he dictated, the process of editing his works, the translations of his works, and so on. Rather than stop with a description, the Source BOOK contains hundreds of quoted passages from the many devotees who worked on these transcriptions, translations, and collations, each passage providing a different perspective on the complex process. Readers are given an unusually detailed glimpse into the practices of the ashram. Unfortunately for researchers, the actual texts of his books are usually just summarized or excerpted, not reproduced in full. In addition to the focus on books by, about, and read by Osho, the Source BOOK includes biography, hagiography, annotated bibliographies of Rajneesh's works, commentaries, book reviews (of Rajneesh's books as well as of books about him), inventories of audio and video recordings, jacket blurbs, accounts of sannyasins' personal experiences , ­ Rajneesh's school library book checkout lists, information on Rajneesh's childhood playmates—you name it. Anything readers might wish to know, as well as many things they would not, can be found somewhere in this collection. While ostensibly structured by the principles of library science, readers may find the organization opaque. It's a mess, in my opinion. The Source BOOK's cyber dimensions are difficult to judge, but it is clearly immense. I was lost in...