Piercing the Veil: Comparing Science and Mysticism as Ways of Knowing Reality  . By Richard H.Jones . New York : Jackson Square Books , 2010 . X + 294 pages. Softcover. $18.99 .

Since the late 1970s, Fritjof Capra's The Tao of Physics and Gary Zukav's The Dancing Wu‐Li Masters made the mix of quantum physics and a generalized ``Eastern mysticism'' popular. In the 1980s, two works provided a healthy analysis: Sal Restivo, The Social Relations of Physics, Mysticism and Mathematics (Boston: Reidel, 1983), and Richard H. Jones, Science and Mysticism: A Comparative Study of Western Natural Science, Theravāda Buddhism, and Advaita Vedānta (Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell University Press, 1986). This book by Richard H. Jones is another philosophical work on science and the Asian traditions. Part One defines the key terms and provides a preliminary description of scientific and mystical ways of knowing.

The second part discusses central points “in the current crop of works on science and mysticism” (v). The title of this part signals a rather critical assessment of the current literature: “Errors in Comparing Scientific and Mystical Theories”—note the emphasis on theories. According to Jones, advocates of parallelism of theories distort both science and mysticism. Among those discussed critically are Capra, but also more recent authors such as Andrew Newberg, Alan Wallace, and the XIVth Dalai Lama. Parallelists are mistaken, since “mysticism is a matter of freeing the mind of conceptions to approach beingness, while science is a matter of changing distinctions concerning structures responsible for changes in the natural realm, any substantial convergence in scientific and mystical theories is precluded” (178, emphasis added).

The third part is constructive. Reconciliation needs to begin with the recognition of differences. Each can contribute to a fuller view of reality. Jones argues for “the neutrality of science” (221) on the nature of mystical experiences. Mysticism and science may be held together once premature integration is shunned. This requires that mystics accept the full reality of the natural world and thus give science proper recognition. The objective of seeking mystical experience is not to escape from this material world but to experience another, transcendental dimension of this world. Jones has written a careful, dense, and valuable analysis of a contested relationship.