This book investigates the historical emergence and cultural integration of the concept of telepathy within the scientific and intellectual landscape of the late nineteenth century. Roger Luckhurst, a scholar of Victorian literature and culture, utilizes a wide array of primary sources, including scientific journals, personal correspondence, and literary texts, to trace how telepathy functioned as a bridge between emerging physical sciences and persistent occult interests. He argues that the term was not merely a fringe belief but a central point of intersection for the era's anxieties regarding technology, consciousness, and the limits of human perception.

Experts and historians frequently cite this work as a definitive study on the intersection of Victorian science and the occult. Readers often note the academic rigor of the prose while appreciating its accessibility to those interested in the history of ideas.