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Cover of The complete idiot's guide to ghosts and hauntings
Book details

The complete idiot's guide to ghosts and hauntings

by Tom Ogden

Published 1999378 pagesISBN 978-0-0286-3659-7

A Halloween favorite spooks up a new and expanded edition. A unique guide to the world of the paranormal, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Ghosts and Hauntings is a perennial favorite. Now updated, revised, and expanded with new information on ghost hunting and observing, this new edition includes new tips on gathering and recording paranormal data, and a new section devoted to "faking it"— showing readers how to haunt their own houses to amuse and bewilder friends.*Expanded appendixes featuring new Internet sites devoted to the paranormal, as well as modern-day "haunted houses" open to the public*Additional information on the origin of spiritualism and its followers*Strong seller for Halloween season*Completely reorganized for easier reading and referencing

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Fiction, Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.

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Full BookenDeX details

What the reading experience may hold

A fuller profile for choosing with more confidence—not just another copy of the preview.

Themes to notice

Fiction · Nonfiction

Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.

Content notes

No specific content concerns can be confirmed from the available English catalog information. Consult a publisher or reader-supplied guide when detailed warnings matter.

These notes are inferred from available catalog information and may not be complete. Check a publisher or reader-supplied guide if you need comprehensive warnings.

Reading experience

Balanced tone · Measured pace

A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.

Who it may suit

A good fit if…

Readers who want a thoughtful experience and enjoy noticing the connections beneath a book’s surface story.

At a glance

This book's DNA

A visual estimate based on this edition's categories, description, and length. Select a star to explore the signals.

ToneBalanced
LuminousDark

This signal is descriptive, not a rating. It helps compare the kind of reading experience this edition may offer.

No plot details

Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc

A broad estimate of the book’s emotional rhythm, shown without story events or outcomes.

Spoiler-free
12345
PeakRelative emotional intensity
The complete idiot's guide to ghosts and hauntingsTom Ogden
Powerful4.3/5

This visualization is an interpretive estimate based on catalog description, categories, tone, pace, and content signals. It does not describe specific scenes.

Before you choose

A quick reading snapshot

Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.

Reading lengthA standard-length read378 pages in this edition
Publication eraModernFirst published or edition dated 1999
Primary categoryFictionAlso cataloged under Nonfiction
ISBN-13
978-0-0286-3659-7
Language
English
Edition record
OL6900117M
BookenDeX editorial lens

A more thoughtful way into this book

This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.

Good to know

A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.

Begin with its place in Fiction, then notice where the book resists that label.

Try this reading approach

Read for connection, not completion.

Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.

Three questions to carry with you

  1. What does the central character want, and what do they misunderstand about that desire?
  2. Which detail or relationship changes how you interpret the story?
  3. What feeling or question does the book leave with you after the plot moves on?

Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.