Doorways into the past

Recently I read a book published in 1909. David P. Abbot's straightforward language was modern. His "Behind the Scenes with the Mediums" exposed tricks I had seen on television shows about psychic swindles. Except for a few word choices, the book could have been published anytime in the last thirty years. Yet the book I had in my hands had thick, stiff, cream-colored pages held together with strong threads, a constant reminder that these words came from the past. Near the end of his book David lamented about not finding an authentic medium. But at seventy-five he said that he would soon know what laid beyond death. Now Mr. Abbott, long dead, has spoken to me through his book in a way I doubt reading a modern reprint or by electronic means would have been possible.