The author fritters away his youth with collaborator Jesse McKravitts (not pictured) trying to sell by direct mail the Psi-Mappson Emotion Sensor. This adjustable galvanic skin resistance meter was never taken seriously by secret-life-of-plant research firms or hypnosis institutes simply because its delicate circuitry was housed in a coffee cup and bowl.

The Emotion Sensor succeeded another failed product, the Psi-Mappson Ganzfeld Glasses, which consisted of a halved pingpong ball spray painted red and mounted on two small foam donuts.