Science writer Martin Gardner has noted that Rinn had provided "good description of one of Reese's billet-reading performances, with an explanation of how he did it.

[7] One claim that Rinn investigated that turned out to be true was the Mynah bird of Emma Cecilia Thursby that could sing in different languages and play the piano.

Davis, Kellogg, Rinn and John W. Sargent, a past-president of the Society of American Magicians were present in the last séance sittings in April.

[9][10] Rinn's book Searchlight on Psychical Research (1954) was described in a review as the "death knell of spiritualism" as it exposed the fraud and tricks involved in spiritualist activities.

[11] In the book A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology (1985), authors Gerd H. Hövelmann, Marcello Truzzi and Piet Hein Hoebens described the book as: A flawed but nonetheless very important critical work by a man prominent in conjuring circles (Rinn was a successful businessman and part-time magician and exposer/ investigator of spirit mediums) who has given us material in this that today appears nowhere else.

[13] Skeptic Melvin Harris wrote that the book has "many faults and inaccuracies, but for all that, it offers many hints to investigators and points researchers in many fruitful directions.