Charles Panati (born March 13, 1943) is a former college professor, industrial physicist, author and science editor of Newsweek.

The book was described in a review as a respectable survey of psi phenomena but "the skeptic will remain unconvinced... because the subject is not amenable to rational, empirical scrutiny.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writer Wendy Thompson Warner wrote that, "His views on parapsychology have, rightly or wrongly, been the target of widespread skepticism in the scientific community.

He wrote a second book, Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things in 1987 that was praised as "excellent bathroom reading".

[7] Panati's Sacred Origins of Profound Things received a positive review and was described as "an informative and entertaining book on the origins of religious ideas, sacred items, worship practices, holy symbols, and holidays.