Trueblood on HBO

Books, movies and TV serials alike, capture the workings of a psychic mind. Unsurprisingly, some of these are hugely popular. After all, who doesn't appreciate a bit of magic?

HBO series "True Blood" chronicles the life in the sleepy town of Bon Temps which actually isn't as sleepy as it looks. There are secrets amidst the people and the main protagonist Sookie Stackhouse is a telepath. She has the ability to read minds and another character, Sam, has the ability to metamorphose. "True Blood" is a dark drama series directed in a lovely manner and is scheduled for a Season 4 airing sometime soon.

"Psych" is a comedy series that narrates the story of Shawn Spencer and his partner Gus. They pose as psychic detectives and glue themselves to the Santa Barbara Police Department, insisting on providing their invaluable insight. They pose as psychics since they have no required qualifications to be detectives and basically solve cases not with their psychic abilities, but with observation.

"The Demolished Man" by Alfred Bester was a Sci-fi where the plot was set in such a futuristic world where telepathy was common amongst people. He terms these telepaths as "Espers" and they are divided into 3 levels of telepaths- Type 3 who can understand conscious thoughts at the moment they are formed and were often employed as secretaries or administrators; Class 2 Espers could detect pre-conscious level of thoughts, detect concealed patterns, epiphanies and associations, and formed the professional lawyers, managers etc.; Class 1 Espers can detect all of the preceding plus sub-conscious primal urges, and they occupied the authoritative levels of power in the police and government.

"True Blood", "Psych" are both popularly watched television series and "The Demolished Man" is an award-winning work of fiction, showing that things beyond the normal fascinate people when it is on television and on pages. But when it comes to real life, well, that is a different matter altogether