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Condensed Reviews of 100 UFO books
by Dennis Robinson
I've been reading and collecting UFO literature for well over 20 years (though I did also read a UFO book in 1978 in my school's library, almost certainly by debunker, Donald Menzel). This list represents about a third of my paranormal book collection. There are many great UFO books not listed here, because I just don't own them yet or I just didn't feel up to reviewing them; plus there's a few here you likely won't ever run into (also some you can download for free and two fiction titles).
I have also provided links to the books on Amazon.com or elsewhere for your
convenience. These are mostly the books from the top shelves of my UFO bookshelf, as I have them arranged, and therefore contains lots of high scores, but they are mostly in order of category and not importance. So here are 100 UFO-related books, mostly good, some bad, some ugly and
maybe some surprises.
The format here is as follows:
# - Title (author, year, #pages) - my description and comments.
[score out of 5 stars]
A note about scoring: The books are scored according to how much verifiable and relevant information they contain relative to the UFO topic and how open-minded the approach of the author in general. Some just focus on a certain aspect of the problem, a particular UFO incident or wave, but many of these also address their relationship to the overall enigma and are scored accordingly. Scores reflect these general sentiments:
5: Excellent. (I fully recommend this book. Lots of good data, easy to digest.)
4: Good. (Perhaps dated, less data, or less readable, but worth the time.)
3: Not bad. (Dated or maybe even questionable but of some interest.)
2: Poor. (Outdated info, bad info or just not enough for a thorough overview.)
1: Awful. (For UFO researchers and scholars only.)
1 - UFOs and the National Security State (Richard M. Dolan, 2002, 478pp) - Foreword by Jacques F. Vallee, Ph.D. [see #6-14]. For anyone. This is a history book, but not the kind you'll find in a school, unfortunately. Quite simply "the book" to get on the topic of UFOs. Filled to the rim with facts as a chronology, detailing the approach of the military and national security apparatus of the US in dealing with the UFO problem from 1941-1973. No speculation about origins of the phenomenon, just verifiable information laid out by a genuine academic historian. Clearly demonstrates the reality of the unknown phenomenon by relating the best hard core cases of military involvement (or otherwise) and explaining in detail the reasons and mechanics behind the evolution of military and government official policies regarding the UFO problem; namely, secrecy. Finally, a historian has assessed the problem from the roots. Volume II has now been published covering 1974-1991, from what I hear, but my local Books-a-Dozen doesn't seem to know what I'm talking about.
[*****5]
2 - The UFO Enigma: A New Review of the Physical Evidence (Peter A. Sturrock, 1999, 401pp) - This is the collection of presentations made to the scientific panel of the Rockefeller-sponsored study of the UFO problem in book form. Important issues and cases covered in detail. Of special note are: Professor Sturrock's complete, point-by-point rebuttal of Dr. Condon's conclusions and recommendations, which helped end the US Air Force's role in UFO investigation; Meticulous study of the 1971 Lago de Cote UFO photograph [see #11]
taken by a Costa Rican government mapping plane; Meticulous study of the 1981 Vancouver Island UFO photo, a clear, color daytime photo of a disk with bubble canopy on top; Detailed analysis of the Trans-en-Provence case, a UFO landing case with impressive physical evidence [CEII], and several other "hard core" cases with some brand of physical evidence; Jacques Vallee [see #6-14] was a major contributor.
[****4]
3 - Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-Up (Timothy Good [see #53-55], 1988, 592pp) - Foreword by Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Hill-Norton,
GCB. Before Richard Dolan [see #1] came along, this was the primo fact-filled, name-revealing book dealing soberly with the military involvement with the UFO problem, making a strong case for reality of the phenomenon and government cover-up of that reality. In interviews, Dolan has stated it was in fact this book that got him interested in the topic, since as a military historian, he was familiar with the names involved. Required reading for any serious student of ufology. Lots of photos identifying the people whose names come up again and again in UFO books, especially government officials, military officers and intelligence agents involved in the early days. Part One [chapters 1-5] deals with the history of the phenomenon in Great Britain from 1943-1981, Part Two [chapters 6-10] covers events around the rest of the world and Part Three [chapters 11-17] are about US incidents and the involvement of the United States government. My understanding is that as a London Symphony Orchestra violinist, Good used his travel requirements doubly to locate and personally interview scores of witnesses for this and other books. This is an important book that will supercharge anyone's UFO education. (Updated edition titled:
Beyond Top
Secret.)
[*****5]
4 - Alien Agenda (Jim Marrs, 1997, 656pp) - Maybe the most thorough and fun book on the UFO topic a newcomer could find. This is a very thick book, absolutely full of info, with 12 chapters covering 78 different aspects of the UFO problem with the many theories about UFO origins and peripheral matters from sober to insane. A great choice for any reader. The only book like this with more info (though perhaps not as fun) is the Mammoth Book of UFOs [see #95]. Excellent addition to UFO literature by an author better known for his JFK assassination research. Interestingly, after this book was published, it was this author who brought the UFO community's attention to the JFK memo requesting UFO data from the CIA director 10 days before his assassination. Hmm...
[*****5]
5 - UFO Exist! (Paris Flammonde, 1976, 480pp) - Intended as a companion volume to The Age of Flying Saucers. Though a bit dated, this is another thick, well-researched volume from another author known for JFK assassination research. Despite the goofy title, this book serves well as a reference volume, full of details of hundreds of sightings. It makes a historical chronology from the Bible and Eastern mystical writings to the 1897 wave through the various UFO waves from the late forties up to the early 1970's, detailing many, many cases that other authors merely mention and many cases I'd never heard of. It also provided leads on incidents near my area in 1973 that I have since followed up on personally. If nothing else, it shows clearly the global and historical nature of the phenomenon and the high level of strangeness attached to many of the sighting and encounter reports. He frequently uses the term Undefined Sensory Experience [USE] to describe UFO incidents, which refers more to the witnesses than perceived phenomena, which is more or less his way of saying he's not necessarily a staunch proponent of the extra-terrestrial hypothesis [ETH].
[****4]
6 - UFOs in Space: Anatomy of a Phenomenon (Jacques Vallee, 1965, 284pp) - Vallee's first book on the topic. This book, while dated, is still relevant as it demonstrates the strangeness of cases studied up to that point. By 1965, Vallee had already been given access to the Air Force files and had built his own database that also included reports from Europe, which he collectively compiled into the single largest database of UFO sighting reports in the world at the time. Vallee points out that the most convincing cases of the time were unknown to the public and, as he put it: "the more widely discussed cases, such as Washington in 1952, are rather poor and, in our files, would be considered second rate." It is obvious from this book that the ET hypothesis [ETH] still seemed like a strong possibility to Vallee at the time.
[****4]
7 - Challenge To Science: The UFO Enigma (Jacques & Janine Vallee, 1966, 268pp) - Foreword by J. Allen Hynek. I searched for 16 years for a copy of this book. I have a first edition [Thanks, Kari!]. This book presents the original culmination of data gleaned from the use of computer systems to process UFO sighting data. Patterns were starting to emerge and in fact Appendix III at the end is a reproduction of a catalogue of 500 UFO observations in machine-readable form. According to Vallee, a much more extensive catalogue was devised at the time using an improved codification system, but would have taken up too much
space to publish. The book recounts many hard core cases investigated by Vallee, Hynek, Aime Michel and others and for its time, is a quite impressive example of science applied to the UFO problem. Among the dozens of cases explored are the Lonnie Zamora landing incident. Vallee proposed a "team of scientists be assembled to quantify the data using computers
as an aid in the
organization of the data, in a bid towards reaching a solution".
[****4]
8 - Passport To Magonia (Jacques Vallee, 1969, 372pp) - Another classic of the field. This work demonstrates that what we are experiencing as the UFO phenomenon might not be anything new at all. This book shows how Vallee's ideas about the UFO problem were broadening beyond the idea of ET visitation and that the UFO phenomenon has distinct parallels with folklore of ages past: fairies, sylphs, etc. Contains a nice appendix at the end called "A Century of UFO Landings", which reads much like Don Berliner's List of 565 Blue Book Unknowns
(downloadable free from
UFOcasebook.com, et al). This is a heavily-quoted book and has been a valuable reference for me over the years.
[*****5]
9 - Messengers of Deception (Jacques Vallee, 1979, 243pp) - This book took nearly a decade to find [Thanks, Mom!]. I understand it has now finally been reprinted. This is Vallee's study into contactees and the UFO cults that were popular at the time and much of what he learned was from his virtual infiltration into several of them. The book begins with a summary of the UFO problem as a physical phenomenon and the first mentions of the "control system" hypothesis and the problems with the ETH. Among contactees discussed are Claude Vorilhon, also known as Rael, who has since become big news because of Cloneaid. He explains the inherent danger of the cults and the title refers more to them than it does UFOs [or their occupants]. There is also some info on UFO cases contemporary to the time of the cult investigations. The chapter that sticks out in my mind is "A Cow For NORAD", referring to a mutilated cow that was dropped outside the gate of the NORAD
facility. This chapter is Vallee's study of mutilation reports and goes into some detail. Also reproduced are reports from law enforcement on the subject. Certain segments of this book were reproduced in Vallee's "Alien Contact" trilogy which followed this book a decade later. An important, cautionary book I was lucky to acquire when I did.
[*****5]
10 - Dimensions: A Casebook of Alien Contact (Jacques Vallee, 1988, 294pp) - Foreword by Whitley Strieber [see #67-74]. Chronological history of UFO phenomenon from ancient to modern times. Ends up laying out the pitfalls of the ET hypothesis and proposes the idea that "there is a spiritual control system for human consciousness and paranormal phenomena like UFOs are one of its manifestations" [p.243]. This book and the other two that followed in Vallee's "Alien Contact" series should be sought and read by serious students of the phenomenon at some point. Vallee's books have helped keep my mind open and helped prevent me from jumping to any conclusions or [hopefully] logical pitfalls.
[*****5]
11 - Confrontations: A Scientist's Search for Alien Contact (Jacques Vallee, 1990, 263pp) - The book was my formal introduction to Vallee. Several South American cases detailed, including one that resulted in the death of two men. Several photographic cases are addressed, like the Lago de Cote photograph of 1971, taken by a Costa Rican government mapping plane, showing what appears to be a large, metallic disc near the surface of and possibly partially submerged in the lake taken from above, making a size estimate possible. This book represents research from some of Vallee's world travels, which he funded himself, to personally interview witnesses and collect evidence firsthand. Vallee's scientific approach makes the evidence presented hard to ignore.
[*****5]
12 - Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception (Jacques Vallee, 1991, 310pp) - This is the final book in the "Alien Contact" trilogy and mostly a cautionary tale to students of ufology. Vallee describes the book this way: "Revelations is an attempt to clear the underbrush of an interesting scientific field that is cluttered with the weeds and the vines of human fantasy and with the poisonous flowers of unbalanced minds". Vallee covers issues such as: Bob Lazar & Area 51, MJ-12, the "Aviary", John Lear's alien revelations, Bill Cooper, Paul
Bennewitz & Richard Doty, the UMMO Affair, etc. Included are Vallee's insightful breakdown of "the seven most dangerous pitfalls that tend to derail our thinking process" [p.84] and an appendix titled: "Five Arguments Against the Extraterrestrial Origin of Unidentified Flying Objects." Vallee also discusses the possibility that governments are using secret technology and psyops to simulate UFO incidents. Highly recommended reading for those interested in the topic, which illustrates the popular and sensational aspects of ufology that should be approached with some healthy skepticism.
[*****5]
13 - UFO Chronicles of the Soviet Union: A Cosmic Samizdat (Jacques Vallee, 1992, 212pp) - Once the "Iron Curtain" fell, westerners were more welcome and UFO information started to flow out of Russia. This book is about the info Vallee uncovered during his trip to the Soviet Union in 1990 with Martine Castello, science reporter for Le Figaro. Many interesting "hard core" type cases are revealed that were previously unknown to westerners thanks to some Russian researchers, like the UFO landing at Voronezh, which Vallee discussed briefly in Revelations [see #12], and others as well as some cases involving abductions and even UFO crashes in Siberia. The information in this book refutes the claim of Lt. Col. Hector Quintanilla USAF [ret.] (Head of Blue Book 1963-1969) in his book manuscript: "UFOs: An Air Force Dilemma" [see #100] that the Soviet Union had no interest in the UFO phenomenon and were not studying it.
[****4]
14 - Forbidden Science: Journals 1957-1969 (Jacques Vallee, 1992, 473pp) - Jacques Vallee kept meticulous journals or diaries of daily events in his life during the period covered in the book. The journals describe intimate conversations with other well-known researchers, particularly J. Allen Hynek. It gives a revealing, behind-the-scenes look at UFO research in the 1960's and the challenges faced by the Air Force and civilian UFO investigators, especially when information was being withheld by the Air Force from civilian investigators and the public. As well, details of many cases that Vallee personally investigated are revealed in the text. Probably not an appropriate first choice for anyone new to the topic, but very revealing and interesting to anyone with a developed interest in the UFO problem and particularly anyone wanting more of the thoughts about the problem and frustrations encountered by Dr. Vallee. Of particular interest are details of arguments between James E.
MacDonald and J. Allen Hynek and Hynek's explanations to Vallee of his theory of "marsh gas" in the 1966 Michigan cases that were widely publicized at the time. Many photos, including one showing Dr. Vallee playing a guitar, something he never mentions in any book.
In 2008, Vallee published Forbidden Science: Volume II.
[*****5]
15 - The UFO Cover-Up (Lawrence Fawcett & Barry J. Greenwood, 1984, 264pp) - Formerly titled Clear Intent. Foreword by Dr. J. Allen Hynek. This book describes the process by which the authors, a powerteam using the Freedom of Information Act of 1974, forced UFO documents out of the US Air Force, the FBI and the CIA, which showed that these agencies were keeping an interest in the phenomenon when they claimed they weren't. Many telling documents are reproduced photographically and many more are retyped for readability throughout the book. Chapters devoted to various aspects of the problem and documents illuminating the issues like: Mystery Helicopters, CIA involvement 1949-1977, FBI involvement 1947-1977, the Malmstrom 1975 incident and more. I remember finishing this book (mid-90's) and thinking I had just read one of the best of UFO books.
[*****5]
16 - The Report On Unidentified Flying Objects (Edward J. Ruppelt, 1956, 315pp) - One of the best UFO books from the 1950's by the head of Project Blue Book from 1951-1953. I have a first edition copy [Thanks, Kari!] that contains his original conclusion: in part, that some UFO reports could be the result of extraterrestrial technology. In this, the most heavily-referenced of all UFO books, Ruppelt describes the details of many of the hard core cases of the time and relates the genuine puzzlement of Blue Book staff when trying to explain them. Subsequent editions omitted certain details that bolstered his open-minded conclusion and changed his stance to one that claimed all UFO sightings could eventually be identified if enough info were available. He died of a heart attack shortly after second edition at age 37. Hmm...
Read it
online free here.
[*****5]
17 - Flying Saucers: Serious Business (Frank Edwards, 1967, 319pp) - I really lucked out when I stumbled onto this book in an antique store. I got this highly prized first edition for $3.50. No, they knew not what they possessed. This classic, oft-quoted book is full of interesting photographs including UFOs, Avrocar and other man-made projects. It details many sightings and makes a clear case for any audience, in the way only an experienced journalist can, that the UFOs are the result of some unknown phenomenon with some reports caused likely by human technology, but others by an unidentified type. This book contains a rare mention of the Roswell incident. This is interesting, since the Roswell Incident was off ufology's radar between 1947 and 1978. Edwards was a mainstream journalist ahead of his time and died before his time. Hmm...
[****4]
18 - The Flying Saucers Are Real (Donald Keyhoe, 1950, 175pp) - The first book about flying saucers and the first of many from the original head of NICAP. (My copy is a 2004 reprint. Actually, I have 2 copies.) Keyhoe had an impressive military resume and became a major pain for the Air Force during the 50's and 60's when he was steadily providing convincing evidence that the Air Force was hiding the truth of the phenomenon in order to prevent a public panic. This book was written in the days before occupant sightings became a staple, but yet even at this early stage, Keyhoe was already convinced that many cases were encounters with interplanetary vehicles.
Keyhoe's sources were mostly military and highly reliable, and reported some amazing things. It's an expansion of his 1949 article in True magazine and is a fairly short book. No table of contents or index. Includes chapters covering famous incidents like: the Thomas Mantell chase/crash and the Chiles-Whitted sighting. Journalist Frank Edwards [see #18] is mentioned as one of the first radio broadcasters to talk of the news revealed in Keyhoe's True article, before he became known as the UFO investigating broadcaster/journalist. The original article and then this book started the real public relations nightmare for the US Air Force. Important as a landmark or checkpoint, but it's fairly short. If you are interested, this book fell into public domain recently and you can
read it online
free here.
[***3]
19 - Aliens From Space: The Real Story of Unidentified Flying Objects (Major Donald E. Keyhoe [USMC ret.], 1973, 322pp) - I found this first edition copy in an antique store for $3.50. Keyhoe's books were primary resources for researchers from the 50's to the 70's, but they are increasingly hard to find, as they are mostly out of print. (I have only found 3. One was in the local library and not part of my collection.) This was his last UFO book and he got pretty quiet after this, though he did not pass away until 1988. There is
a lot of "hard core" sighting information, and like several of his other UFO books, there is just as much info about the process he went through in acquiring the information. Unsurprisingly, Keyhoe rips on the Condon study. Of special interest to me is the discussion of the Rand Corporation's UFO study of 1969
["UFOs: What To
Do?"], which confirms the reality of the phenomenon and even promotes the ETH. However, that is the one tantalizing topic the book covers in many spread out parts, and frustratingly "Rand" is not listed in the otherwise comprehensive index, nor is the document's author, George Kocher. Oh yes, and let's not forget about the outrageous concept of "Operation Lure", discussed at some length also.
[****4]
20 - UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse (John A. Keel, 1970, 320pp) - Another heavily-quoted classic of the field of which I own a first edition copy [Thanks, Kari!]. When I first received it, I just stared at the cover for a few minutes before opening to view the contents at long last, as no library or book store had stocked it for years by the time I became interested. This is Keel's exhaustive study of the UFO phenomenon, in which he boldly accepts the
bizarre aspects of the phenomenon as a genuine aspect of the problem and postulates that UFOs are a small part of a larger, more far-reaching, sinister psycho-spiritual influence on humanity. Rather than shying away from the psychic phenomena and spiritual aspects associated with some UFO incidents, he embraces them as a fundamental component of what is really going on. Did I say exhaustive? I meant it. It has been republished recently. This book espouses a unique viewpoint that cannot be overlooked by any conscientious researcher. Keel was the first to propose the concept of "ultraterrestrials", introduced in this book.
[*****5]
21 - The Mothman Prophecies (John A. Keel, 1975, 272pp) - By far, the most bizarre book I've ever read in any category. Thankfully, I read it before the 2001 movie (starring Richard Gere) came out. The movie is just a fictionalized mish-mash of some of the more
bizarre elements of the story. If you want to read some truly bizzare and perhaps scary stuff, read this book. I promise, you'll say, "Whoa...". Keel obviously has evolved his concept of the UFO phenomenon as a small part of a larger and more sinister unseen world around us. This book recounts tales of "Men In Black" [see #40], Mothman, threatening phone calls with MIBs and weird calls with seemingly psychic entities of some kind, ghostly happenings, UFO incidents and more, all culminating with the collapse of the Silver Bridge, which seemed to draw a close to the disturbances, except some of the MIB stuff. Very weird, very memorable.
[****4]
22 - Firestorm: Dr. James E. MacDonald's Fight for UFO Science (Ann Druffel, 2003, 609pp) - Foreword by Jacques Vallee. This is a book that ufology has needed for some time. It describes the battle fought by Dr. MacDonald to get a real, open-minded scientific investigation of the UFO phenomenon, unlike the University of Colorado Study, which he passionately criticized. It's also a good source of UFO cases and the thorough investigations made by MacDonald, a highly-qualified, respected atmospheric physicist in his day. I cherish the foreword by Dr. Vallee, as I do all his writing. He knew MacDonald personally, and there is no better person alive to have written the intro to this fabulous and enlightening book about the scientist that could have turned it all around, who was an expert in the most appropriate field to refute the claims of skeptics like Menzel, the astronomer, and Klass, the character-assassin.
[*****5]
23 - Angels and Aliens: UFOs and the Mythic Imagination (Keith Thompson, 1991, 283pp) - For several years this was one of my favorite books on the subject of UFOs. However, Thompson seems to be careful about not promoting a certain point of view about the origin of the UFO problem. He is actually more concerned with making parallels with mythology by invoking correlations with Prometheus and the Trickster and other mythological archetypes. Some of my friends, whom I lent the book to, did not quite get the point, and that is that the UFO problem mirrors aspects of our traceable historical mythology. This is basically a good historical look at the best cases of the 20th century and relates the mystery presented to all of us by the UFO phenomenon, and at the end of every chapter pulls it all back to a simplified summary which equates it all to some aspect of past mythology. There is plenty of good UFO information in this book, and the mythological correlations serve to bolster Thompson's argument that the UFO problem is an extension of our past mythology seen through the colored glasses of the space age,
occasionally invoking the views of Joseph Campbell or Carl G. Jung. The same kind of concepts are conveyed in much more thorough studies like:
Vallee's Passport to Magonia [see #8] and Keel's UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse [see #20]. Basically, Thompson does a really good job of showing how the UFO problem, as an unidentified phenomenon, is much like mysteries of our past, but comes at us in the guise of a mystery that eludes even the most modern sciences. Definitely worth a look, and it won't answer the big questions, but at least the reader becomes aware of the big questions, and that is the whole point.
[****4]
24 - UFO Briefing Document (Don Berliner, 1995, 241pp) - "The Best Available Evidence". Endorsed by several big names in UFO research as a definitive look at the core of the UFO problem. This book is highly recommended and receives the highest rating because it relates the most solid information in the least space. It begins with a 33 page overview of the UFO problem and then Part Two covers the most intense waves and even particular incidents of interest from 1944-1994, including: the Trans-en-Provence landing of 1981; Socorro, NM landing of 1964; Japan Airlines 747 over Alaska, 1986, one of the best hard core cases on record; and many others. This book would not be too overwhelming for the newcomer to the topic, but gets some of the most important cases across to the reader. This is a fantastic and thorough overview of the hard core of the UFO problem, and the text only occupies 208 pages (plus 38 pages of readable
appendices, including one on Roswell). This book was engineered to educate the UFO-uneducated. Buy it...today.
[*****5]
25 - Dark Object: The World's Only Government-Documented UFO Crash (Don Ledger & Chris Styles, 2001, 168pp) - This is the definitive breakdown by Canadian researchers of the Shag Harbour incident of 1967, involving the apparent crash landing of a UFO in the harbor, witnessed by many and the subsequent events that followed. These guys really dug out some interesting info from government files, which more than suggests that it really happened. Stories from government-contracted divers who witnessed the object underwater as well, before it left the area and was tracked leaving the water and then heading toward space. Ledger and Styles made good use of the Canadian version of the Freedom of Information Act to acquire much information about the incident that was not previously known. Great book, well-researched and presented in a readable way.
[****4]
26 - Scientific Ufology (Kevin D. Randle, 1999, 241pp) - This is another great UFO book that cuts to the heart of the matter. Captain Randle opens with a breakdown of what the problem is between scientists and ufology. The next sections deal with specific cases in which the various forms of UFO evidence are perfectly illustrated. First, Randle deals with 2 cases with merely eyewitness testimony. Next are 3 cases that had impressive radar evidence, then five cases involving some of the best
photographic evidence (some of the photos are reproduced in the book). Two cases with physical trace evidence are discussed next
(Socorro, 1964 & Delphos, 1971). Then there is a long section on several more impressive cases, where Randle points out the shortcomings of the conclusions reached by skeptics in those cases. Finally, Randle talks about the long history of hoaxes involved in the field. His conclusions are rational and supported by the evidence
laid out in the book. This book gets a high score because of the great cases detailed and Randle's rational approach. Perhaps his best overview book on the topic.
[*****5]
27 - Project Blue Book Exposed (Kevin D. Randle, 1997, 282pp) - This book describes the details of thirteen cases found in Project Blue Book files in as many chapters, which run the whole gamut of the different varieties of UFO evidence. In the end it comes off as a fairly good overview of the phenomenon. Randle is a meticulous researcher who has gone to great lengths to clear up the muddied waters of the Blue Book investigations. Listed in an appendix are all the Project Blue Book "unidentified" cases (much like
Don Berliner's list and compiled the same way, from the raw files in the National Archives before they were microfilmed with witness names redacted) with all the witness names "plugged back in", including several cases that Blue Book investigators labeled with some explanation that Randle disagreed with, mentioning that in those cases (i.e.; Kenneth Arnold case, where Air Force called it a mirage). That appendix alone makes a wonderful reference for researchers.
[****4]
28 - Case MJ-12: The True Story Behind the Government's UFO Conspiracies (Kevin D. Randle, 2002, 311pp) - This book gives a pretty thorough look at the Roswell incident and the various evidence that supports the idea that something strange happened there, including important witness testimony and verified documents that support the UFO crash story and evidence for the existence of some type of oversight committee assembled to deal with the issue. Later in the book, Randle discusses the notorious MJ-12 documents, which surfaced anonymously in 1980's, and goes through their history and the eventual evidence that they are bogus. He goes on to describe other similar documents which have surfaced over the years. This is one of the better books that cover Roswell and the questionable documents that purport to prove the idea that a UFO crashed in Roswell in 1947. Randle describes at the end why he thinks ALL the MJ-12 documents are bogus and a blight on UFO researchers. Great book, if you're looking for info on the topics mentioned here.
[****4]
29 - Conspiracy of Silence (Kevin D. Randle, 1997, 365pp) - This is a scaled-down version of the kind of information one will find in books like Timothy Good's Above Top Secret [see #3] or Dolan's UFOs and the National Security State [see #1]. The introduction is written by long-time investigative journalist and Pulitzer prize-winner, Jack Anderson. This is yet another well-researched work by Randle with chapters covering: a brief history starting in 1947, the Roswell Incident, the official Air Force investigations, the Lubbock Lights, the Washington Nationals [see #30], the 1953 Robertson Panel, Condon's study, and more, including an appendix attacking skeptics. This book's focus is on the government's cover-up and the evidence pointing to it, while also enlightening the reader on some important UFO cases of the early days. More thorough books on this angle of the problem are available (mentioned herein), but there is nothing wrong with this book at all, with many hard core cases detailed throughout.
[****4]
30 - Invasion Washington: UFOs Over the Capitol (Capt. Kevin D. Randle, Ph.D. , 2001, 312pp) - This is the definitive study of the "Washington Nationals" or "Washington Merry-Go-Round" incidents of 1952, where multiple UFOs were seen and tracked on radar near the nation's capitol. Breaks down the chases by scrambled interceptors and contains plenty of testimony from pilots, radar technicians and officials involved in the investigation. There may be a book that goes into even more detail about the incidents in question than this one, but I am currently unaware of it. Mr., I
mean Capt., I mean Dr. Randle
received his doctorate in psychology shortly before this was published.
[****4]
31 - Project Moon Dust (Kevin D. Randle, 1998, 313pp) - This book is like a continuation of the topics revealed in Randle's Conspiracy of Silence [see #29], but stands on its own as a fairly thorough overview of official investigations into UFOs, the evidence of a cover-up by the Air Force and Project Moon Dust, an alleged project begun to handle UFO crash-retrievals. It begins with a discussion of the early Air Force investigations, which leads into chapters about the 1952 wave, the Kelly-Hopkinsville UFO occupant attack incident (1955), the 1957 wave, chase plane disappearances, the Cash-Landrum Incident (1980), the Belgium sightings of 1989, and readable appendices covering the
Scandinavian Ghost Rockets, the Roswell Incident and Randle's experiences with the Freedom of Information Act.
[****4]
32 - A History of UFO Crashes (Kevin D. Randle, 1995, 276pp) - The title says it all. Randle gives a thorough breakdown on the following cases: Roswell (1947); Plains of San Augustin (1947); Kingman, AZ (1953); Ubatuba, Brazil (1957); Las Vegas, NV (1962); Kecksburg, PA (1965). He also devotes a few final chapters to: the MJ-12 Document hoax, the semantics debate surrounding the
controversial Twining Letter and Project Moon Dust [see #31]. There is a nice appendix with brief
explanations of several dozen alleged UFO crashes, most of which were hoaxes, but it is a nice addition to the end of the book and increases its value as a reference for interested UFO researchers.
[****4]
33 - The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell (Kevin D. Randle & Donald R. Schmitt, 1994, 314pp) - When this book was first published, it was the most thorough book yet available on the Roswell Incident. The information in this book was later updated by Randle the following year [see #34] and in later books. This book still has more detail of certain aspects than the most recent works on the subject, but considering the fact that the story's timeline has been updated by both of the original authors, I would have to recommend that readers go for the Carey-Schmitt Witness To Roswell for the latest info [see #35]. Still, if you want some good details and more recent books are not available, this is still not a bad choice.
[****4]
34 - Roswell UFO Crash Update (Kevin D. Randle, 1995, 190pp) - This is a [brief] update to the Roswell incident story timeline developed by Randle & Schmitt [see #33] that predates the latest official announcement of "Mogul balloon train from 1947 and test dummies from 1953" by two years. However, Randle is already rejecting the Mogul balloon theory of Karl Pflock, which he spends the first chapter refuting, and the Air Force analysis, which specifies particular Mogul launches, which get refuted as well. Reproduced in the back are 10 samples of the many signed affidavits collected that describe an ET event. To be honest, the Air Force story really stinks compared to the convincing story laid out by Randle, especially when they only interviewed five witnesses and ignored any who claimed to have handled unusual debris and Randle-Schmitt interviewed over five hundred, multiple times. That means that they did at least a hundred times more research than the Air Force. Maybe the Air Force should have hired them to do their investigation.
[****4]
35 - Witness To Roswell (Thomas J. Carey & Donald R. Schmitt, 2007, 256pp) - The most thorough "pro-ETH" book I've read on the Roswell Incident. It sets up all the facts culled from over 600 witness testimonies and demonstrates the timeline including all the latest information that has been obtained. Picks apart the
government's now 4th attempt to explain it away as something other than what the 600+ witnesses say it was. Also included is the posthumously released affidavit signed by the 1947 Roswell press information officer, Lt. Walter Haut, who finally describes in the affidavit the fact that what crashed was an ET device along with alien bodies and he and others at the base were ordered to secrecy--that's new info as of 2007. If you want to get a book about Roswell [as an ET event], this is the one, currently. Out of the number of people in a position to know the real deal on Roswell, the overwhelming majority suggest it was an ET event while a minority claim a balloon and mostly do/did so in an official capacity. If you have an open mind, you will likely be impressed...even if you have one eyebrow raised.
[*****5]
36 - The Day After Roswell (Philip J. Corso & William J. Birnes, 1997, 341pp) - This controversial book starts out with a retelling of a version of the Roswell story that is at odds on several points with the version worked out by researchers like: Stanton Friedman, Randle & Schmitt and others. The "declassified" documents reproduced at the end of the book were already available to researchers and not Earth-shattering by any stretch. Corso's story is that during his time at the Pentagon, at the Army's Foreign Technology desk, he was tasked with "seeding" some of the Roswell crash artifacts to industry, which helped to advance the development of: integrated circuit chips, lasers, super-tenacity fibers [like
Kevlar], fiber optics and accelerated particle-beam devices. He describes the artifacts in great detail. One thing that has always bothered me about Corso is something he repeated again and again in interviews. When asked why he had decided to tell his story, he didn't say because it was true or because he thought people should know the truth, he said he was telling his story because the young people today "wanted to hear it". Something about the story stinks, but I can't put my finger on it. After all, his credentials were impeccable.
[***3]
37 - The Roswell Incident (Charles Berlitz & William L. Moore, 1981, 184pp) - The original book about the Roswell crash recovery incident. Compared to later books, this one is light on details and witnesses, but all the original key witness testimonies are there. The basic story has not changed much, but with all the new info out there, there's not much point in this book. However, it does contain a photograph [almost certainly bogus] that has not gotten much attention of two soldiers escorting an apparent alien with breathing apparatus, plus an early chapter covering US astronaut sightings of possible UFOs. This book predates the US Air Force sputtering excuses of Mogul balloons and test dummies, as Rawin, Rawin Sonde and Skyhook balloons were the government's tentative explanations at the time. Skip this and go for Randle & Schmitt's Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell [see #33] or even better: Carey & Schmitt's Witness To Roswell [#35].
[**2]
38 - Night Siege: The Hudson Valley UFO Sightings (Dr. J. Allen Hynek & Philip J. Imbrogno with Bob Pratt, 1987, 207pp) - The definitive investigation of the Hudson River Valley UFO sightings of the 1982-1986 and the final work of Dr. Hynek, the one-time scientific consultant to Project Blue Book for the life of the project. The objects seen were mostly of the gigantic triangular variety, but many pictures and video (12 photos in the book) were taken of various light configurations: circles, disks, V's, etc. Imbrogno revisits the important aspects of the case again later [see #39]. Many accounts of the object or objects are given in the book and the authors conclude that something "alien to our world is in our midst", inviting the scientists of the world to review the evidence and help solve the mystery. Incidentally, I suspect that the large triangles seen all over the world are really top secret US aircraft. Researchers with the National Institute for Discovery Science [NIDS] have recently uncovered a correlation between flight trajectories of giant triangular UFOs and the locations of US air bases that have top secret aircraft projects.
[****4]
39 - Interdimensional Universe (Philip Imbrogno, 2008, 293pp) - Imbrogno claims that this is his last book on the topic of UFOs. He lays out some very convincing cases from the history of the phenomenon, especially cases which he has investigated or cases in which he was consulting with the principal investigators [ie; John G. Fuller, J. Allen Hynek]. Recounted are the incident at Exeter and the Hudson Valley UFO sightings [see #38] and many others. He then goes on to describe the use of psychics in his investigations, which seems a bit out there, but he ends with some very interesting conclusions about the topic, very much in line with conclusions reached by John Keel [see #20]. The Hudson Valley and Exeter info was particularly enlightening and worth the read for me. Includes some photos, including a couple of satellite images of apparent UFOs. Imbrogno also discusses connections between UFO entities, angels and the Jinn (demons) of the Islamic faith.
[****4]
40 - The Truth Behind Men In Black (Jenny Randles, 1997, 248pp) - This book deals entirely with the UFO-related phenomenon known as the "Men In Black" or MIB, an interesting subset of data that one finds scattered throughout UFO literature. This book recounts all of the well-known incidents and many, many more that even seasoned UFO researchers may not be aware of. Cases described take place in the US and UK, mainly, and there is reason to doubt official governmental involvement in many of the incidents. Also described are the many theories of the origins of the strange characters. Are they government agents, aliens or something else entirely? Very interesting read and a nice departure from UFO-sighting-laden books.
[****4]
41 - Unconventional Flying Objects: A Scientific Analysis (Paul R. Hill, 1995, 429pp) - An extremely important book. This book was published posthumously by Hill's daughter. Hill became a clearing house for UFO reports while working at NASA [rumors say his superiors at NASA would not allow him to publish any of his findings while he was under contract]. He was an aerodynamicist employed by the Langley Research Center for NACA/NASA from 1939-1970, with an incredibly impressive technical resume. He retired in 1970 and finished the manuscript around 1975. For the most part, the book is a very readable breakdown of many hard core cases and a technical analysis of the info contained in them. He makes his case in a very powerful way that UFOs, rather than defying the laws of physics, actually obey the laws of physics. Hill was a pure scientist and the appendices at the end of the book are full of equations that, while coherent and verifiable, are way over my head at this time to be perfectly honest. This would be a great book for an open-minded scientist. My copy is unique, as it once was in the personal library of the late outspoken UFO skeptic Philip J. Klass, as indicated by the personalized gold label inside the front cover. Many researchers would likely find interesting the passages which Klass highlighted and the marginal notes he made throughout the book. Although the book is still in print and a recent publication, my copy's value is hard to calculate due to the previous ownership by Klass and his annotations, presumably made in an effort to find discrepancies, as related passages are highlighted throughout. It seems Mr. Klass was unsuccessful.
[****4]
42 - Disclosure: Military and Government Witnesses Reveal the Greatest Secrets in Modern History (Steven M. Greer M.D., 2001, 573pp) - Typos galore in this "Pre-Publication Rush Edition", but nothing overly distracting. It's a massive assortment of excerpts from transcribed video interviews with key government, intelligence, NASA and FAA personnel about UFO incidents and the enforced policy of secrecy surrounding the issue. Fully reproduced testimony from some 69 different highly credible witnesses in as many chapters. Plus the first few chapters have testimony from even more individuals. Folks like: Astronaut Edgar Mitchell, John Callahan, Dr. Richard Haines, Capt. Robert Salas, Prof. Robert Jacobs, Astronaut Gordon Cooper, Nick Pope, Admiral Lord Hill-Norton, Sgt. Clifford Stone, Capt. Bill Uhouse, Gordon Creighton, Donna Hare, Dr. Robert Wood, Col. Philip J. Corso, Glenn Dennis, Lt. Walter Haut, and so many more. Also many declassified documents relating to the topic are reproduced over many pages. Good Stuff.
[****4]
43 - Hitler's Flying Saucers: A Guide to German Flying Discs of the Second World War (Henry Stevens, 2003, 269pp) - Stevens pulls no punches about the fact he believes the UFO phenomenon is actually the result of flying saucer technology originally developed by Nazi Germany during World War II. There are many, many photographs in this book, some of which can also be found in Man-Made UFOs by Vesco & Childress [see #44], showing Nazi saucers in flight and a few alleged UFO photographs from the 50's showing saucers much like the original Nazi designs. Also reproduced are many official documents showing that the CIA and other agencies were aware in the early 50's that the Germans had been developing flying saucers as early as 1941. Discussed at length are the development of saucers at Peenemuende Space Center, the BMW factory near Prague, Czech Republic and other locations by scientists like Viktor Schauberger the Austrian engineer, Luftwaffe aeronautical engineer Rudolf Schriever and his three colleagues, Klaus Habermohl, Richard Meithe and Guiseppe Beluzzo. Foo Fighters as real man-made weapons are discussed at length with several FOIA-released documents showing official
knowledge of this as early as 1945. Very interesting material, however I found the old typewriter style typeface a little distracting and there is no index...still, the man-made hypothesis deserves some attention, and the research in this book seems solid.
[****4]
44 - Man-Made UFOs 1944-1994: 50 Years of Suppression (Renato Vesco & David Hatcher Childress, 1994, 405pp) - The most documentary evidence indicating the origin of UFOs may well be the increasing evidence of the development of man-made disk aircraft over the years. This book is chock-full of photographs of man-made flying saucer prototypes and UFO pictures that are consistent with the man-made versions, plus many technical drawings and blueprints for flying saucer designs. Also shown are Nazi saucers in flight, though the authenticity of some pics like these has recently been under suspicion. This book makes an incredibly strong case that many of the credible UFO cases and photo cases are close encounters with man-made devices that have been and are still being manufactured secretly by the US and other governments, based mostly on original Nazi designs. This is the best book I have found on the topic (man-made UFOs) and I highly recommend this one. The pictures alone are worth the price of admission. The edition I have was published in 2003 and likely has some more pictures and details in the preface than the original. The book starts with a VERY in depth look at the Kenneth Arnold sighting, with some minor details that disagree with other accounts. No index.
[****4]
45 - UFO Revelation: The Secret Technology Exposed? (Tim Matthews, 1999, 256pp) - Foreword by Jenny Randles [see #40]. This book was my introduction to the full-blown concept that the UFO phenomenon is really the result of man-made aircraft that are still kept secret. I bought the book when it first hit the shelves and it was a little hard for me to swallow at first, but in retrospect, it is very well researched. It contains may cool pictures including photographs of projects by NASA and the Air Force and many drawings that were part of proposals for cool flying machines like giant triangular lighter than air [LTA] vehicles proposed for the Navy by the Aereon Corporation. Among many theories tossed about in the book, Matthews proposes that the Avrocar, while a technical failure, was really a cover for other projects which likely met with success. He discusses the Belgian UFO wave of 89-90 in the segment about flying triangles, as well, the Hudson Valley UFO sightings of the 80's. Also discussed are: unmanned aerial vehicles [UAV], foo fighters and of course, Area 51. Solid research brought forth in a very readable way. Nice pics. Hard-core ETH-proponents should give this one a chance.
[****4]
46 - The Hunt For Zero Point: Inside the Classified World of Antigravity Technology (Nick Cook, 2001, 291pp) - Cook is definitely a mainstream journalist and so what he reveals in this book comes at a much slower pace than the books listed just above, as he feels the necessity to qualify every fact tediously with supporting historical data. Also, nearly every other paragraph begins with the word "I". He shows conclusively though that research into antigravity has been going on in the black budget world for some time and is one of the ultimate top secrets of the American aerospace industry. He makes a strong case for the history of antigravity or "electrogravitics" research over the 20th century, beginning with Townsend T. Brown in the 1920's, showing how it was suddenly a big buzz in the aerospace industry in the mid-50's with ALL major aerospace companies, only to disappear from the literature in 1957, with no word of success or failure. Cook is a great journalist, and I applaud his work here, but he ends up saying that his book is not a "catch-all explanation for UFOs", rather that the subject of UFOs is too complex to be the result of a single source. This book is good, verifiable info with a boatload of speculation thrown in as well. Hardly a source of general info about the UFO problem, but important enough info to warrant interest by serious UFO researchers, as I feel the info here is most definitely part of the story.
[****4]
47 - Glimpses of Other Realities Vol. 1: Facts and Eyewitnesses (Linda Moulton Howe, 1993, 365pp) - This is a very large, very thick book, with hundreds of color photos, showing: UFOs, mutilated cattle, crop circles, drawings of aliens, microscopic images of crops from formations and flesh of mutilated animals. It makes a strong case for the artificial causality of cattle mutilations and the scientific evidence for something strange in the "genuine" crop circle formations. The third and fourth portions of the book deal with alien abductions and encounters with strange beings connected with UFO incidents, with many transcripts of regressive hypnosis sessions with abductees. You won't find many better illustrated UFO-related books than this one, or others by Linda Moulton Howe. She definitely believes UFOs are extra-terrestrial and they are the cause of cattle mutilations, "genuine" crop circle formations and "alien" abductions, and makes her case with this interesting, visually impressive book.
[****4]
48 - An Alien Harvest (Linda Moulton Howe, 1989, 455pp) - Foreword by Jacques
Vallee [see #6-14]. This is another large, thick book from Howe, full of interesting photos, including what is likely the biggest, clearest reproductions of the notorious "MJ-12" documents (and several other documents as well). This book mostly covers the cattle mutilation mystery and also goes into some detail on the "alien" abduction phenomenon too. Howe pulls no punches about her belief that extra-terrestrials are behind it all and makes a compelling case for the high strangeness of the topics covered. The many images of mutilated cattle and microscopic images of the dead cattle's incisions tell an amazing story in and of themselves. A nice companion volume to the documentary she made in 1980, A Strange Harvest. Vallee's brief foreword occupies two pages. Considering the cost of Howe's self-published books, an interested reader may get more out of the more recent Glimpses of Other Realities Vol.1 [see #47].
[****4]
49 - From Other Worlds: Aliens, Abductions & UFOs (Hilary Evans, 1998, 192pp) - This is a large book of high quality, much like the books of Linda Moulton Howe listed above, full of color photos and illustrations, showing a long history of UFO activity in the sky, including many images from before the days of the modern "flying saucer" era. It relates many historical tales of sightings of strange objects in the sky and also has many images from popular UFO-related movies too. It makes a decent overview of the UFO problem and has a lot of info about the abduction phenomenon as well. This is not as informative as many of the top-shelf titles I have listed above, but it sure has a lot of flashy pictures to keep the reader interested while conveying lots of info about the history of the UFO phenomenon.
[****4]
50 - Area 51: The Dreamland Chronicles (David Darlington, 1997, 281pp) - This is all about, as the title suggests, the notorious "Area 51" or Groom Lake Facility within the Nellis Air Force Range in the Nevada desert. There is, of course, a chapter on Bob Lazar, the un-credentialed "scientist" who claims to have been hired to "reverse-engineer" flying saucers that were apparently made for "smaller than human" pilots. Lots of discussion of the multi-faceted hoopla surrounding the base and the better-known personalities who have investigated it, including my MySpace friend, Norio Hayakawa, former director of the Civilian Intelligence Network and long-time authority on the base and
US government black budget technology. Not a great source of info on the UFO problem, but it does a fairly thorough expose of the Groom Lake facility, which has played a role in the evolution of the ET mythology that surrounds the UFO problem...that is, whenever he finally gets around to providing any information, rather than the overly descriptive book-filler about the process by which he got the information and his thoughts about all the people he got it from. Fairly in-depth, I suppose, considering when it came out, but more updated information on the "base that does not exist" is available elsewhere, but if you prefer info on the human drama surrounding the base in the 1990's, this is your book. At least he praises Norio's undeniable musical skills! Includes pics of the base.
[***3]
51 - Project Beta: The Story of Paul Bennewitz, National Security, and the Creation of a Modern UFO Myth (Greg Bishop, 2005, 278pp) - This is the latest, definitive telling of the story of Paul Bennewitz, the scientist who was apparently driven crazy by the idea that aliens were in cahoots with the government. The idea seems crazy, but it was actually encouraged by AFOSI agent Richard Doty, a name which comes up again and again in UFO literature, especially when disinformation is involved. Doty fed Bennewitz with info that encouraged his paranoid fixation with the "Dulce base". In truth, Doty was just protecting secret projects that were ongoing at the time, but that hardly seems a good excuse for knowingly leading on an otherwise intelligent if slightly unstable researcher. This book details the evolution of the myth that aliens have an
underground base maintained by the US government where secret stuff goes on like: abductions, alien cloning, alien-human hybridization, cattle mutilation, human stew for alien consumption and much, much more. It gets pretty sickening and sad. This is a tale that needed to be told. Kudos to Bishop for revealing the dark, nasty and horrible facts. Doty, by the way, is still promoting his ET mythology in his "retirement". Not a big source of UFO info, but this info is important these days, as the mythology it contains taints the UFO field mercilessly and needs to be understood for what it is by serious researchers.
[****4]
52 - Invisible Residents: The Reality of Underwater UFOs (Ivan T. Sanderson, 1970, 248pp) - My copy is a 2005 edition with a foreword by David Hatcher Childress and some interesting additional photos. I find Sanderson's writing to be very interesting with a detectable ironic wit at times and in the end extremely enjoyable. This book relates sightings of strange objects, consistent with objects described in many UFO reports, that are seen entering, exiting or
traveling through the world's lakes and oceans. Sanderson proposes that the mystery objects are actually based in Earth's oceans with possible bases there and at the end of the book goes further to speculate that an unknown race of intelligent beings may have evolved here on Earth
separate from homo sapiens (or even perhaps evolved elsewhere and moved here) and ended up moving to the ocean floor with advanced technology which we see in our skies
occasionally. Four appendices covering: Missing persons and things, the ancient Indian Vimanas, Herr Theodor Schwenk on vortices, and a nice table detailing 50 incidences of UFOs in or entering or exiting bodies of water. Certainly an inspiration for movies like The Abyss, this book, which proposes ideas some consider "crackpot", will likely be forgotten one day.
[***3]
53 - Alien Contact: Top Secret UFO Files Revealed (Timothy Good, 1991, 288pp) - This interesting book which is a follow-up to Good's Above Top Secret [see #3] begins with a brief commentary by Admiral of the Fleet, the Lord Hill-Norton GCB, Chief of Defense Staff 1971-1973, which praises Good's research and challenges any accused of hiding the truth to come out and officially complain or take legal action if the claims are untrue. Good expands on his theme of worldwide UFO cover-up with evidence from documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act of 1974 an interviews with scores of witnesses and researchers in the field like: Robert Lazar, Robert Oechsler, Dr. Edward Teller and more. Topics explored include: cattle mutilations, Area 51, military engagements with UFOs, Jackie Gleason's story, Belgian UFOs of 1989-90, encounters with aliens by civilians and the military, and of course the Bob Lazar Area 51 reverse-engineering of UFO propulsion story and much more. The back of the book has reproductions of many UFO incident related documents that have been uncovered thanks to the FOIA and the work of UFO researchers. Dozens pictures in this book.
[****4]
54 - Alien Base: The Evidence for Extraterrestrial Colonization of Earth (Timothy Good, 1998, 419pp) - In this thick book, Good mostly explores the stories and claims of the famous contactees of the 1950's and 1960's and reproduces many UFO photos. Contains about 80 pictures of: UFOs, contactees, sketches, and even pictures of supposed aliens. Even though he is skeptical of the claims of many contactees and abductees, Good makes a case through relating many stories of UFO landing and encounter cases, MIBs, plane chases and more, that extraterrestrials are here on Earth and are probably not going away any time soon. Some of the famous [and outlandish] contactees discussed are: George Adamski, Howard Menger, Herbert Schirmer, Paul Villa and many, many others. I find especially interesting that the UFOs photographed and filmed by Adamski, who made absurd claims, were also photographed by other UFO witnesses all over the world. They also resemble some of the man-made saucers discussed in books about man-made saucer technology [see #43-46].
[***3]
55 - The UFO Report (Timothy Good (ed.), 1989, 237pp) - Foreword by Timothy Good [see #3], who also edited the book. This book contains ten chapters with eleven contributors, each covering a different aspect or series of cases that were new at the time. Crop circles (Ralph Noyes), UFO
Crash-Retrievals (Leonard Stringfield), Soviet cases (Nikolai Lebedev), Chinese cases (Paul Dong), Gulf Breeze sightings (Donald Ware) and more. This is more or less a contemporary update for 1989 of then-current UFO research of the time. Stingfield's chapter I found especially interesting. Contains about 20 pictures, many of crop
circles.
[***3]
56 - The Sirius Mystery: New Scientific Evidence of Alien Contact 5,000 Years Ago (Robert Temple, 1998, 440pp) - This is not really a UFO book and the term UFO is only used once, when the author relates how a NASA employee warned him he might be considered as a UFO-nut because of what he proposes. Still, it seems to be
relevant to the topic, at least in the sense that the UFO problem is a historical one. This book is about the mysterious folklore of the Dogon tribe of sub-Saharan Africa. They relate a tale of contact from god-like people that came from the stars. The stars of Sirius, to be exact. What is so amazing about this story is that their folklore describes facts about the Sirius star system that were not known to or even detectable by astronomers until just very recently. Particularly, the fact that there was a third red dwarf star in the system (Sirius C) that was only detected in 1995. Why is this amazing? Because the information of the Dogon folklore was first learned of by the author in 1965. This is a really fascinating book, but does not rate high in this list only because of
the UFO-relevance issue.
[***3]
57 - Sightings (Susan Michaels, 1996, 269pp) - Foreword by Tim White (show host). This is the first companion book to the Fox television series Sightings, the show that investigated paranormal phenomena and focused more on evidence rather than sensationalism. The book has three parts: Hauntings, UFOs and the Unexplained. The 90-page UFO section, while brief, details 11 different cases, including Rendelsham Forest case, 1991 Mexico sightings, the Thomas Mantell chase-crash incident, and others. I always appreciated the open-minded stance of the show and it comes across in the book. Perhaps that's because the book's author was the show's sole writer. The unexplained section of the book has some really interesting stuff too, including a chapter on cattle mutilations! Contains 83 black and white photos.
[***3]
58 - Sightings: UFOs (Susan Michaels, 1997, 255pp) - Foreword by Henry Winkler (show producer). Unlike its predecessor [see #57], this is a purely UFO book. Notable is the fact that Michaels did not really use any of the material from the first book [see #57] in this one. The book has 6 sections containing a total of 20 chapters with
a section containing 50 black and white photos. This is a good UFO book with enough info to keep a seasoned UFO reader interested: Washington 1952 flap, MIB, man-made saucers, the Edwards AFB UFO,
incident at Exeter, Zimbabwe 1994 incident, many other UFO incidents, abductions, the alien autopsy video and more.
[****4]
59 - Project Blue Book (Brad Steiger (ed.), 1976, 423pp) - Another classic in the field by Steiger, guru of the unexplained. This book illuminates the strangest cases from the files of the US Air Force's 20 year study of UFOs, Project Blue Book. All of the hard core cases from Blue Book files are here, including the best cases with photographic evidence, landings and occupant sightings. Contains 59 black and white photos, a paper by J. Allen Hynek and many appendices at the end, including a transcript of a radio interview with 1960's Air Force spokesperson, Col. Lawrence J. Tacker.
[****4]
60 - The Uninvited (Nick Pope, 1997, 332pp) - This is former British Ministry of Defense agent Pope's "Expose of the Alien Abduction Phenomenon". In appearances on television, Pope seems skeptical of the UFO problem at times, but he unabashedly confirms his belief that something real is happening with regard to the abduction phenomenon in this book. He takes the stance of Vallee, meaning that he is not certain of the true nature of the abductors or even the UFO phenomenon itself. This book focuses on high profile abduction cases, like Betty and Barney Hill (1961) and Whitley Strieber [see #67-74], plus many cases personally investigated by Pope himself. Some of Pope's conclusions: Abductions, while bizarre, are a part of the UFO problem; they may not be what they appear to be; some abductees understate the strangeness of their encounters, out of a fear of not being believed; and abductions may be more widespread than currently estimated by investigators. Pope ends by calling out to the scientific community and the world's governments to bring their attention to the problem finally.
[***3]
61 - Hunt for the Skinwalker (Colm A. Kelleher, Ph.D. & George Knapp, 2005, 304pp) - This book chronicles the weird history of paranormal incidents that occurred at a ranch in Utah, while the ranch was being investigated by the National Institute for Discovery Science [NIDS]. Mystery animals, invisible entities, UFOs, ghosts, luminous orbs and more things were detected and even recorded, but nothing of any scientific value was ever obtained which could be rigorously studied in a laboratory environment. This book sort of describes the kind of weird situation found in Keel's the Mothman Prophecies [see #21], only in this case, many of the
anomalous phenomenon were observed by NIDS scientists and researchers, who were as perplexed by the incidents as the owners of the ranch and other witnesses to the events. Conclusions were hard to reach and Kelleher and Knapp seem unsure as to whether or not the different phenomena at the ranch are caused by the same unseen force or at least related somehow. This book is filled with descriptions of incidents of high strangeness that hit the reader in a jarring way. Very interesting.
[***3]
62 - Abduction (John E. Mack, M.D., 1994, 432pp) - Probably the most widely respected book written about the abduction phenomenon that proposes we are being interacted with by intelligent beings from elsewhere. This book highlights thirteen cases of the hundreds investigated by Dr. Mack. He points out the fact that while abductees are typically traumatized by their experiences, many of them report a type of spiritual transformation rather consistently as a positive one, but he questions whether or not it is a result of "Stockholm syndrome" as in hostages or prisoners of war, but rather a real aspect of the phenomenon. He also questions what level of reality these encounters occur at. There are some interesting speculations at the end of the book that address the UFO question directly and the bigger picture when considering abduction cases as a part of the greater mystery. At some point, every student of ufology must confront abduction data. This book is a more optimistic appraisal of the phenomenon than most.
[****4]
63 - Secret Life: Firsthand Accounts of UFO Abductions (David M. Jacobs, Ph.D., 1992, 336pp) - Foreword by John E. Mack, M.D. The bulk of this book is in the form of transcripts of regressive hypnosis sessions administered by the author to some 60 abductees. A whole chapter near the end is all about a description of the abducting aliens, based on solidly consistent details that had been recorded by Jacobs and other abduction researchers up until that time, from abductees with no previous knowledge of such experiences. Based on the descriptions of their appearance and actions, Jacobs lays out some interesting speculation about their possible motives, mostly by raising lots of interesting questions. He then goes on to describe the shortcomings of skeptical arguments against abduction reality that fail to address all of the specific and consistent details.
[****4]
64 - The Threat: Revealing the Secret Alien Agenda (David M. Jacobs, Ph.D., 1998, 287pp) - Unlike his previous book, Secret Life [see #63], this one is more of a logical breakdown of the components of abduction accounts, which renders a unique overview into this phenomenon. The end result is that Jacobs feels we've already been invaded. There is nothing we can do to stop these bug-eyed creatures from wherever they're from. They are too technologically superior and have chosen a method of operation that makes them extremely elusive and hard to detect overtly. The ending statements by Jacobs are not hopeful and in the end he just hopes to be wrong about it all. Most abduction literature is not for kids, but this one could be especially alarming for a young reader who is not prepared for the info contained in its pages.
[****4]
65 - Top Secret/Majic (Stanton T. Friedman, 1996, 272pp) - Foreword by Whitley Strieber. This is Friedman's definitive study of the notorious "MJ-12" documents. He feels they're not bogus. He feels that the newer "Operations Manual SOM1-01" is not bogus either. Friedman devotes a chapter to a discussion of the "Alien Autopsy" film, which he determines to be bogus. All of the MJ-12 documents are wonderfully reproduced in the book, including the newer "Operations Manual". Although I disagree with Friedman's assessment of the documents in question, he does a good job of explaining the issue of government and military secrecy with regard to the UFO problem in general and a sensible justification for the release of UFO data currently deemed classified.
[***3]
66 - Out There (Howard Blum, 1990, 336pp) - This book was the first I had heard of Remote Viewing. Blum talks about a "UFO Working Group", formed in 1987, that was actively using remote viewing to try to get more insight into UFO incidents [for more of this, see
#88-89]. This book was also the first good look I had at the notorious "MJ-12 Documents". They are reprinted in full as an appendix at the end. This book is overflowing with irrelevant filler about the appearances of the locations he went to and the weather on each day and how Blum went about his research and acquired the info he relates in the book, not unlike the late Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe in several of his books, but perhaps I'm jaded and prefer more fact-laden material. This book was good in it's day, but all you really get from it is a sense that the government knows more than it's telling.
[***3]
67 - Communion: A True Story (Whitley Strieber, 1987, 306pp) - This was Strieber's first book recounting his experiences with what appeared to be non-human beings from somewhere else. His experiences by-and-large are of the "bedroom abduction" variety, which later expanded into other experiences [see #68 & 69]. I've often challenged anyone to pick any random paragraph in this book and see just how much info Strieber can convey in a few words. He truly is a talented wordsmith, and his background as a
successful writer of horror stories is what brought the initial skepticism around the claims he makes in the book. Basically, he awoke one night to the presence of some kind of alien being that shattered his reality and had later episodes that revealed to him an apparent desire on the part of the alien beings for us to communicate with them somehow...perhaps spiritually...on their terms. What are their terms? Not even Strieber seems sure. He weighed all of the possible explanations for his experiences and even today, seems hesitant to say the cause is "bug-eyed aliens from space." Included are a transcript of his polygraph examination (which he passed) and a clean bill of mental health. This is a fascinating story.
[****4]
68 - Transformation: The Breakthrough (Whitley Strieber, 1988, 276pp) - This is the second book dealing with Strieber's experiences with the non-human beings from elsewhere. He describes experiences like being made to have an out-of-body experience and how the world appears when doing that, as well as travels to what appeared to be another planet. He still has feelings of horror when confronted by the beings but also is given reason to consider them magically wonderful. Many readers became turned off by Strieber's sudden "new age" flavor in this book, but I find it consistent with the spiritual transformation of other abductees. The experiences he relates in this book ask a lot of the reader's suspension of disbelief though, and if I had not read the first book, I may have been a little more critical of this one. In the context of the series of books he has written on the topic, this one is the bridge between the strange abductions of the first book and the mindbending events in the third. I seem to have misplaced this book twice and
purchased it a total of three times.
[***3]
69 - Breakthrough: The Next Step (Whitley Strieber, 1995, 310pp) - This is the third book in Strieber's series of encounter books and it also happens to be my favorite of Strieber's non-fiction books. It covers a lot of territory. He starts off with the phenomenon of the nine knocks, which were heard on the walls of people's houses in Glenrock, Wyoming, a few weeks before Transformation [#68] was published, which described a similar event at Whitley's cabin. He describes tampering at his home by our government and some really weird events on par with the Mothman Prophecies [see #21], but the real kicker is that he had an ongoing companionship with one of the beings in his house for some time. It would suddenly appear and vanish while he was fully conscious, helping him with meditation and in choosing books to read. All the while, Strieber's own incredulity makes it all the more believable. The final section deals with the official government position on the UFO matter and is very enlightening. This is another book that was lost and re-purchased at least once.
[****4]
70 - The Communion Letters (Whitley Strieber, 1997, 288pp) - Strieber published an address at the end of his book Communion [see #67], urging readers with similar experiences to write him with the details. He ended up receiving hundreds of thousands of letters from people with abduction accounts mirroring his or just as strange. The stories in this book run the whole gamut of bizarre abduction accounts. Recounted are tales of: sexual encounters, seeing dead relatives, childhood encounters, the "nine knocks" [see #69], group encounters and much more. Strange experiences written by real people reflecting the high strangeness of the world of alien abduction. This is one of the better books of assembled abduction accounts with a lot of clarification of certain issues by both Whitley and Anne Strieber.
[***3]
71 - The Secret School: Preparation For Contact (Whitley Strieber, 1997, 245pp) - The study of "alien abduction" has revealed a few patterns, one of which is that many experiencers have a history of abductions that go back to their childhood. Strieber is no exception and he recounts a tale of his participation in a type of "school" at night in a strange place near his childhood home that involved other children too in the Olmos Basin in San Antonio. This story is pretty far out and may well stretch your credulity to the max, not that Strieber's other books don't do the same. I end up being torn between thinking Strieber has a long history of either fragmented memory and a lifetime of fantastic hallucination or real experiences that challenge our view of reality. He covers a lot of territory in this book as in his other non-fiction books, including archeological mysteries.
[***3]
72 - Confirmation: The Hard Evidence of Aliens Among Us (Whitley Strieber, 1998, 290pp) - This is the book version of a television documentary of the same name. Strieber tackles a lot of the supposed physical evidence of an alien presence: UFO videos and photos, close encounter or abduction reports and "alien" implants surgically removed from abductees and the results of their detailed analyses, including the implant in Strieber's left ear. He also describes the event of it's appearance. Pretty interesting and scary. Strieber's discussion of the many impressive Mexican UFO videos from the early 1990's is pretty thorough. There is an interesting chapter about NASA aeronautical engineer and UFO researcher Dr. Paul Hill [see #41]. Strieber's stance is hard to figure sometimes, but basically, he comes off as open minded with regard to the origin of the UFO phenomenon and seems to suggest it might be independent of the "abduction" phenomenon, either of which may or may not be part of physical reality. An interesting book full of interesting info, but I find he spends a lot of room discussing cases which are heavily debunked even in the UFO research community: Carlos Diaz; the August 6, 1997 Mexico City UFO video; the Jesse Long abduction saga; and the Col. Philip J. Corso story [see #36]. Otherwise, lots of good UFO information for your digestion.
[****4]
73 - Majestic (Whitley Strieber, 1989, 306pp) - FICTION! - Considered a UFO book because it's a story about the Roswell Incident told using the insight of Strieber in hindsight of his "visitor" experiences. In the acknowledgements, he mentions consulting several key Roswell witnesses and researchers and states that it's a "work of fiction based on fact". It's the story of an alien ship that crashes in the desert and the head intelligence guy tasked with overseeing the recovery. Readers learn about the debris, the dead aliens' appearance and the bizarre way the monitoring aliens begin to enter the intelligence guy's life. Dramatized are autopsy reports and other official looking documents, just to spice up the story. It's a cool story, by any standard, but the details make it an interesting departure from the usual take on what went down during the Roswell Incident.
[FICTION=*****5]
74 - The Grays (Whitley Strieber, 2006, 335pp) - FICTION! - Considered a UFO book because the author admits using what he's learned from his "visitor" experiences as a springboard for the story. He also considers it a sequel of sorts to Majestic [see #75]. This is the story of a boy who has been bred through the influence of the "Grays" to be the smartest human ever, who will be a communication bridge between the two species with his enhanced psychic abilities. In the meantime, an MJ-12 goon, with access to a secret flying triangle is trying to locate and "whack" the kid to foil the Grays plan, because he thinks they are out to invade the planet. Strieber has a neat way of putting the reader in the heads of the aliens for fleeting bits. The kid has the potential to be some kind of savior for the Grays, but even he doesn't know that billions of them could be about to show up...Cool story. I don't read much fiction, gimme a break.
[FICTION=****4]
75 - The Watchers: The Secret Design Behind UFO Abduction (Raymond E. Fowler, 1990, 386pp) - Foreword by Whitley Strieber. This is Fowler's third book about the Betty Andreasson Luca abduction affair. This chronicles ongoing abductions which eventually paint the picture that the aliens are breeding hybrids for some noble purpose. She also sees beings of light. Speaking of painting pictures, this book is loaded with fantastic pictures drawn by Luca herself, illustrating the events described in the text. Shown are the breeding process of their cloned species, abduction scenarios and all sorts of fantastical imagery. Many researchers are skeptical of this case, including myself. Recent disclosures from the son of Betty's husband, Bob Luca, have cast even more doubt on the experiences claimed in the ongoing Andreasson Affair. Hmm...
[**2]
76 - The Terror That Comes In The Night: An Experience-Centered Study of Supernatural Assault Traditions (David J. Hufford, 1982, 278pp) - Not exactly a UFO book, but this part of the shelf needs this book too. It's basically an in-depth study about sleep paralysis and the "Old Hag" phenomenon, which takes different guises, depending on the cultural conditioning of the experiencer. Thanks in part to this book and others, my theory has developed into the following: Sleep paralysis is an experience which gravitates towards an archetype (conditioned image or idea). Common aspects of the experience are suddenly waking to total paralysis and a sense of a "presence" in the room with the experiencer. Whether conscious of it or not, the human mind will make a make a correlation between the paralysis and the "presence", which then has a face put on it by the still active dream imagery that can superimpose itself over the reality the experiencer senses consciously. Incidents in popular culture, like the Betty & Barney Hill case and the Travis Walton Case, which are connected to UFO incidents, have provided us with a new archetype for our subconscious minds to gravitate toward if we find ourselves in a sleep paralysis experience. Like so many other aspects of the UFO problem, I suspect close to 90% or more of "bedroom abductions" [or maybe all] are alien-archetype-driven sleep paralysis experiences. I had several myself, from 1992-1996, when literature of that kind was still somewhat new to me. This book is definitely relevant to "bedroom abductions" and therein lies its connection to UFO literature.
[**2]
77 - The Omega Project: Near Death Experiences, UFO Encounters, and Mind at Large (Kenneth Ring, Ph.D., 1992, 320pp) - Foreword by Whitley Strieber. This book makes a correlation between the "spiritual transformation" undergone by people who have had either "alien abduction" or "near death" experiences, and in the end identifies what Dr. Ring defines as an encounter-prone personality. There is even an exhaustive questionnaire added as an appendix at the end of the book that was used during the Omega Project for experiencers of UFO encounters. Lots of interesting tales of near death experiences (NDEs) and many accounts of alien abduction, a few of which are of the "bedroom abduction" variety. The book is an interesting discussion of both types of experience and even though they share few similar qualities, their overall effects on the experiencers is dramatic and similar. A very interesting departure from your typical UFO-related book and very informative as well from a
philosophical standpoint.
[***3]
78 - Missing Time (Budd Hopkins, 1981, 255pp) - This was among the first books, if not the first to bring together multiple accounts of UFO abduction. This book starts with describing Hopkins' own UFO sighting in 1964 (multiple witnesses), which began his interest in UFO phenomena. It covers seven detailed accounts of UFO abduction and shows the relationship to more well-known cases like the Betty and Barney Hill abductions of 1961 and the Travis Walton abduction account of 1975 and others. This book is undeniably frightening. This is not a book for kids, as I would say for any book about the abduction phenomenon. It shows the similarities in the accounts that were previously unpublished at the time, mostly because UFO investigators felt the information was so far out, it would damage the credibility of straightforward UFO reports. This book broke new ground and is a must-read for students of ufology. The important thing about this book is that it tells the tale of abductions that are connected to UFO incidents, not "bedroom abductions", which may well be the result of the UFO abduction archetype which has infected the sleep paralysis experience of the western world [see #76]. Contains 11 black and white pictures including many drawings of the abductors from various witnesses, showing undeniable and now-familiar similarities.
[****4]
79 - Intruders: The Incredible Visitations at Copley Woods (Budd Hopkins, 1987, 319pp) - This book was eventually opted for a made-for-TV movie starring Richard Crenna, which
bore little resemblance to the book, aside from abductions and vanishing pregnancies. This is another in-depth study of UFO abductions investigated by Hopkins. There are dozens of cases discussed in this book, but the main one is "Kathy Davis". What started with a brief letter to Hopkins about her experiences ended up being a full scale investigation involving "chemists, radiologists, medical practitioners, psychologists and other specialists". Like his previous book, Missing Time [see #78], it contains many pictures, including drawings of the abductors from twelve different abductees showing remarkable similarities. Having interviewed many more abductees by this time, Hopkins expands his theories about what is going on. This book is one of the earliest to describe the "baby holding" ritual undergone by many female abductees of apparently hybrid beings that they may or may not have given birth to. Extremely interesting reading, but as I have stated before about abduction literature, this is not for kids...it's kind of scary.
[****4]
80 - Witnessed: The True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge UFO Abductions (Budd Hopkins, 1996, 474pp) - This is the story of the abductions of "Linda Cortile" (whose real name turns out to be Linda Napolotino), who lived in a high rise apartment building in Manhattan. One of her abductions was witnessed by dozens of people on the ground and drawings by several of these witnesses are shown in the book, along with pictures of the locations discussed. It is a really twisted saga, involving witnesses connected with the United Nations. Cortile/Napolotino was later kidnapped by one of these witnesses in an attempt to get more information about the disturbing scene he had witnessed: Linda being floated out of her apartment window, escorted by three alien beings who all floated up into a waiting UFO. This incident has come to be known in the UFO community as the "Manhattan Transfer Incident". As always with abduction literature, disturbing stuff. There is also an intriguing x-ray picture of "Linda's" nasal implant.
[***3]
81 - Sight Unseen: Science, UFO Invisibility and Transgenic Beings (Budd Hopkins & Carol Rainey, 2003, 481pp) - This is a joint effort between longtime abduction researcher Budd Hopkins and his wife,
filmmaker Carol Rainey. The first portion of the book discusses recent breakthroughs in technology which go a long way towards explaining the many effects and feats displayed by UFOs and their occupants during abductions: invisibility, shutting down of electrical equipment, induced paralysis, even the aliens' wraparound eyes, and more. The second portion deals with current breakthroughs in genetics research which make more feasible the idea that aliens are creating human-alien hybrids as reported by abductees. The authors go on to recount many abduction accounts, placing many similar ones together to show the consistency of strangeness inherent in the accounts. There are some very strange stories recounted in this book! Also, there is a very nice explanation of quantum theory for the layman. There is a very clever wit which
occasionally surfaces to lighten the mood in a very refreshing way and helps make this book extremely interesting, not that the topics covered needed any help.
[****4]
82 - UFOs: A Manual for the Millennium (Phil Cousineau, 1995, 258pp) - An annoyingly shallow dive into the UFO topic by an author who didn't seem to mind taking advantage of the
"millennium hype" that pervaded everything in the late 1990's. While this book covers a wide variety of the various topics, incidents and personalities in the UFO field, he rarely devotes more than one page to any of them. It serves mostly as a brief overview of the topic, but it is painfully short on supporting details. Nice try, Cousineau. Also published as UFO Secrets Revealed.
[**2]
83 - ESP, Witches & UFOs: The Best of Hans Holzer Book II (Raymond Buckland (ed.), 1991, 288pp) - A frequent writer for Fate Magazine, Holzer was an Austrian parapsychologist with a Ph.D. who actually taught parapsychology at the New York
Institute of Technology for a time. This is the follow-up book to Ghosts, Hauntings and Possessions: The Best of Hans Holzer Book I. Though only a third of this book (96 pages) covers the UFO topic, the information is somewhat unique in dealing mostly with close encounter reports where UFO occupants were sighted and/or conversed with. In those cases, they generally speak in the language of the witness. Pretty far out stuff and also appropriate for younger readers, unlike abduction material. Some of the research of many other UFO researchers is mentioned, like John A. Keel [see #20-21]. The cover of this book has a really cool painting of an illuminated UFO bursting out of a lake in front of two campers.
[***3]
84 - Extra-Terrestrials Among Us (George C. Andrews, 1986, 338pp) - This was one of the first UFO books I ever bought. This book starts right off with hard core cases: the RAF Woodridge incident of 1980, the Fatima sightings of 1917, the Trans-en-Provence landing of 1981 and many others. Andrews then goes on to recount ancient tales of visits from the sky as well as many UFO sightings from before the modern era (pre-1947). There are chapters about Charles Fort and his collected stories of pre-1947 UFO-type incidents, mysterious "suicides" and suspicious deaths of UFO researchers Jessup and MacDonald and activist Karen Silkwood, cattle mutilations, and ends with a discussion of the then-current Hudson Valley UFO sightings. There are many black and white pictures in the book, mostly as an appendix at the end, including UFO photos and drawings of aliens.
[***3]
85 - Encounters: A Psychologist Reveals Case Studies of Abductions by Extraterrestrials (Edith Fiore, Ph.D., 1989, 276pp) - This is a book with fourteen case studies of people with "missing time" incidents that under regressive hypnosis became abduction accounts. Interestingly, they are not generally of the "bedroom abduction" variety. This is basically a book full of abduction accounts that may or may not be fantasy, so hard to know what to think of it besides saying it is quite interesting material, but like I always stress, this kind of
material is not for kids. Contains an appendix with a thorough list of UFO investigative
organizations, UFO publications and also a list of hypnotherapists that work with abductees.
[***3]
86 - Into The Fringe: A True Story of Alien Abduction (Karla Turner, Ph.D., 1992, 242pp) -
Turner died in 1996 from breast cancer which developed very quickly. Her Ph.D. was in Old English Studies and she was a university teacher until 1988 when she focused her energy on working with abductees. She recounts the recurring abduction stories of herself and her immediate family, so this is not a comprehensive abduction book, but more a narrative of one person's account and that of her family's, somewhat like several of Strieber's books. Like most abduction literature, it can be disturbing and of course not for kids as I like to say. The abductors are seen well enough to be described in great detail as well as their activities in the presence of the abductees.
[***3]
87 - Silent Invasion: The Shocking Discoveries of a UFO Researcher (Ellen Crystal, Ph.D., 1991, 184pp) -
Crystal died of pancreatic cancer in 2002. This book details accounts of UFO sightings and activities in the Pine Bush area of New York. Crystal's Ph.D. is in music composition. She supposedly has taken thousands of UFO photographs and photos of physical traces and even alien beings from a distance, but as one might expect, none of the photos reproduced in the book are very impressive and even increased my skepticism about this ongoing case. Shown are photos of lights in the sky, "orbs" (lens flares?) and what looks like showers of sparks. Maybe she's not full of crap, but the way the info is presented leaves much to be desired, by me in any case. She tells of her own
UFO sightings with accompanying pictures (not very revealing photos) as well as reports made by other witnesses in the area at the same time. The basic idea the book conveys is that there seems to be a hidden UFO base in the Pine Bush area, possibly
underground, and a multitude of paranormal phenomena in the area.
[**2]
88 - Cosmic Voyage: True Evidence of Extraterrestrials Visiting Earth (Courtney Brown, Ph.D., 1997, 399pp) - This book is full of information Brown got from his own remote viewing sessions about the UFO phenomenon and
extra-terrestrials engaged in activities around the Earth. Things described in detail are: the Roswell Incident, Adam and Eve, God,
Buddha, Jesus, the Galactic Federation, the event that destroyed Mars, the mind of the "Greys" and much more. The majority of incidents or activities viewed were of the "type 4", where the session monitor (another person) knows the details of the target but the viewer does not. A few others were either "type 1" (viewer is aware of the target specifics beforehand) or "type 6" (both monitor and viewer are aware of target specifics beforehand). Brown's political science expertise comes into effect at the end of the book where he rationalizes the government's position and activities with regard to the phenomena discussed in the book. It received great reviews from respected authors in the field like Whitley Strieber [see #67-74] and John Mack [see #62]. Though the data in this book is questionable, I find it very intriguing.
[***3]
89 - Cosmic Explorers: Scientific Remote Viewing, Extraterrestrials and a Message for Mankind (Courtney Brown, Ph.D., 2000, 392pp) - This is a continuation of some information revealed in Brown's previous book [see #88]. The book starts off with an in-depth description of what remote viewing is and even how to go about it yourself. Brown's website even had nice audio files of him doing "hypnosis" tapes to relax the mind and help the listener enter an altered state ideal for remote viewing as well as a random generator for randomizing remote viewing targets and assigning them a target coordinate number. Unlike his previous book, the majority of targets discussed were viewed with "type 2" techniques (target selected by computer with viewer unaware of target specifics) with several viewed with "type 3" techniques (target picked by outside agency with viewer unaware of target specifics). In both these techniques the viewer is all alone, with nobody present to monitor the session, which is supposedly a no-no in
the world of remote viewing. Among topics covered: disappearing Russian Mars probe, the Hale-Bopp companion object, the Greys, the Martians, the Reptilians, the Galactic Federation, more about
Buddha and God and many more topics. Even if it's fantasy, it's still fascinating, fun to read and ponder.
[***3]
90 - Above Black: Project Preserve Destiny (Dan Sherman, 2006, 148pp) - This is a very short book from a man who is not a professional author. He seems to be just a guy who lived a normal life and got in the military and then was given a job that was out of this world. He was told he was bred though genetic manipulation by aliens and the government knew about him and recruited him to be a psychic
liaison to extra-terrestrials. Of course, he never saw the beings he communicated with, it was all telepathic. I get the feeling after reading this that he was just a guy that was shown some hi-tech theater like Bob Lazar likely was. Maybe the NSA (his employer) was using voice-to-brain technology to simulate "psychic" communication between him and the ETs. At a secret NSA base he would talk aloud and hear a voice in his head giving him information on geographic coordinates. This is not really a book of UFO information, but I think you may see the relevance to the topic. It is very interesting, and Sherman is believable enough. I have seen videotaped interviews with him and he comes off as sane, intelligent, articulate and honest, but something about his story just does not sit right with me.
[**2]
91 - The Contact has Begun: The True Story of a Journalist's Encounter with Alien Beings (Phillip H. Krapf, 1998, 157pp) - It's hard to know what to think of this book and it's sequel [see #92]. Krapf was a professional journalist who used to laugh at stories like the one in this book. He is not a UFO buff. Basically, he wakes up one night to a blue light in his bedroom and suddenly finds himself on a spaceship filled with little people called the Verdants. They have a mile-wide spaceship parked on the backside of our moon. He is told he is to write this book as a "white paper" for the world, to initiate a wider awareness of the alien presence. His description of the "Verdants" does not jive precisely with any other alien descriptions I am aware of, and that is saying something. Most of the book is conversations between Krapf and the aliens regarding all sorts of topics and truly makes for a fascinating read, whatever your point of view. He is offered sex by his tourguide, but declines, thinking it more akin to bestiality. I have heard several interviews with the man and he seems very believable and sane, despite his outrageous claims.
[***3]
92 - The Challenge of Contact: A Mainstream Journalist's Report on Interplanetary Diplomacy (Phillip H. Krapf, 2001, 186pp) - Foreword by Joe Firmage. Krapf's sequel to his first book about the "Verdants" [see #91]. This one continues the revelations about the possible worldwide announcement of contact. Krapf mentions a possible attempt on his life by someone driving a truck. He also says that the Verdants were disappointed he mentioned the sexual advance in the first book. His tourguide, Gina, supposedly shows up at his house one day, disguised as a human. This fact made me start to think that the whole story was a wild concoction to cover up an affair with a real woman, as his wife was away during both of his contact experiences. A perfect explanation if someone actually saw "Gina" show up at his door. One of the most interesting things about this book is the threat that the Verdants might go away and not initiate contact if another great war began and terrorism was mentioned as a grave threat to our stability. This was in March of 2001, six months before the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Last I heard from Krapf, the Verdants gave up on us.
[***3]
93 - UFO Quest: In Search of the Mystery Machines (Alan Watts, 1994, 192pp) - A really high-falootin' stinker of a UFO book. Watts puts the utmost faith in alleged UFO photographs taken by 1950's contactee George Adamski, which are regarded by most serious ufologists as totally bogus. He then goes on to describe the assumed propulsion system of the UFOs and how the unique space-warping technology is also responsible for certain effects seen in various UFO photographs. I'll admit there is something interesting about some of Adamski's photos and the Silver Springs film, but come on, the guy talked about meeting men from Venus! This book is just as fully loaded with pictures as it is crap. Watts is an intelligent writer with some really far out ideas applied to the UFO topic, but I heartily disagree with most of his approach, theories and conclusions. Two thumbs down.
[*1]
94 - UFO Photographs Vol.1: Around the World (Wendelle Stevens & August Roberts, 1986, 256pp) - This book serves as a valuable reference for interesting UFO photographs of mostly the "daylight disk" variety. Loads of impressive daytime UFO photos from all around the world, like the title says. Whole series of photos that are mostly only partially reprinted in other books or magazines. Each case has a description and a graphic drawing of the object for clarification to accompany the photos. Included are: a few pre-1947 photos; the only surviving photo of the Fatima, Portugal "miracle of the sun" incident of 1917, witnessed by over 10,000 people; George Stock's photos and many other clear daytime photos. Several of the photos are thought to be hoaxed, but the great majority are thought to be authentic, with many that are almost certainly authentic. A nice appendix at the end describes dozens of pre-1947 photos and dozens more leading up to 1952. Mostly a picture book and a very interesting one at that! Hard to score this one, but I have to stick with my scoring rules.
[***3]
95 - The Mammoth Book of UFOs (Lynn Picknett, 2001, 537pp) - This is probably the most thorough and most recent comprehensive volume covering nearly every aspect of the UFO problem. This book is on par with Jim Marrs' Alien Agenda [see #4] and contains more recent information. More info in this book than can possibly be given justice in a review this short. All I will say is that is addresses the most important political issues and gives more than enough details about many, many important cases and demonstrates for the reader that something strange is indeed going on. Peripheral aspects covered include: the Roswell Incident (covering 140 pages), abductions, MIBs, secret Nazi technology, cattle mutilations, crop circles, Earth lights, etc.
[*****5]
96 - The UFO Magazine UFO Encyclopedia (William J. Birnes, 2004, 363pp) - The ultimate condensed UFO reference book. Most of the names associated with UFO study, researchers, witnesses, government and military officials all have entries describing them. Same for the most famous incidents and documents that have surfaced over the years. This is a nice reference book that I find myself consulting all the time for quick details on this or that. Well researched. Probably not a desirable book to have if you do not have any UFO books, as it is not a continuous story, just a reference book with
alphabetized entries, but the info is good, even-handed and accurate.
[****4]
97 - UFO: The Complete Sightings (Peter Brookesmith, 1995, 176pp) - It's not a complete list of sightings by any stretch of the imagination, but
nevertheless it's a big, beautifully illustrated coffee table book with many color photos and illustrations, covering the UFO problem from a historical point of view and presenting a strong case for an ongoing reality of weird objects in the sky throughout recorded history. It's basically a fairly thorough overview of the UFO problem in a big, flashy book that would catch the eye of just about anyone if you were to set it out on, say, your coffee table. Overall, I have to give it a high score.
[****4]
98 - UFO: Evaluating the Evidence (Bill Yenne, 1997, 160pp) - I found this in the bargain bin at my local Books-a-Dozen. This book is filled with photos, many of which are not found in other places or very rare in any case, including some interesting "foo fighter" pictures I haven't seen anywhere else. This book serves as a fairly thorough overview of UFO strangeness, considering the length of the book. It relates most of the ultra-famous cases and many cases contemporary to the famous ones as supporting data. There are usually several pictures per page, and as it is a large coffee-table type book, it still conveys a lot of information. It is fairly up-to-date, with a description of the US Air Force's latest version of the Roswell Incident. It also contains some information on man-made flying saucer projects with some interesting pictures of that stuff too. Not bad at all.
[***3]
99 - Fact or Fiction?: UFOs (Nigel Blundell, 1995, 96pp) - A large coffee-table book with many color photos and illustrations. It's a short read, intended for readers not very familiar with UFO literature, as it focuses on the basic issues and most famous cases. Any reader would get a lot more info from a thicker book, obviously, but nevertheless a quick, easily digested overview.
[**2]
100 - UFOs: An Air Force Dilemma (Lt. Col. Hector Quintanilla USAF [ret.], 1974, 116pp) - This book really isn't on my bookshelf, but I had to include it. It's in a PDF file you can download for free at UFOcasebook.com, et al. This is an unpublished book manuscript authored by Quintanilla, who headed the US Air Force's Project Blue Book from 1963 until the project's end in 1969. It has been made available online by researchers with the National Institute for Discovery Science [NIDS] in PDF format, and that is how I happened to end up with a copy. The NIDS disclaimer at the beginning makes clear that while they don't agree with Quintanilla's conclusions, they thought it was important to let the public get a glimpse at what he had to say. Of particular interest to me was how Quintanilla described in detail his frustration with Dr. J. Allen Hynek and public statements he made while investigating for the Air Force, and clashes with atmospheric physicist Dr. James E. MacDonald, using phrases like "pain in the ass". There are many laughs like that, as Quintanilla swears colorfully and amusingly through the whole book. While I don't agree with Quintanilla's stance on the UFO issue either, I enjoyed the book immensely. All UFO researchers should give this a look, everyone else...don't worry about it.
[*1]
Dennis Robinson
July 25, 2009
Brunswick, GA
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