265 lines
9.5 KiB
Plaintext
265 lines
9.5 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: UFOs EXPLAINED FILE: UFO2823
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##UFO##
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UFOs Explained
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Philip J. Klass
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1974, Random House (1976 Vintage); (438p.)
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#UFO#
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A classic debunking work on UFO's, selecting a number of
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well-known and intriguing cases, particularly some most touted by ET
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or mystery proponents. Klass's reconstructions can be complicated,
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but are convincing. Not all would agree with his extrapolation to
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imply that all UFO cases, even if not explained similarly, must have
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prosaic explanations, but Klass's argument is not a trivial dismissal.
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Cases discussed include the Socorro "Landing," the RB-47 case, the
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Pascagoula abductions and the Army helicopter incident of 1973, and
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many more.
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UFO's: The Public Deceived
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Philip J. Klass
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1983, Prometheus Books; 310p.
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#UFO#
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Another Klass volume of prosaic explanations of prime UFO
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cases, less-than-competent UFO investigators and exposed hoaxes.
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Includes a pretty definitive treatment of the famous Travis Walton
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case, most probably a hoax. Again, the bulk of the book is individual
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cases, with the implication that there is a good chance that the
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processes that go into their explanations are also operative in others
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that are not explained.
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UFO-Abductions: A Dangerous Game
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Philip J. Klass
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1988 (updated 1989), Prometheus Books; 200p. (222)
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#UFO#
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Argues that typical UFO abduction accounts arose from popular
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mythology, circulated in accounts like _The Interrupted Journey_ and
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stories about the Travis Walton case. With the `abduction explosion'
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of the 1980s -- through best-sellers by Budd Hopkins and by Whitley
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Streiber -- a pre-fabricated `storyline' was already in place. To
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explain how disparate people provide similar accounts and believe in
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them, Klass provides two mechanisms. Firstly, many abduction accounts
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were `uncovered' through hypnosis, so it is likely that they arose
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through the hypnotist's asking questions which `led' the patient to
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create a UFO abduction memory. The second is that several abductees
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(Streiber especially) exhibit symptoms of temporal lobe epilepsy
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(TLE), which encourages confabulation of memory and fantasy. While
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the hypnosis hypothesis can be checked through session transcripts,
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the TLE idea reaches too far. Klass was a layman making a
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long-distance diagnosis on the basis of a little psychology research;
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saying Streiber had an organic brain disorder. This, and other ad
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hominem attacks (such as arguing that aliens wouldn't have taken an
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abductee because she was ugly) make this book an interesting failure.
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Flying Saucers: Magic in the Skies
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Otto Billig
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1982, Schenkman Books; ?p.
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#UFO#
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UFO's And Outer Space Mysteries: A Sympathetic Skeptic's Report
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James Oberg
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1982, Donning; 192p.
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#UFO#
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UFO's: A Scientific Debate
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Carl Sagan and Thornton Page, eds.
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1974, Norton; 344p.
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#UFO#
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The UFO Verdict: Examining the Evidence
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Robert Sheaffer
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1986, Prometheus Books; 242p.
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#UFO#
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Final Report Of The Scientific Study Of Unidentified Flying Objects
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Edward U. Condon and Daniel S. Gillmor, eds.
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1968, Bantam books; 965p.
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#UFO#
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Round In Circles: Physicists, Poltergeists, Pranksters and the Secret
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History of the Cropwatchers
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Jim Schnabel
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1993, Hamish Hamilton Ltd., London; 295p.
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#UFO#
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Watch The Skies! A Chronicle of the Flying Saucer Myth
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Curtis Peebles
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1994, Smithsonian Institution Press; 342p.
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#UFO:history#
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An objective history of "the flying saucer myth." Beginning
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with Kenneth Arnold's classic sighting of nine objects "skipping like
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saucers" near Mount Rainier in 1947, Peebles covers the classic events
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(Captain Thomas Mantell's "dogfight" with a UFO, the "Invasion of
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Washington," etc.) through their evolution into the modern belief in
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alien abductions. The dustjacket assures the reader "[t]his
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thoroughly researched chronicle concludes that the flying saucer myth
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is not really about disk-shaped spaceships and their angelic or
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demonic pilots. Rather, like earlier mythologies, it is an attempt to
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make order out of the world, an expression of our hopes and fears."
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An assurance which will not disappoint the reader.
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The Great Airship Mystery: A UFO of the 1890s
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Daniel Cohen
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1981, Dodd, Mead & Co.; 212p.
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#UFO:history#
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Thousands in the US reported seeing a "mysterious airship"
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overhead, in 1896 and 1897, though no such ship was possible at that
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time. Both the sightings and the reactions to them parallel what took
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place with the first UFO reports. Media attention was present, and
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explanations proposed included hoaxes, a "mysterious inventor" and
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spaceships from other worlds. Cohen concludes that the best
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explanation for the wave is misindentification and hoax, with the
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media improving on simple "night lights" reports. Similar hoaxes are
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known, and paranormal explanations are riddled with contradictions.
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Angels And Aliens: UFOs and the Mythic Imagination
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Keith Thompson
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1991, Fawcett Columbine; 283p.
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#UFO:history#, #UFO:sociology#, #UFO:defense#
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An account of UFO history focusing on the conflict between
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believers and disbelievers, in "mythic" terms. Thompson reserves his
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admiration for those (like Jung and Vallee) who chose not to focus on
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the debunkers and believers but rather pondered why the strange
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phenomenon (whether physically 'real' or not) was happening *now*. He
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points out that both believers and skeptics at times have gone to
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ridiculous lengths to prove their cases, but neither side has attained
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conclusive victory. By the conclusion, however, an underlying
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"reality" of UFO's becomes the de facto viewpoint, along with
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unwarranted speculation about abductees being a transcendent form of
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human development.
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The UFO Controversy In America
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David Michael Jacobs
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1975, Indiana University Press; 384p.
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#UFO:history#
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UFOs And The Extraterrestrial Contact Movement: A Bibliography
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George M. Eberhart
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1986, Scarecrow Press; 1298p.
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#UFO#
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The UFO Literature: A Comprehensive Annotated Bibliography of Works in
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English
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Richard Michael Rasmussen
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1985, McFarland & Co.; 263p.
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#UFO#
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Observing UFOs: An Investigative Handbook
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Richard F. Haines
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1980, Nelson-Hall; 300p.
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#UFO#
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UFO Phenomena and the Behavioral Scientist
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Richard F. Haines, ed.
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1979, The Scarecrow Press, 1979; 450p.
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#UFO#
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The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry
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J. Allen Hynek
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1972, 1977, Ballantine Books; 309p.
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#UFO:defense#
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Hynek, sometimes called "the father of modern UFOlogy" by
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proponents, started out as a scientific consultant to Project Blue
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Book, working to determine misidentifications of astronomical objects
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in UFO reports. He became convinced there was more to it upon
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investigation. Hynek is also well-known for his classification (1st
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to 3rd kinds) of UFO "close encounters." The book consists mainly of
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presentations of examples that fall within these categories. A
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classic of UFO literature, it does not include surprising information
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or hypotheses for anyone involved in UFO matters, but it is an
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excellent overview of the UFO incidents of its time.
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The Edge Of Reality
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J. Allen Hynek and Jacques Vallee
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1975, Henry Regnery; ?p.
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The UFO Handbook: A guide to Investigating, Evaluating and Reporting
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UFO Sightings
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Allan Hendry
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1979, Doubleday; 297p.
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#UFO:defense#
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UFOs and the Limits of Science
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Ronald D Story
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1981, William Morrow; 290p.
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#UFO:defense#
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Passport To Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers
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Jacques Vallee
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1969, Henry Regnery; 372p.
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#UFO#
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Dimensions: A Casebook of Alien Contact
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Jacques Vallee
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1988, Contemporary Books; 304p.
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#UFO:defense#
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Revelations: Alien Contact and Human Deception
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Jacques Vallee
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1991, Ballantine Books; 294p.
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#UFO#, #UFO:defense#
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A theme of this book is the irrationality that surrounds UFOs
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where military authorities are concerned; but they may also use it for
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their own purposes, or promote it unintentionally. Vallee exposes
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some of the myths that have been accepted as fact in some UFOlogical
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circles, discussing for example alleged abductions and various
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conspiracy threads, and shows what the origins of these myths are. An
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appendix presents his famous "Five arguments against the ET
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hypothesis;" another gives Vallee's swan song at the MUFON convention
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"Forbidden Science: The UFO Phenomenon and the Research Community."
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Though some of the "revelations" should be taken with a grain of salt,
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this is a good introduction to the mindsets prevailing in what is left
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of American UFOlogy today.
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Above Top Secret: The Worldwide UFO Cover-up"
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Timothy Good
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1987, Sidgwick and Jackson (London); 590p.
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#UFO:defense#
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Some UFO proponents recommend this as "the most important
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book" on a UFO cover-up. Its focus is Britain and the US, but
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material is included about countries such as the ex-Soviets, China,
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and Australia. While documentation appears to have been provided, the
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many instances of shoddy research and overcredulity overshadow any
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case that might be made. Representative of the UFO cover-up theme in
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popular UFOlogy, but not recommended for useful information about UFO
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matters.
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The UFO Evidence
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Richard H. Hall, ed.
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1964, NICAP; ?p.
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#UFO:defense#
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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********************************************** |