94 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
94 lines
5.1 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: THE CENTURY'S BEST UFO BOOKS FILE: UFO2834
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Anyone hoping to investigate UFOs must, of course, keep track of research that
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has gone before. The best sources are those classics of UFO literature that
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tell the story of this controversial field, often in the words of the
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researchers who know it best.
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UFO books vary widely in quality and reliability from sober, reflective
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studies such as Hynek's Experience, to the self-promoting personal anecdotes
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typified by the early contactee movement of the 1950s.
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Any list of the best UFO books is highly subjective. Here, however, ar 11 UFO
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classics recommended for any UFO investigator seeking the right reference
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tools.
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1. The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects by Edward J. Ruppelt (Doubleday,
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New York, 1956). For many of today's mainstream UFOlogists, interest in the
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phenomenon was probably sparked by a reading of Captain Ruppelt, who was the
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acting head of the Air Force's Project Blue Book from 1951 to 1953, Widely
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available in used book stores and libraries, Report was published in two
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eontroversial versions. The first edition ends with Chapter 17, "What Are
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UFOs?," and Ruppelt's own response, "Only time will tell." Subsequent editions
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contain three additional chapters in which Ruppelt seems to recant his earlier
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stance and casts doubt on the phenomenon as one of extraterrestrial origin.
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2. The UFO Controversy in America by David Michael Jacobs (Indiana University
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Press, Bloomington, 1975). A temple University professor of history, Dr.
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Jacobs Controversy remains one of the few purely historical treatments of the
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subject as it examines how UFOs were approached by the American press,
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government, and public. Jacobs' most recent book is a study of UFO abduction
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cases, Secret Life (Simon & Schuster, New York, 1992).
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3. The UFO Experience by Dr. J. Allen Hynek (Henry Regnery Company, Chicago,
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1972). For 22 years, until its closure in 1969, astronomer Hynek served as a
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scientific consultant to Project Blue Book. Experience is a thoughtful account
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of his own experiences and gradual awakening and also an examination of the
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UFO phenomenon more or less in its entirety. It's here that Hynek first uses
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the marquee phrase "close encounters of the third kind."
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4. Anatomy of a Phenomenon by Jacques Valle (Henry Regnery Company, Chicago,
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1965). A colleague of Hynek's, Valle remains one of the field's most original
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and prolific thinkers, although some of his most recent work has fallen out of
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favor with the hardcore UFO crowd. In Anatomy, however, and again in Challenge
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to Science: The UFO Enigma, (Henry Regnery, 1966, co-authored with wife
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Janine, Vallee is in fine phenomenological form.
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5. Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying SAucers by Jacques Valle
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(Henry Regnery Company, Chicago, 1969). One of the more controversial books
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within UFOlogy as it posits parallels with the observed UFO phenomenon and
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various past legends and lore associated with the "fairy folk" and other
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nonhuman entities. Raises many questions, especially about UFO abductions,
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which remain unanswered.
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6. The UFO Encyclopedia, Volumes 1 and 2, by Jerome Clark (Omnigraphics,
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Detroit, 1990, 1992). Clark's impressive and massive UFO survey is more up to
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date and more comprehensive than preceding UFO encyclopedias. A third volume,
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High Strangeness, is expected to be available this year.
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7. Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects, edited by Daniel S.
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Gilmoor(Bantam Books, New York, 1969). The complete text of the controversial
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University of Colorado, Boulder, study directed by physicist Edward U. Comdon
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under contract to the Air Force.Turgid and tedious in parts, but still an
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indispensable reference book.
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8. Observing UFOs by Richard F. Haines (Nelsonhall, Chicago, 1980). A former
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perceptual psychologist with NASA's Ames Research Center, Haines focuses here
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on perception, particularly the peculiarities of our visual field and sense of
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time, as related to the observation of anomalous aerial phenomena.
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9. Project Blue Book, edited by Brad Steiger (Ballantine Books, New York,
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1976). A wildly miscellaneous grab-bag of odds and ends drawn mostly from
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official (and declassified) Air Force Project Blue Book files, including a
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list of those cases classified "unknown." Contains much original source
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material found nowhere else.
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10. The Interrupted Journey by John G. Fuller (Dell, New York, 19870> The book
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that first introduced the UFO abduction phenomenon to the public, this volume,
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first published in 1966, examines the case of Betty and Barney Hill, who
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experienced a UFO close encounter which resulted in nearly two hours of
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alleged missing time.
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11. Missing Time by Budd Hopkins (Richard Marek Publishers, New York, 1981).
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Hopkins is an abstract artist widely recognized as the leading proponent of
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the genetic engineering theory of UFO abductions. A pioneer in UFO abduction
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research, he gives his theories in this controversial volume.
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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********************************************** |