Customer Reviews

ART, LIFE and UFOs

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The title 'Art, Life and UFOs' sums up the interweaving themes in this autobiography of what by any standards has been a unique and extraordinary life. The life experiences Budd Hopkins relates here in his warm, humorous and literate style makes for an absorbing and enjoyable read both for those who know his work and those less familiar with it.

Outside the art world, Budd is best known for his books focusing on research into the mind-stretching and paradigm-challenging area of alien abduction. Starting with 'Missing Time' in 1981, through 'Intruders,' 'Witnessed' and finally the co-written 'Sight Unseen' in 2003, he has set the standard of how to approach this superficially outlandish subject matter with meticulous analysis and scientific rigor, by focusing on multiple cases displaying near-identical features and characteristics (including similar physical traces)to build a conservative hypothesis of the phenomenon which lights the way for all serious international investigation into the subject. Even if you have never read Hopkins' books (and you should) then see the movie version of 'Intruders' starring Richard Crenna and Steven Berkoff et al. It's extraordinary.

However, Hopkins has had other, parallel, lives. Art is his first passion, and the discovery of the wonderful world of color and artistic expression as a young man at university in the 1950s started a lifetime love affair which propelled him forever away from his provincial, conservative middle-America upbringing in Wheeling, WV. The discovery of art as vocation is beautifully told, such that the reader who has not so far shared a passion for the French impressionists might be motivated to look at the works of Monet, Van Gogh and the rest to see what they have missed. His vivid prose brings art alive.

Budd's accounts of his adventures as a young abstract-expressionist artist in NYC in the 1950s and 1960s will make you laugh out loud, and enjoy every line of alternately humorous and poignant observation of people he knew and mixed with: Jackson Pollock, Franz Kline, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Robert Motherwell, Brendan Behan, Aldous Huxley and the rest. Few who know Budd only through the field of UFO investigation will know much of his rather bohemian and 'alternative' lifestyle through those years, or the well-known and respected NYC artists he mixed with and learned from.

The book cover features one of Budd's trademark 'Guardian' series of Ab-Ex wood sculptures.

A complex relationship with his father, a high-ranking WW2 army veteran and successful car dealer in civilian life, is delicately and poignantly explored and recurs as a theme in the book. The point where Budd finally realised his political and social attitudes and alignments differed radically from the somewhat repressed and traditional values of his father will resonate with many readers who have had similar splits with parents over political principles. Budd's marriages and relationships are also described with candour, including his long second marriage to April Kingsley and the birth and upbringing of Budd's only child, Grace.

Budd's investigation of the abduction phenomenon and subsequent writings on the subject brought him new and unlooked-for exposure in the international media and into close contact with people such as Shirley MacLaine, Carl Sagan, Allen Hynek, John Mack and Laurance Rockerfeller, all revealingly cameod in the later chapters. These accounts alone are worth the price of the book. A temptation to 'settle scores' with detractors and debunkers has wisely been avoided, though the personal encounters with MacLaine and Whitley Strieber in particular are not all complimentary!

Overall 'Art, Life and UFOs' is thoroughly enjoyable and I would strongly recommend the book even to those with no knowledge of Budd Hopkins' extraordinary contributions to varied fields of human endeavour. Above all, Budd comes across as a great humanitarian: compassionate, curious, intelligent, eloquent and endlessly good-humored. For those more familiar with his work, either in the art field or in the field of UFO research, you may be in for some revelations as well as a few belly laughs.

Personally, I found the book such an enjoyable read I wished it had been longer, but the publisher largely dictates the page count. Budd is as great a writer as he is an artist, researcher, public speaker and liberal humanitarian.

Buy it, read it. You'll enjoy it.


Budd Hopkins died on Sunday 21st August 2011 at his home in Chelsea, NYC. He was 80 years old. RIP.

Nicely done. A little too much information at times. I could have gladly skipped the childhood memories of toy blocks and toy soldiers.
It was interesting to peek into the lives of many of the artists who crossed his path over the years.
Having met Mr. Hopkins through his Intruder Foundation, I had a quite different take on him than this book reveals. Turns out he is not the quiet, kind of shy, humble guy I saw at those meetings.
Here's a man who was at the center of the Abstract Expressionist movement, who moved easily among the renowned artists of those times. A man who led a free wheeling, open marriage, four wives sort of life. Then we add in the UFO mix, international acclaim for his work in that field. Rubbing shoulder with the rich and famous in the art world and the UFO community. A pretty fascinating life I would say.
It will be interesting to see what stands out as his greater accomplishment in the coming years. His art, or his effort to get the truth out about the alien presence.

An excellent, aptly title memoir. Finally, after books focusing on people and ideas outside himself, he's written one about himself. Sprinkled with the likes of Hitler, Shirley MacLaine, and Carl Sagan, it doesn't fail to inform and entertain. Quite interesting for those interested in the history behind alien abduction research as well as those who are into American AbEx art and the cast of characters behind it like Pollock, Kline, et al. This is a fun book--and here's to wishing Budd a very long and happy life. Great work, and thanks to your contributions to modern art, UFO research, and ... life!

Most people have never heard of Budd Hopkins, which, in all honestly, is quite baffling, considering his long and incredible career as an artist, writer, and speaker. If you're looking for sensational UFO fare, I'd suggest his other captivating books: Missing Time, Intruders, Witnessed, and Sight Unseen. Art, Life & UFO's showcases Mr. Hopkins as a well respected artist, golden age Manhattan scenester, and abduction investigator. Very candid and introspective, Budd reveals much of who he is, his passions, flaws, and how he ended up on the varied paths that he took. Highly recommended, especially to his detractors and the skeptics who know nothing of the real Budd Hopkins.

It was great to read about such a fascinating person from a behind the scenes perspective. His interactions with the famous to the less reputable members of our world gave new perspective on Whitley, Carl, Shirley, and others. Things that one rarely hears about unless in a memoir. Having read nearly all his previous books, this was very enlightening about the man behind the work and the man behind the research. What strikes me is that the book is profoundly personal and I always think no matter what work it is, whether it be a painting or a piece of music or a piece of literature, it always makes it better. Well worth a read.

Budd Hopkins has been the single best author on the subject of UFOs since I began delving into this topic after reading Communion in 1988 by Whitley Strieber.
While Communion was difficult to believe and Whitley's books became further and further out, Budd's books, though even more unbelievable in many ways were written with no agenda. Budd was an artist who fell into the subject and was just an honest guy who could not turn his back on a phenomenon that was the greatest story in our time or ever on this planet. It started innocently enough by chance with his liquor store curmudgeonly owner talking of seeing beings digging samples in a park at night and entering a UFO. Budd goes and checks the area with him and sure enough there are holes there and others had witnessed a craft in New Jersey in Fort Lee, ironically at a building he had months earlier delivered a large painting to with the help of the doorman--now a witness to the sighting. Now 2 people he knew and a place he had been linked him to the story-synchronicity seems that Budd was hand picked to help these people-this was not pure chance or dumb luck. So Budd does what Budd does, he persues it with the intellectual vigor of a skeptic and an astoundingly articulate and liberally minded man who shows in every sentence in his memoir (this is not a UFO book) why Budd remains the most credible voice of UFO investigators today. Sadly Budd is getting old and is ill with lymphoma that he is fighting with his typical understated nobility. Budd is an American Treasure like Mark Twain. He is the most unassuming man and I grew to feel my own grandfather was telling me his life story.
Mr. Hopkins chronicles his early youth, his learning disabilities or minor problems with dyslexia up to his puberty, first love and his real love Art, which he discovers at Oberlin and follows to the heart of the scene in NYC Greenwich Village where he becomes a fixture on the ABEX are scene with the likes of Jackson Pollock and too many others I am embarrassed to admit I am not well versed in. The point is this man had no intention of turning UFOs into his craft and he has always been a reluctant but stead fast warrior simply telling the truth of what he observed in this bizarre field of UFO abduction.

Budd Hopkins should make his Alma Mater, Oberlin, proud as he is a true product of a good liberal arts education. He is well written and articulate. He is humorous throughout the book. I was only ran into minor boredom in some of the more esoteric discussions of ABEX art. But I have to admit of all ABEX art I l ike Budd's perhaps the best and I have been to MOMA 100s of times. The best thing about Budd is he proves why he is the most credible voice in UFO research because he is simply so old fashioned in many ways and not the guy who is far out there, quite the opposite he is an artist first, and yes he has an open mind but he simply will not give up until he figures out the truth. His book is a true gift to those who have read his books or know his art and like it.

My mother met "Linda Cortile" from his book Witnessed and she said Ms. Cortile was also not the type of person you would expect to claim to be an abductee, especially in the astonishing account of Witnessed with government prints all over the investigation. I was not surprised as I knew if Budd wrote it it was true.

THANK YOU Budd for being the great American ICON that you are and for giving us this gift of a book which stands on its own as one of your best books even though its main topic is you, not UFOs.
BCP

I really enjoyed reading the book. Of course with a name like Hopkins it has to be a winner. I have to admit I don't know the first thing about art, OK Budd you can laugh, but after reading your memoir and how you developed your interest in art I have made a pledge to know more and learn more. The UFO part of your career was fascinating, made me a believer even though I haven't seen any UFOs or talked to anyone who has been abducted. I sure hope that your work is carried on in this regard. I truly think that at one time we will colonize other planets and have encounters with other intelligent lifeforms. Hopefully in my lifetime. And finally about your life, thanks Budd, I learned a lot about my life, my family. My father although very loving and caring was also quite reticent to talk about his past or his family. Now I understand more of this thanks to your book. I've enjoyed talking to you and the invitation to visit us in CA remains open, sorry I missed you in Cape cod this summer.
Mark D Hopkins

Great read, great memoir --what a life! I've read all of Hopkins books and this is the only one that details the man behind the Alien Abduction research. Although Hopkins is famous for his contributions in the field of UFO/Alien Abduction he is also a very successful Abstract Expressionist painter; his memories of the early AbEx movmement in NYC are as fascinating as his UFO research. This book reveals a rich, remarkable and diverse lifetime and should be equally inspiring to artists and Ufologists alike. Thank you, Budd, for your contributions to both Art and Science. You're a remarkable man.