Customer Reviews

Confirmation: The Hard Evidence of Aliens Among Us? (Communion 2)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Some reviews on this page miss the point: Whitley has always only told us what HIS understanding of things are. He is not trying to tell you The Absolute Truth. In this excellent book, he soberly describes some well-documented events, each of which would be a "smoking gun" if only the public knew of their occurrence. Each case is presented in a non-sensationalist manner, logically and clearly. He describes any debate surrounding the anomalous event fairly. And best of all, he is reluctant to jump to conclusions. I think Whitley would the first person to admit he was wrong in the past, or is wrong right now.

This book can be read by "believers" (whatever that means) or scientists or even the uninitiated layperson. The facts of the case are presented, with a minimum of speculation, and with no concrete conclusion drawn in stone. The book achieves its only purpose: to publicize some extraordinary events that have happened and are happening right now. What is their implication? Whitley eventually spends a few pages on his personal ideas, but concludes that NO ONE knows yet. It is up to all of us to reach that conclusion together.

Whitley Strieber continues his series of books about human interaction with the "visitors". This time out, however, he tries to offer up "proof" of visitation by aliens in the form of videos, letters and medical evidence. The result is quite lacking.

Let me first state that I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Strieber's book, Communion. This was an excellent book documenting one man's experience with something real to him. It offered no definitive answer and was more of a quest for the ever elusive truth. With each succesive book about the phenomena that he has experienced, his interepretations get more far out. The other main advantage that Mr. Strieber has over other authors on similar material, such as Budd Hopkins, is that Mr. Strieber is a professional writer and his books are very well-written.

Back to Confirmation, the first third of the book discusses video evidence of UFOs. It would have helped if Mr. Strieber had given readers some suggestions as to where they might find copies of the footage he is describing. (I did see one of the videos he was descibing on Larry King, so at least that one should be available somewhere.) He describes the movements that the UFOs make, and how they would be difficult to falsify - not impossible, just difficult. Now without being able to view the footage, it is very difficult to come to your own conclusion about the said footage. It is also very difficult to evaluate video footage from a written description. (try to imagine describing one of your favorite action scenes to someone who has never seen it, but don't tell plot just give descriptions of the movements, their mental image would probably be much different than the actual footage)

My other complaint/concern about the first section of the book is that Mr. Strieber is making comments about propulsion and how this particular movement isn't possible, etc. While, I firmly believe that he is a very intelligent man, I've never seen anything to believe that he is a physicist or an expert on propulsion systems.

The next section describes close encounter experiences from witnesses across the nation. While very interesting, since these are mostly taken from letters, and don't have corroborating testimony or evidence again there is no hard evidence.

The third section of the book is the most interesting, and could have come closest to providing that all elusive "proof". Mr. Strieber conducted a number of tests to try to find implants that people remember having inserted into them during their close encounters. While some very interesting data was recovered, the results were inconclusive to say the least. There is no way of proving that the implants removed from these people were put in during their alleged encounters. The materials are not out of this world, odd, yes but not necessarily from somewhere else.

Finally, I do appreciate what Mr. Strieber was trying to do here but it just doesn't work. I think the biggest problem is the title, the book does not live up to it. I hope that Mr. Strieber continues his personal search, but I don't know that I'll continue reading about it.

When the title of your book is "Confirmation: The Hard Evidence of Aliens Among Us" it would probably be a good idea to produce some hard evidence. This book is the loosest of innuendo; the shakiest of suppositions; and probably hurts more than helps the UFO movement. The so-called "hard evidence" - the shards of foreign materials found in a few people are classified as alien, even though not one of them is of a foreign substance not found in nature. I love a good UFO tale, but this book proves absolutely nothing and isn't even a provocative read. Whitley has completely milked the alien abduction genre, and I'm sure he's not done... It's been too profitable!

This is one book that shouldn't be judged by its lurid, tabloidesque cover. Strieber's approach is honest and evenhanded, and, unlike the back cover with its screaming red warning that "AFTER YOU READ THIS BOOK YOU *WILL* BELIEVE IN ALIEN LIFE," he never makes any over-the-top claims of conclusive proof. Critical of both debunkers and believers, Strieber argues simply that the UFO and close encounter phenomena are genuine unknowns that deserve serious scientific attention. Nothing more.

While it's a decent introduction to the field, though, Confirmation is definitely not Strieber at his best. What Strieber really has to offer is his own close encounter experiences, documented in Communion and its sequels, and the thousands of letters he has received from other close encounter witnesses, many of which are published in The Communion Letters. But when it comes to a general overview of UFO sightings, implants, etc., he has no particular credentials. The result is that Confirmation is mostly a rehash of evidence published elsewhere. Strieber is a storyteller, not a scientist, and is probably better off sticking to fiction and autobiography and leaving the "hard evidence" to professional UFO researchers.

I want to believe...but this book didn't make me. I personally am open-minded on the subject of extraterrestrial life. I believe the possibility exists, but I've never had an encounter or seen any really convincing evidence of intelligent alien life. I bought "Confirmation" because I've heard Whitley Strieber often on the radio, but had never read any of his books. The subtitle is "The Hard Evidence of Aliens Among Us?" and the question mark is definitely the most appropriate part of the subtitle. Strieber offers the usual abduction reports and implant evidence, but more or less discredits all the evidence he presents. If this is the best evidence he could find in all the narratives he has studied, the case for alien life seems shaky indeed. The best case in here is that of Jesse Long. In fact, it almost seems the rest of the book was intended only to lead up to this one chilling, unexplainable case. Despite its failure to convince me, I give "Confirmation" three stars for being entertaining, thought-provoking, and hard to put down.

I enjoyed the book very much but the pictured that were in there were of very poor quality and subject matter. c'mon with the point that your trying to make you should at least use the best quality pictures possible.Thats my only complaint other than that the book was great.

Whitley Streiber is always an eloquent writer. He succeeds at illuminating a strange and disturbing reality that deserves scrutiny from the very people who shun this kind of stuff - mainstream scientists. It's too easy to write it all off to fantasy, delusion, mental illness and the other adjectives that are invariably used with the UFO phenonmenon. Streiber is one of those pioneers (like Sheldrake, Robert Monroe, Jane Roberts, Michael Talbot, David Bohm, John Bell etc.) who ventures into places the rest of us don't want to go; who, after all, wants little greys running their bedrooms at night? But we go to these place vicariously because, in the end, we sense that the pioneers are onto something. And that alone makes Confirmation, like its predecessors, a must read. Trish MacGregor

Rather than writing a first-person account of his experiences with "the visitors" as in most of his prior works on this subject, Whitley has written a report on some of the latest developments in ufology. He presents quite a bit of information on the Mexico City sightings, which is followed by a 45-page "re-run" of _The Communion Letters_. He then gives us an overview of the recently-released book by the late Paul Hill: _Unconventional Flying Objects_. This is followed by the most recent information obtained through the study of "implants" removed from the bodies of individuals who claim to have experienced alien abduction. Streiber's tendancy to gravitate toward individuals of dubious credibility (such as the characters involved in promoting the infamous Billy Meier case) is sure to draw some otherwise-avoidable criticism of this book.

I bought this book for $3.00 at a clearance. (Should have known then). The author includes innumerable cases of "encounters", "abductions", "implants" and "sightings" but at the same time , makes disclaimers about all of them leaving you feel that he is not sincere about what he is writing and wondering why he bothered with the book. I've read that his other books are much better. This must have been one of the "lost time " episodes he describes during an abduction. This is strictly for the Mulders out there who have "I want to believe" posters on there office wall. These are all the typical alien suspicions you have already read and left you laughing.

Hard evidence? If you consider fuzzy photos and anecdotal evidence to be "hard", then yes. Otherwise, this book really offers nothing new. Everything that is presented in this book is easily explained by any UFO skeptic. If you are interested in hearing a more natural reason for UFOs and so called unexplainable phenomena, check out "Demon Haunted World" by Carl Sagan or "Why People Believe Weird Things" by Michael Shermer. Overall, the book wasnt bad... it was interesting, but I was very let down by the lack of convincing evidence. This book might incourage believers, but it sure wont convert a skeptic.