Confrontations [Mass Market Paperback]

Jacques Vallee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 13, 1991

"A core curriculum for anyone with a serious interest in ufology . . ." The Kirkus Reviews
Dr. Jacques Vallee is widely recognized as the premier investigating scientist in UFO research today. Going far beyond theoretical analysis, Dr. Valle meticulously documents his own firsthand investigations into sightings around the world with breathtaking eyewitness accounts of alien contact. Complete with maps, sketches, diagrams, and on-the-spot photographs.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Vallee, a California astrophysicist, here analyzes UFO sightings that he has investigated personally and concludes that UFOs are real, but that, far from being the emissaries of extraterrestrial civilizations, they represent "a yet unrecognized level of consciousness, independent of man but closely linked to the earth." He argues that we will understand the UFO phenomenon only when we expand our view of the physical universe beyond four dimensions, and he urges scientists to take a greater interest in the subject because certain sightings that he has researched, particularly in Brazil, show that UFOs offer both a complex technology (probably microwave) and a hostile potential. Vallee's ( Dimensions ) theories will doubtless upset conventional ufologists, while nonbelievers will preserve their skepticism.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

The audience for books on Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) remains strong--the 1989-90 edition of Books in Print lists over 100 adult titles. Vallee's Anatomy of a Phenomenon ( LJ 6/1/65) helped provide scientific respectability to the study of UFOs. While Vallee stresses the need to maintain scientific objectivity and a critical attitude, he is not afraid to offer theories which go beyond traditional extraterrestrial hypotheses. Among the 100 cases reported here are some in which observers were harmed or died as a result of viewing a UFO. For each case, Vallee visited the actual site, spoke to witnesses, and concludes that "something happened." The Walters' book is a frightening account of 20 UFO encounters occurring near their Florida home. Their position in the community, the collaboration of over 100 other area witnesses, and the authenticated photographs and videotape they took make this account more trustworthy than most. The phenomenon of missing time, described in Budd Hopkins's Intruders ( LJ 6/1/87), is part of this story as well. While neither of the books under review provides firm answers about the reality or intent of UFOs, both can be recommended as above-average entries in the genre. Academic libraries should have the Vallee book, while public libraries will want both.
- Gary D. Barber, SUNY at Fredonia Lib.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 95 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; Reprint edition (February 13, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345365011
• ISBN-13: 978-0345365019
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,141,030 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jacques VALLEE holds a master's degree in astrophysics from France and a PhD in computer science from Northwestern University, where he served as an associate of Dr. J. Allen Hynek. He is the author of several books about high technology and unidentified phenomena, a subject that first attracted his attention as an astronomer in Paris. While analyzing observations from many parts of the world, Jacques became intrigued by the similarities in patterns between moderrn sightings and historical reports of encounters with flying objects and their occupants in every culture. The result was the seminal book Passport to Magonia, published in 1969.

After a career as an information scientist with Stanford Research Institute and the Institute for the Future, where he served as a principal investigator for the groupware project on the Arpanet, the prototype of the Internet, Jacques Vallée co-founded a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. He lives in San Francisco.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A sober warning of the dangers of UFO contact., November 25, 2005

By 

Stephen Triesch (Shoreline/Seattle USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Confrontations: A Scientist's Search for Alien Contact (Hardcover)

Now retired from the UFO scene, Jacques Vallee was one of the most sober, perceptive, and scientifically astute observers of the phenomenon. "Confrontations" is the second volume of his great trilogy ("Dimensions" and "Revelations" are the other two) which summed up his 40-odd years of research.

As the title suggests, this book focuses on the dangers - physical, psychological, and even spiritual - of contact (intentional or otherwise) between human beings and the energy forms known as UFOs. I say "energy forms" because Vallee discounts the idea that UFOs are spaceships from other planets or other galaxies. Instead, he sees them as "multidimenional entities" - a form of paranormal energy, indeed a non-human intelligence - that has in varying forms interacted with human beings throughout recorded history.

Drawing on his personal files, including numerous black-and-white photos, Vallee describes the debilitating effects that often result from too-close contact - sought or unsought - with the UFO phenomenon. From California to Brazil, we follow Vallee as he interviews the victims of contact and lets them tell their stories.

And they are indeed victims. Vallee's subjects have met neither the benign "space brothers" of the 1950s contactees nor - for the most part - the reptilian, bug-eyed abductors of the 1990s. But they have interacted with powerful, disorienting energies, energies capable of producing harmful mental and physical effects, up to and including death. They have been touched by the paranormal, and most are worse of because of it.

Often reading like a detective story, this book puts you on the ground with a brave and humane chronicler of the unknown. It is a moving book, one of the best ever in its field. If you are new to the topic of UFOs, you could not do better than read Vallee's great trilogy, beginning with "Dimensions," then "Confrontations," then "Revelations." In doing so, you will have gotten to the heart of the phenomenon and spared yourself a lot of nonsense.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking look at UFO research, May 19, 1999

By 

Nancy A. Fox (West Covina, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Confrontations (Mass Market Paperback)

Jacques Vallee has produced another thought-provoking book on the U.F.O. phenomena. This is the second book of his "Alien trilogy", and it focuses on research methodology. He is especially concerned about the lax methods being used to investigate claims of UFO encounters, where few investigators bother to visit the actual site or interview the witnesses firsthand.

Mr. Vallee again questions the extraterrestrial hypothesis, and takes fellow ufologists to task for only listing or collecting evidence that supports their hypothesis. He is especially concerned about the use of hypnosis in "abduction" cases, where the hypnotist may be leading the abductee to report activities that easily fall into the extraterrestrial survey camp.

Mr. Vallee offers no conclusive proof or definitive answers, just data and information for the reader to peruse and decide for themselves. This book is a wake-up call to ufologists to strengthen their research methods, and improve the current state of ufology. Perhaps, they should even re-think the questions being asked.

While I may not personally agree with all of Mr. Vallee's opinions, I think that he presents a very needed voice of caution and reason in a field fraught with high emotions. This book would make a terrific text for a class on studying paranormal phenomenon, or gather witness reports.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very objective perspective, November 22, 2004

By 

Rick C (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Confrontations: A Scientist's Search for Alien Contact (Hardcover)

This book is a one of a kind. Vallee does not seem concerned with public opinion of his methods. He has had the most detailed, 1st hand knowledge of UFOs of anyone in the world and provides his assessment of what he has seen.
He discusses little known aspects of the UFO witness experience, such as numerous fatalities, severe beatings by invisible assailants long after the sighting, and other obscure data. He takes the UFO expreience out of the realm of science fiction and restores it to the unknown mystery that it truly is. His belief that these things are not from "outer space" is displayed with outstanding explanation.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is even remotely interested in UFOs. It has a no nonsense view and is illustrated by ironclad data from the leader of UFO investigators.