Customer Reviews

Files from the Edge: A Paranormal Investigator's Explorations into High Strangeness

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

 

 

This book comprises a cross section of the author's three decades of investigative experience into paranormal phenomena. The investigations mainly involve UFOs, ghosts and spirits, encounters with aliens, sightings of various creatures (Bigfoot, lake monsters, etc.), psychic abilities of certain individuals, communications with otherworldly beings and apparitions of entities from other dimensions. The author, a science educator with degrees in the hard sciences, also brings forward his own speculations on what these phenomena might be by invoking cutting edge theories in cosmology and particle physics (in particular, multidimensional string theory). Many of the stories presented are very similar to others that have been recounted over the years and documented in various others books; in other words, for a well-read paranormal phenomena enthusiast, there may be very little here that is new. The accounts presented (some of which were the author's own) are quite fascinating and some of them are really quite gripping. However, as in most of these stories, and as pointed out by the author, hard reproducible evidence in this field is a rarity; one is usually left with the subjective impressions of those who claim to have experienced something unearthly.

The writing style is clear, friendly, accessible and often quite captivating. The author has tried to remain objective throughout and, as a result, the book often takes on the flavour of an authoritative scientific report. On the down side, the text is plagued with many editorial errors. This book can be enjoyed by anyone who enjoys stories about ghosts, aliens, monsters and other spooky paranormal phenomena.

I've seen this author's name several times over my years of reading about the paranormal, but always avoided him, for some reason or another. However, with this book, I made the leap into his, well, "explorations into High Strangeness" to use his words.

What Imbrogno does here is wind his own personal thread around cases he's investigated but been unable to explain over the years. And boy, does it cover a lot of ground. There are UFOs here, of course, but also Sasquatch, shadow people, and just plain High Strangeness.

His writing is clear, precise, and easy to read. The book doesn't suffer from the two most common issues with these books--overly simple or (on the other side of the equation) complex writing and/or an over-reliance on FOAF (Friend of a Friend) or "there was this guy" tales. He lets many of his subjects tell of their experiences in their own words, and then adds his thoughts or analysis. This approach both keeps the book conversational and distances it from the campfire-story spooky narrative that these books sometimes fall prey to.

Overall, this is a terrific book for those with even casual interest in the paranormal. I was often reminded of John Keel's writing ( The Mothman Prophecies). It's clear, concise, and considered without being overly incredulous or close-minded. Imbrogno walks the line between Open-minded Skeptic and True Believer very well, and I'm looking forward to reading more of his work.

This is truly one of the best fortean books I've read in a long while. After reading other alleged fortean works that simply rehash familiar classic cases or are paeans to the writers ego. It is fresh and exciting to encounter someone that captures the immediacy of field investigation like the late great John Keel, and the challenging speculation of of a J. Vallee or Colin Wilson in one author.

The publishing world appears to be in the midst of a fortean revival from a wide variety of sources- crypto-zoology, UFO's, ghosts, and other anomalies that continue to intrude into consensus reality. The continuing popularity of 'Fortean Times' and 'Fate' magazine and various paranormal programs on TV demonstrates the public knows this world is far stranger than anyone can imagine. Mr. Imbrogno provides new cases and observations in a crisp and direct reporting style that leaves the reader anxious to turn the next page. I look forward to reading his other works as well as future offerings. Highly recommended for all fans of the paranormal.

If you are a fan of all things strange and paranormal, this book is for you. While it is not earth-shattering or new in the sense of bringing a fresh perspective to the genre, it is well written and does provide stories that you may have never heard of before. It deserves a place on your bookshelf.

Although Imbrogno's book is updated and more speculative, mention should be made of 1960's author-reporter-researcher Frank Edwards. His series of books like "Stranger than Science," "Strange World," "Strange People" and the classic "Flying Saucers-Serious Business" gathered the strangeness decades ahead of others, and blasted the obvious U.S. military and intelligence community coverup of UFO's years ago...It looks like many newer authors have picked up the trail he blazed. His books are now out of print, but many are still available as used paperbacks...

I'm very interested in topics of high strangeness, and I'd think that this man would have to be one of the world's greatest experts on it. A lot of interesting unexplained anomalies, to whet the truthseeker's appetite here. A good book for those who like to go, to even the outer fringes of the paranormal.

I would have given it five stars, if the treatment of each subject was longer. At least it was a quick read, though.

I found this book to be very interesting and easy to understand and follow. The author comes across as a straight forward honest and objective researcher. He tells the reader like it is and doesn't fill his book with stories that are reprints or obvious hoaxes. Instead, the reader actually gets some fresh new stories that seem highly credible. This author has really done his homework and has spent much time in the field uncovering these stories for our reading pleasure. Great investigative writers like Philip J. Imbrogno are few and far between, so I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the strange and unknown whether you are new to the subject, or a seasoned aficionado, this book is a real treat for the inquiring mind.

Files from the Edge is a book that comes across very easy to read, while hitting you with all sorts of great stories and investigative knowledge. Mr. Imbrogno's writing style has a very 'easy to understand' feel to it, helping to allow the reader to follow along without hesitation. With over 30 years of investigation into paranormal phenomena "Files from the Edge" brings a fairly balanced and honest investigative approach to the subject matter.

What is High Strangeness? As the author sums up; "...an event that is more unusual than a typical paranormal experience." This translates to 'Files from the Edge' investigating paranormal phenomena such as Ghosts, Psychic phenomena, invisible entities, alternate reality creatures etc.. The material presented is easy to understand while being informative. Mr. Imbrogno is not a skeptic to the subject, just very open-minded. It shows in the quality of his investigations that rather than blindly take one side he goes out to gather first hand evidence to sway his opinion on the subject. Because of this his book comes across as very honest. It is up to the reader to truly decided if he/she is to believe or not.

Overall this is a fantastic book to add to a paranormal collection, or even for the casual passer-by to pick up and read. It is an easy read, and flows wonderfully. Chapters are broken down into slight sub-chapters focusing on the various elements of a theme, making it perfect to read a handful of pages each night and not feel lost. This is the kind of book you could read and come back to 6-8 months later and enjoy just as much as you did the first time.

This is an easy to read and delightful book if your are interested in strange happenings that do occur, but are never admitted to, by main stream science. There are many things that do happen to people that are never explained and the author attempts to present this phenomenon to the reader in a thorough and interesting manner. This author can be depended upon to present only those incidents that he knows are true and actually happened, as outlined in his book. I enjoyed the book.

If you enjoy either of the above authors you will likely enjoy this book.

Plenty of anomalous phenomena and paranormal episodes. Well written, good details without over-embellishment.

MANY new cases reviewed.

Good stuff.