Need to Know: UFOs, the Military, and Intelligence (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this exhaustive and provocative polemic, Good (Above Top Secret, Alien Liaison), UFO researcher extraordinaire, endeavors to demonstrate that incontrovertible proof of UFOs is being buried by a global conspiracy of governments, academia and the media. Good catalogues hundreds of sightings of unidentified flying objects from the 1920s through the present and marshals scores of declassified government reports, news stories and eyewitness affidavits to support his often-controversial contentions: not only are aliens here, but the U.S. military has established contact with them; President Eisenhower met with aliens in 1954 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.; President Kennedy viewed alien bodies at an air force medical facility in Florida; President Nixon arranged for comedian Jackie Gleason to view alien bodies in 1973. Good emphasizes a lengthy record of credible witnesses, including military and airline pilots, who have reported unexplained phenomena, but he fails to provide incontrovertible evidence of UFOs, extraterrestrials or a global conspiracy of secrecy. Moreover, he ignores contradictory testimony, exaggerates rumors and circumstantial evidence, and reprises old charges. Nonetheless, UFO enthusiasts will appreciate this comprehensive and spirited UFO defense and the hundreds of supporting documents reproduced within. B&w illus. (Dec.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Above Top Secret is a bible for UFO watchers.

An obsessively researched look at what British sky-watcher Good (Alien Contact, 1993, etc.) deems ample international evidence of UFO visitations since the 1930s, and the repeated official denials that they ever happened. "UFOs are as real as the airplanes that fly over your head," declared former Canadian Minister of Defence Paul Hellyer in 2005. Good methodically lays out similar testimony from pilots, military men in air and sea, civilian observers, surgeons who operated on the extraterrestrials, generals and presidents, accompanying their words (some from sworn affidavits) with meticulous footnotes, photos, drawings and copies of documents. During World War II, small, seemingly remote-controlled flying objects dubbed "foo-fighters" created a nuisance for pilots. In the summer of 1946, a rash of sightings of "ghost rockets" across Scandinavia and other parts of Europe alarmed the U.S. military, which blamed them on the Soviets. Good believes UFO incursions were common in 1940s New Mexico, the site of U.S. atomic testing, and avers that the debris found near Roswell in 1947, quickly identified by the military as fragments from a military balloon, was in fact the remains of a flying-saucer crash. He chronicles alien-disc sightings during the Cold War, suggests that Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy were taken to disc-landing sites and maintains that since the 1940s, aliens have been communicating "with an elite group of U.S. military and scientific intelligence personnel [and] there has been a project was actually motivated by growing concerns about alien hostility, the author adds. The bizarre crash of a cigar-shaped craft near Varginha, Brazil, in January 1996 stranded strange creatures needing medical attention. Good excerpts some chilling material from an interview conducted by a fellow UFOlogist with comments are conflated into quotes collectively attributed to "Medical Personnel." The author certainly knows his stuff, and to his credit is keenly aware of the importance of documentation, however specious some of it may seem to the unconverted.

In this exhaustive and provocative polemic, Good (Above Top Secret, Alien Liaison), UFO researcher extraordinaire, endeavors to demonstrate that incontrovertible proof of UFOs is being buried by a global conspiracy of governments, academia and the media. Good catalogues hundreds of sightings of unidentified flying objects from the 1920s through the present and marshals scores of declassified government reports, news stories and eyewitness affidavits to support his often-controversial contentions: not only are aliens here, but the U.S. military has established contact with them; President Eisenhower met with aliens in 1954 at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.; President Kennedy viewed alien bodies at an air force medical facility in Florida; President Nixon arranged for comedian Jackie Gleason to view alien bodies in 1973. Good emphasizes a lengthy record of credible witnesses, including military and airline pilots, who have reported unexplained phenomena, but he fails to provide incontrovertible evidence of UFOs, extraterrestrials or a global conspiracy of secrecy. Moreover, he ignores contradictory testimony, exaggerates rumors and circumstantial evidence, and reprises old charges. Nonetheless, UFO enthusiasts will appreciate this comprehensive and spirited UFO defense and the hundreds of supporting documents reproduced within.

The evidence that Good has amassed is too overwhelming to ignore and it is clear that a more open debate is long overdue.

integrity, his determination and skill as a researcher, and his wide and detailed knowledge of the whole fascinating UFO experience. --Lord defense

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Pegasus Books (November 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933648384
• ISBN-13: 978-1933648385
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #90,909 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #52 in	Books > Religion & Spirituality > Occult > UFOs
  #52 in	Books > Science > Astronomy > UFOs

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than You Think You Know, December 11, 2007

By	Edward F. Mazur - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Probably more books have been written in the past 60 years on the captivating and mysterious phenomena of flying saucers, now referred to as UFOs, than on any other single topic. Their continuing and increasing presence in the skies over planet Earth have led many researchers to undertake closer examinations of the documented reports much of which were closely held by official government agencies and later leaked or declassified..
The current release of NEED TO KNOW: UFOs, The Military, and Intelligence, by Timothy Good, is his seventh book on the subject. NEED TO KNOW is particularly noteworthy in that it builds on his previous works while disclosing new information gleaned from government documents, Air Force personnel and credible witnesses. Its 430 pages lead the reader through known sightings and incidents adequately verified, that spans the recorded 60 plus year history of the UFO presence. Compelling scenarios are presented from official files. Some have appeared on the History Channel, the Larry King program and even Nightline.
As a long-time researcher into the UFO puzzle and a former State Director in the Mutual UFO Network, an international organization, I have read many very good works on the subject and have also written extensively on various UFO aspects. But in reading NEED TO KNOW, I was immensely impressed with the quality and integrity of the work. Mr. Good does not offer his theories, conclusions or opinions. He lets his documented and recorded findings speak for themselves. And indeed, they do speak loudly and emphatically. The sequential presentation of the many different episodes and sightings form a picture that is difficult to ignore or to challenge. Even the incidents on which very little data exists are presented in a time-line that meshes with known and adequately documented events
Mussolini's interest in those early reports of 1941 of strange aerial craft, intercepts of Werner von Braun's V2 rocket tests by UFOs and later, of other missile test launches, the in depth reports on the Washington D.C UFO overflights in 1952, the Northeastern blackout of November 9, 1965 and a month later, the crash of the Kecksberg object in Pennsylvania, disappearances of Air Force planes and pilots, and the incapacitation of an entire missile complex in Montana. These and other incidents are just some of the examples of the detailed coverage of significant unearthly incidents.
But it is in the last one hundred pages of the book that many of the diverse events coalesce and begin to form a picture that cannot be dismissed. This is a book that is well worth the time to read. The UFO has changed more than most of us could imagine. Timothy Good presented thought provoking disclosures. The rest is up to you, the reader. It's your world too. You decide.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scared the heck out of me, July 1, 2008

By	David Kearns "Dave" (Palm Bay, Florida) - See all my reviews

I am just about finished. An incessant read. Earlier reviewers slam him for using old information etc. don't listen to them. This book will absolutely blow your mind.

It is interesting that the slammers don't challenge any of the data in the volume, nor the seemingly incredible stories which are well documented with official paperwork.

The fact our government continues to remain mum is disheartening evidence that democracy as set down by the founding fathers has been suspended since 1947.

When the powers that are created to protect us see fit to continuously lie, covering up a secret that enriches the few, those powers ceased to be esteemed as for the better. The later is my thought on the matter. Mr Good renders no such judgment in his work. He merely lays out all the information. Truly an important work.

41 of 55 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Need To Know why you should buy this? Don't., November 17, 2007

By	A. Adams (Portland, OR United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Well I would have to agree with one of the other reviews here: There is very little new information in this book! I am very disappointed in Mr. Good and his latest book, Need To Know- Ufos , the Military and Intelligence. I pre-ordered this to let you know how much I was looking forward to it. I just finished Need To Know and was so letdown that I felt compelled to sit down on a Saturday night and write this review.

Where do I begin? Mr. Good states himself in the Introduction "...and most of my books are currently out of print, I have alluded to, and updated where appropriate, some cases from previous books". That's not good, and you potential buyers should take that as a warning.

Mr. Good also states that he felt it essential to include a great deal of material from the 1940's and 1950's. I have read and heard most of these stories before in the other 30-40 UFO related books I have purchased. So for me, there is not much new material here. Perhaps I should suggest this book is good for the UFO beginner, but not the intermediate or expert UFO enthusiast/expert.

Surely there has been some extraordinary things happening in the UFO field and community in the last 5 years? You wouldn't know that by reading this book. I am looking at Timothy Good's previous books on my desk including Alien Base, Above Top Secret and Alien Contact. All are excellent and each is unique in it's own way. My copy of Above Top Secret has been read and used for research so often that the pages are coming loose!

You know what is also a pleasant extra to have in a UFO book? Pictures. That way I can not only read the witness testimony but also see what they saw. Sure some are fake and some are questionable while other pictures make you scratch your head. If you like your UFO books to have pictures of the planes that chased the UFOs, or pictures of the pilots who were in the planes that chased the UFOs, then this book is for you! Rejoice in picture after picture of the long dead Government officals who have their portaits littered in several sections of Need To Know.

If you are looking for UFO pictures with detailed analysis and descriptions, move on. There is one (1) new UFO picture in this book that I had never seen before taken in 1985 from a Cessna 337. Mr. Good also has the nerve to include a picture taken during the Korean War over the China Sea- the exact same picture on the cover of his Above Top Secret book.

All pictures and documents are in black and white and most have been seen in other books. How many times do I have to see artwork of the alien from Roswell by Glenn Dennis? In comparison, the pictures in Alien Base were printed on that nice, shiny, glossy paper that is easy on the eyes. Many of those pictures in Alien Base were new to me- including some by Paul Villa, so why nothing new in Need To Know?

So what about the content of the book? Why complain about the pictures, or lack thereof? Have you ever read a UFO book that was so bad, you said to yourself "well at least the pictures are cool"? I can't even say that about Need To Know.

I could go on and on here. I'm trying to save you some money and tell you that this is not worth your time or money. Again, there is no new material here (except the fact that there were numerous aircraft crashes in the 1940's, that may or may not be UFO related). Nothing but rehashed stories, old, stale pictures and a ton of blacked out memos and articles that mean little to me.

You should be ashamed Mr. Good.