Phenomenon: Forty Years of Flying Saucers [Paperback]

John Spencer (Author), Hilary Evans (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 413 pages
• Publisher: Avon Books (Mm) (August 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380706547
• ISBN-13: 978-0380706549
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 3.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,611,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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5.0 out of 5 stars TWENTY YEARS OLD, YET STILL A VALUABLE "SURVEY" BOOK, January 5, 2010

By 

Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Phenomenon: Forty Years of Flying Saucers (Paperback)

Those of us interested in UFOs often like to curl up with a good "summary" book; this collection of essays is interesting in that it includes both "pro" and "con" opinions, by a wide variety of researchers (including Budd Hopkins, Jenny Randles, and John Keel) gathered by the editors John Spencer ("pro") and Hilary Evans ("con") of the British UFO Association (BUFORA); Spencer and Evans each include an essay to close the volume ("The Case for Scientific Study," and "The Case for Skepticism," respectively). The book includes a rather sparse 8 pages of photos, as well.

Essays included are "The Legend of the Crashed Saucers," "The Development of UFO Occupants," "The Elusive Photographic Evidence," "Government Cover-Up and Conspiracy" (by Jenny Randles), "The UFO Cults," and many more.

In an essay by John Keel on "The People Problem," he notes that "I have seen reports by police officers who claimed the object they saw must have been traveling at a speed of at least 2000 mph. One report by an elderly man in Florida claimed he saw an object take off at a speed of 5000 mph!"

The editors note about some "witness" claims of having received "reassurance, peace, even love" from UFO encounters that "Unfortunately, such emotional responses are no guarantee that the UFO is what it seems to be: they have been known to occur even when the alleged UFO can be positively identified as a natural or manmade object."

In the essay, "Extraterrestrial UFOS - Yes or No?" the writer notes, "There are no photographs of UFO occupants. A UFO has never been clearly photographed by two persons independently. There are extremely few CLOSE-UP photos of an alien craft, and I do not know of one that has passed rigorous laboratory scrutiny of the negative."

Concerning the possibility of alien civilizations intercepting our radio/TV transmissions, the point is made that "the mathematics of ETI distribution suggest that the nearest technological civilization would be over 1000 light years away, so won't be able to detect our radio/TV/readar waves for another 930 terrestrial years."

The breadth and even-handedness of this collection make it of continuing value to UFO book fans.