Customer Reviews

Revelations (MM to TR Promotion)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Valle's finale to the UFO trilogy includes many incidents which have become household words. In the process, he shows how the unwary have frequently been made pawns in the ongoing controversy of UFOs and the holy grail of proof that so many are seeking or denying. As many have come to learn, the UFO controversy is a story that is true one day and false the next. The manipulations that go on inside the controversy are at once blatant and subtle; no "smoking gun" emerges, yet the magic show goes on. Why are so many lies used in refuting and denying this topic?

Written with penetrating insight, and at times wry humor. The insitence of this author that the reader think for himself may irritate some people while delighting others. Interesting and thought-provoking light is shed on the disinformation activities of those who continue to claim that UFOs officially do not exist. This book can be read as a stand alone, or as the conclusion to the observations made in the first two books in the trilogy (Confrontations and Dimensions).

After a long hiatus (about 23 years), this was the first book I read on the UFO phenomenon. And I don't think I could have picked a better one start with. Here was a researcher who shared my reservations over the fascination with conspiracies and hypnotic regression and who openly doubted the extraterrestrial hypothesis.

This book presents an unsparing view of ufology in the '90's, Bill Cooper, John Lear, Linda Moulton Howe, Bob Lazar, William Moore, and Paul Bennewitz all make appearances. The ruling obsessions of the "ufo community", MJ-12, Philadelphia Experiment, Roswell, Implants, are examined and found to be red herrings on their best days.

I can't imagine the amount of rubbish I avoided by reading this book first. Thanks Dr. Vallee!

Jacques Vallee continues his fascinating studies into the realm of ufology. The terrific thing about Dr. Vallee's books, is that he doesn't claim to know "the answer". He also encourages you to use your mind and think about all the claims and truths spouted by most ufologists.

While I might not agree with all of his conclusions, I appreciate the way that he presents his voluminous data and encourages you to make up your own mind. I encourage you to read this book if you're interested in the ufo phenomenon, and have read books by other authors. Dr. Vallee's unique way of studying this fascinating phenomenon is refreshing and very needed in the current climate of "final truths" about ufos.

A good friend who ran a used bookstore in the deep South one day traded in a pick-up truck full of UFO literature. Something grabbed hold of me, and that was the last I was heard from for about 6 months. But of all the UFO literature I ingested during that period of being so entranced by the subject, this book, by veteran researcher J. Vallee, was hands down the most frightening. There is nothing made up or fabricated in it at all, but you may wish there were. This book is about truths that are way scarier that fiction. (J. Vallee is reported now to have left the field altogether, and this book gives some intriguing possible hints as to why.)

In "Revelations" the author takes a critical look among other things at the standard ET hypothesis of crashed saucers, recovered disks, reverse engineering at Area 51 and secret government deals with the grays,and provides much needed balance in this area. He also looks at how alot of these stories came about, who could have been behind them and the possible reasons for doing so.For instance a lot of the stories about Area 51 could have been deliberately planted so as to distract attention away from what's really going on there i.e. the development of high tech planes like the Aurora. Psychological warfare and mind control could have been reasons behind certain other cases like the tragic case of Paul Bennewitz.
This is not to say that the author is a sceptic of the phenomenon as a whole as he believes that UFO's are very real, and has presented detailed evidence of this in his previous books "Dimensions" and "Confrontations." He doesn't pretend to know the answer to the mystery but emphasises the need for a critical yet open minded approach, which I think is quite rare in this field as all too often researchers seem to take a very narrow minded view whether it be the sceptics who don't believe that UFO's exist at all and are always searching for some "logical explanation" which quite often are far more ridiculous than the ET theory, or the researchers who believe the ET theory is the answer to the mystery and so ignore all the cases that don't fit into the theory.
He also takes a look at the Soviet UFO wave of 1989, and has some interesting comments on the Roswell crash.
Overall I found this an entertaining and informative book, and one that belongs on the bookshelf of every UFO researcher.
In addition I would also recommend his previous books "Passport to Magonia", "Dimensions", and "Confrontations", as well as John Keels book "UFOs Operation Trojan Horse." Regarding the possibility of man made UFOs I would recommend "The Hunt for Zero Point" by Nick Cook.

I stumbled upon this one after watching the movie "Fire In The Sky", which's based from Travis Walton's book "The TRAVIS Experience" (I'd Bill Barry's account of Travis' story titled "Ultimate Encounter" published by Corgi books), which narrates his alledged abduction by a UFO; and one of those prominent 'UFOlogist' who've studied the case was the late J. Allen Hynek - who is Jacques Vallee's close associate. In my personal little correspondent with the man himself, he mentions about his theory that UFO's are eventually 'light-entities' which aren't much presented in this third and final installment to his trilogy, but Vallee's journalistic and objective approach in REVELATIONS about so-called UFO cover-ups, crashes, sightings, abductions and the whole phenomenon in general gives light to all of these subjects in this book. If there ever was one book about UFO's that you should read- this might just be the one.

This is really a vary good book where cases are analyzed in depth. I personally found that most intriguing was the abduction of Frank Fontaine, also I found questioning of the Bentwaters case very thought-provoking. Although, I am not buying everything the author proposes (I think the alien abductions is a real phenomena, just too much independent evidence including physical), I think this is an excellent book nevertheless.

Jacques Vallee travelled a long way from the genesis of his ideas on the UFO issue in the 1960s to `Revelations'. Originally published in 1991 and reprinted by Anomalous in 2008 with a new introduction, this is the final book of the author's magnum opus trilogy summarising his 30 years of research into UFO and related phenomena.

Where `Dimensions' (1988) summarised and updated his work from the 1970s - and contained a lot of repetition from earlier books - and `Confrontations' (1990) focussed on recent field investigations of legitimate UFO/encounter cases from three continents, the subject matter of `Revelations' takes up the themes last explored in the author's 1979 book `Messengers of Deception'. A critical eye and sharp intellect are here brought to focus on some of the (largely delusional) common belief paradigms rampant in the field of UFOlogy at the time. Some of these beliefs have survived for decades, and deserve to be examined closely.

From the author's introduction on p7:

"...there is indeed a genuine UFO phenomenon and it constitutes one of the many mysteries that nature offers us...but the current proliferation of spurious material ...should be analyzed and exposed for what it is: at best, a dangerous delusion, the germ of new cults that would extinguish the light of reason and free inquiry; at worst, an attempt to draw attention away from the real nature of the UFO phenomenon, a deliberate effort to drive real research into the quicksands of speculation"

Through a series of interviews with Bill Moore, John Lear, Bill Cooper, Bob Lazar, Wendelle Stevens and countless other misguided souls, the misconceptions behind many of the myths about US government `treaties' with ETs, crashed saucers, autopsied aliens, the notorious MJ-12 documents, underground bases and Area 51 are stripped away. Vallee explains how these myths got started and propagated, and explores orchestrated hoaxes such as the UMMA-cult, the infamous Pontoise `abduction' and (so Vallee believes) the 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident as being deliberate exercises in manipulation and deception.

Vallee says of this book:

"' Revelations' is an attempt to clear the underbrush of an interesting scientific field ...cluttered with the weeds and vines of human fantasy and the poisonous flowers of unbalanced minds" (p9)

In the process Vallee manages to offend just about everybody, from the ideological "they can't get here from there" debunkers with their spurious swamp gas/Venus/weather balloon `explanations', to the equally ideologically driven cultist-proponents of various conspiracy theories and messianic ideologies. Vallee demonstrates such misguided beliefs are actively encouraged to pollute the waters and keep people chasing phantoms: the classic intelligence art of deception is to make people look at what you want them to look at, and away from what you don't want them to see.

This is one of Vallee's best published works, written in a lively style and packed with insights, and as a bonus containing more genuine humor than one usually finds in his earnest writings. It's full of radical perspectives as some commonly held myths are carefully deconstructed, one at a time. The conclusions may be briefly summarised as follows:

1. There is a genuine UFO phenomenon which deserves serious scientific investigation

2. Mainstream scientists with the academic standards needed to investigate this phenomenon with professional thoroughness and sufficient resources are kept away from the subject because it is contaminated by too much lunacy

3. Much of this lunacy is deliberately fed with disinformation by those who are perfectly aware of the gullibility and scientific illiteracy of their target audience

4. These targeted interventions often result in self-perpetuating cults and delusional beliefs (like thousands of aliens living in a huge underground base at Dulce NM and feasting on human body parts, for example) which become widely accepted and take on a life of their own, and whose proponents are too naïve to ask the obvious questions which might quickly puncture the balloon of the delusion

Vallee does not claim to have all the answers, and you may or may not agree with him on every issue. For example, his "5 arguments against the ETH" are ultimately spurious and unconvincing (though to be fair Vallee does insist his speculations are "...not intended as a complete refutation of the ETH" and could be set aside as our understanding about wormholes etc. develops), and he has always had a blind spot about abduction research because he simply does not understand the evidence. However, taken as a whole the book is essential reading. The author is certain that the UFO phenomenon is the object of deep study by many official and covert governmental agencies because of the overwhelming evidence of the persistent confiscation of photos and film from professional pilots and other credible witnesses, and their being repeatedly intimidated into silence; but it's a big jump from this documented fact to unfounded speculations about alien spacecraft being reverse-engineered at Area 51, when the `evidence' for this belief (including Bob Lazar's experiences, which he seems to genuinely believe) looks to be contrived and deliberately manufactured; a `set-up'.

If you're interested in looking into the propagation of UFO myths and sorting wheat from chaff, then reading `Revelations' is likely to illuminate some dark and murky places and help you see things as they are more likely to be.

If anyone knows how I can get a hold of Mr. Vallee. I was at RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge during the UFO incident in 1980. I am afraid and curious to know if I was unknowingly involved in a mind control experiment. I still have nightmares from those days.

Lori

This is a sci-fi type book trying to pose as a serious topic. It's a total waste of money and time. Only the ignorant of science would be excited about this. There is NO EVIDENCE to support these writings. If evidence were taken seriously this book would be laughed out of town. This is the kind of book for folks who want to BELIEVE, as in a religion, regardless of what the facts and reality are.