Customer Reviews

UFO

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The author claims this work to be a "mammoth undertaking..." which will "bring you closer to the heart of the controversy...". Bunk. This is a rehash of the more conspiracy-laden facets of the UFO phenomenon (Area 51, Roswell, MJ-12, abductions, Face on Mars, etc), presenting long discredited "facts" as some sort of revelation. The author promises "recently declassified documents" and "rare photographs". What we get are reprints of the MJ-12 papers, photos we've all seen since childhood (including a "mysterious photo" of an alien which has long since been identified as a wax model from a Canadian museum). There is more filler in here than in a hot dog, such as page after page describing the events in the 'Alien Autopsy'film and lots of quotes from TLC's UFO specials.
There is not one original thought in this book. A real waste of time

This was my first "UFO" book. As such, I appreciated the summary of the issues here: Area 51, the Roswell incidents, alien autopsies, the Majestic 12 committee, the face on Mars, who made the Great Pyramid, Project Blue Book, abductions, crop circles, and more.

This book was released a decade ago, in 1997. Author Charles Sellier seems to have developed his writing career as looking for explanations of mysteries, and his works (unless there is another author by that name specializing in this genre) include:

The Incredible Discovery of Noah's Ark
The Lincoln Conspiracy
Evidence for Heaven
Mysteries of the Ancient World
Ancient Revelations of the Bible
Miracles and Other Wonders
Grizzly Adams: The Treasure Mountain conspiracy
The Paranormal Sourcebook: A Complete Guide to All Things Otherwordly

So Sellier isn't new to the idea of looking into conspiracies, government cover-ups, "otherworldly" topics, ancient history, and... aliens.

I thought Sellier wrote well. Except for the irritating abundance of "Could it be that...," "Is it possible that...," and "Could the same thing be easily said of..." type questions scattered throughout, he painted a broad overview of the issues involved in the UFO camps.

Sellier throws everything at the reader. I think the idea here is that if you throw everything, and something sticks, there there is something to this UFO stuff. Perhaps. Observed phenomena should have explanations. For example, in his chapter on Mars, he works to tie the "face on Mars" into observations on Earth, the failure of space probes sent to Mars, and more. However, as we know, the "face on Mars" was simply a Martian mesa (you can see the newest photos from NASA on the web).

I was sitting down at lunch with 5 bright people and mentioned that I was reading this book. Two at the table mentioned quite casually that they had seen UFOs... in Arizona, and in Utah. Thus, with this personal experience, they became believers. Alas, I have not had this experience. Perhaps I'm too contaminated with Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. However, I do find the topic of interest, even if I find myself connecting it to Thomas Gilovich's book, How We Know What Isn't So: The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life.

So Mr. Sellier, you haven't convinced me that UFOs are real. I do, however, feel more capable of discussing the topic with a true believer.

The previous review is about right on. What can you say about the same mj12, blue book, grudge, condon, and many other names for the same uninteresting and hardly reputable organizations within our government that hide ufos from us? the book is really well written and could lead anybody is not a true ufo buff right down the path. hell i even found myself looking twice at the alien video stuff. but in the end i found the book really entertaining but not educational..and the pictures suck...really they do...i have seen them all ....correction i had seen all those pictures by the time i had read my second ufo book in 5th grade (i'm 21 now) but like i said the book makes for a great fantasy.

This well written, fact filled book was very intersesting and amazing. It has a lot of convincing information,quotes, pictures, and lots more. The other reviews may be bad, but trust me--this book is not one to miss. I love reading it. Its great!