From Booklist
Emmons has arguably written one of the best treatments of UFOs from the perspective of the sociology of science. Ufology, he writes, has been labeled a "deviant science" and thus not taken seriously. This treatment originated with the air force's UFO project and continues in sensational media coverage. Emmons takes a look at the scientists who defy the taboo and study UFOs anyway, as well as the professional debunkers, whom he finds much less objective than their press releases let on. He then examines two reasons not to take debunking claims too seriously: mainstream science is now under attack from many quarters for being too ideological, and some conceptual developments in the new physics may make UFOs much easier to accept and explain, even within a scientific framework. The rest of the book is concerned with the nature of physical and eyewitness evidence and the debate between nuts-and-bolts ufologists and those with a New Age approach. A masterful job of clarifying the dynamics of a complex field of study. George Eberhart
Product Description
is an overview of UFO discoveries in the context of the battle between mainstream science and researchers who dare to study UFOs. It explores the history of UFO research and how it's been labeled a deviant science a definition that emerged gradually out of military/governmental investigations and coverups. Although physical scientists are generally perceived as being hostile to ufology individual scientists are less condemning of UFO studies than it would appear from the taboo status of UFOs in academic institutions. In fact respectable speculation among astronomers about ET civilization is that there is probably a great deal of it in our own galaxy and we should try to contact it
