UFOs and Abductions: Challenging the Borders of Knowledge

I read this book edited by David Jacobs, Ph.D. expecting good information on the UFO abductions phenomenon from different points of view. I was pleased to find that the book is an excellent source for anyone, such as me, to review data on this subject to be used within the bibliography of a written work on this scientific quest. The material is very straightforward, its bibliography is very good and the notes section at the end of the book is forty pages long with excellent explanations and extensive additional bibliography. Anyone who wants to read solid information on abductions free of sensationalism and with a scientific approach should have this book in his/her library.

A mixed bag of essays: some absolutely required reading, others included for balance or to more academically round out the subject but less compelling.For those with a genuine and already generally informed interest in this woefully maligned matter, here are the essays that really shine and demand to be read and carefully thought over. They offer concise writing with excellent context and clear, objective reasoning.1. UFOs: Lost in the Myths, by Thomas Bullard. Bullard's writing is always first-rate and this is one of his best, most comprehensive and insightful essays. A brilliant analysis of many cultural currents, their ebb and flow changed and unchanged by the possibility or denial of an alien presence. Particularly fascinating his observations on how our eschatological obsessions create feedback and forward.2. UFOs, the Military, and the Cold War Era, by Michael Swords. Another first-rate but regrettably little known UFO maven whose writings I wish were compiled and made more easily available. A terrific, informative historical outline which includes many facts that have not been properly detailed or figured into a more revealing context elsewhere - and without sloppy conspiracy-mongering.3. The Extraterrestrial Hypothesis in the Early UFO Age, by Jerome Clark. Clark is probably the preeminent historian for this topic, and this is one of his most engaging articles. A careful and very readable walk through the origins of our willful mess of misunderstanding, ignorance and self deceptions.4. How the Alien Abduction Phenomenon Challenges the Boundaries of Our Reality, by John Mack. I am not overly admiring of Prof Mack's contributions, but this provides more than sufficient argument in favor of his general point of view - a fine outline.Of the remaining essays, those that also deserve attention, though to a somewhat lesser degree - mostly because they are likely to read as too brief and/or familiar - are Hopkins' and Jacobs'.The rest are laudable but rather too esoteric or academic - for the hard-core, mostly.

good book

Within the pages of this 20-year-old volume there is little in the way of convincing evidence or overwhelming argument for any resolution of this enduring mystery/myth of the UFO. Still I would recommend it for anyone who wants to dip their toes into this murky lagoon. There is a lot of history here to chew on and that is important no matter your position about the distinction between ‘reality’ and its construction. Within context of more recent revelations I’m still not sure that any progress has been made at all. The abduction experience as some claim in these pages may very well be simply a more intense variation of déjà vu. I found that article particularly convincing even if these experiments are presently disputed. The Linda Cortile episode still strikes me as some kind of psy-op and even if we may never know what agency was ultimately responsible I would dismiss this ‘witnessed abduction’ as a hoax. People (especially writers) get invested in their own narratives, and some of the writers in this volume seem almost defensive. Folklore (whether Niklas Luhmann is willing to admit it or not) is still one of those ongoing or autopoietic narratives, a type of ‘genre memory’ that keeps repeating itself. The military-industrial complex battles here for supremacy with the entertainment-industrial complex. I mention in passing that Spielberg’s ‘Close Encounters’ UFO-topian vision is a friendly reminder that the disintegration of the family goes hand-in-hand with the disintegration of the master narrative. No wonder more established (and modern) science types want to avoid all contact (haha pun intended). Some here claim the “phenomenon demands intellectual engagement” but not necessarily “proving or disproving its origin.” Ironic when this seems to be what this whole thing is about. For many years I was content to take an ironic/agnostic approach, or ‘wait for them to land on the White House lawn’, meaning I enjoyed the movies and wild conspiratorial yarns but mostly for fun. Sure I went through a phase of obsessively rewatching Oliver Stone’s JFK to fact-check it against Vincent Bugliosi’s dissection of the case, and certainly Robert Anton Wilson still has his particular charms. Then I read a little C. S. Lewis and realized if you believe in God, then perhaps the supernatural is nothing to joke about. Still, as I’ve pointed out before, they say one of the best defenses against the Devil is laughter. Notwithstanding the Phoenix lights, laughter is generally not in the toolbox of public officials or of scientists. Amidst narratives and counter-narratives (alien intelligence or counter-intelligence?), how is an ordinary person to make sense of his or her reality? Here the edge of this distinction between ‘observer’ and ‘experiencer’ becomes razor sharp, and the UFO paradox is ultimately revealed as less important than the communications about it.

Livraison rapide et exactement ce que j'ai commandé et en parfait état.