ALSO RECEIVED
WE LEAF THROUGH A SMALL SELECTION OF THE DOZENS OF BOOKS THAT HAVE ARRIVED AT FORTEAN TOWERS IN RECENT MONTHS...
Sky Critters UFOs, Science and Extraterrestrials Anthony Milne Empiricus Books 2016 PB, 272pp illus, notes, ind, £13.95, ISBN 9781857568615
It may seem odd that there is still a community ‘out there’ who believe that UFOs are alien intelligences in the form of shape-changing luminous orbs. Anthony Milne is obviously a passionate and veteran believer, and presents the history and his analysis of the idea with skill and care, tracing it back to ConanDoyle’s 1913 short story ‘The Horror of the Heights’ and the work of the Borderland Sciences Research Foundation (BSRF, established 1951) in keeping the subject alive over the decades.
Other prominent promoters have been Wilhelm Reich and Trevor James Constable; the latter’s 1958 book The Cosmic Pulse of Life created a bridge between Reich’s ‘orgone’, the BRSF’s ‘Ether Ships’ and modern UFOs.
It’s amusing to think that the idea of UFOs as an interplanetary form of energy-based intelligence has a longer shelf-life than the equally old concept of UFOs as ‘nuts-and-bolts’ alien craft. However, the blurry photos of shapeless blobs in the sky, relied upon in this book, still fail to convince.
Being with the Aliens The How and the Why of ET Contact Miguel Mendonça wearethedisclosure.com/Amazon 2017 Pb, 307pp, £13.99, ISBN 9781544270852
We previously reviewed Miguel Mendonça’s Meet the Hybrids ( FT350:63); Being with the Aliens is, apparently the final part of a trilogy on alien–human interaction. He deals head-on with the persistent claim from an ever-growing group of individuals who believe – passionately and sincerely – that they are only part or passively human; that the larger, louder, more significant part of their lives is not everydayhuman but something else. This might possibly be analogous to the problems facing those with gender-identity disorder, in that they share a need to overcome the prejudice by others and desire from others better understanding of what they are going through.
The nine individuals interviewed here have contacted or been contacted by “non-human intelligences”, amplifying their psychic abilities and artistic talents through “direct, meaningful contact”, bolstering their selfconfidence through “channelling” and sharing experiences.
This does not sound like the demonology – or ufology – of old, but something new; something that is difficult for the rest of us to understand.
The Global Mind and the Rise of Civilisation The Quantum Evolution of Consciousness Carl Johan Calleman Bear & Co 2016 Pb, 300pp, illus, notes, bib, ind, $20.00, ISBN 9781591432418
This is a reprint from 2014, but bears some relationship to the previous book reviewed here. Calleman is a physical biologist and expert on the Mayan culture and calendar. His study of the steps by which cultures advance led him to predict that the next big step in neurological and cultural evolution is immanent. Where the previous author (Mendonça) interprets the murmurs and quakes of the modern psyche as alien or non-human in origin, Calleman argues for a global consciousness.
An interesting thesis, wellwritten and argued.
Science for heretics Why So Much of Science Is Wrong Barrie Condon Self-published via Amazon 2015 Pb, 470pp, refs, £9.99, ISBN 9781534820586
The rise of the Internet and new means of self-publishing are piling up mountains of books on the shoulders of the world that no amount of shrugging by Atlas can dislodge. It’s easy to understand why this book would not have found a conventional publisher. It is a monolithic block of unforgiving text, densely written in a typewriter-font, with few references, fewer headings, no illustrations and no index. The author has degrees in physics, oceanography and nuclear medicine and has been a medical consultant for the UK’s NHS, with over 80 papers to his credit. His message? That there are “profound problems with all aspects of scientific theory and method”; and that ever-narrowing specialisation in science and technology is failing to answer the problems facing society as a whole, and the psychological, spiritual and social plight of individuals in particular.
While most of the book is his critical analysis of the failings of orthodox science and religion, his answer is hard to find. Throughout the book he characterises himself as ‘The Heretic’ in order to question everything.
Buried in there is a simple plea to take away the blinkers on science and religion, but it’s a hard slog getting to it. It’s up to you to decide if this is enough.
Real Visitors Voices from Beyond and Parallel Dimensions Brad and Sherry Hansen Steiger Visible Ink 2016 PB, 432pp, illus, reading list, ind, £19.95, ISBN 9781578595419
Real Visitors is the latest in a line of similar tomes from the Steigers and, much like the others, it is a sprawling compilation of short pieces on an eclectic range of topics radiating from its central theme. In this case, it is about the different ways in which certain people may encounter entities who convey (what seem to be) guidance or messages.
These ‘contacts’, may be convoluted or enigmatic as was wellknown in the days of sibyls and oracles, or they may be direct and personal. Their essence is always provocative, demanding of attention, and strange. They come from ‘somewhere else’, planes with guarded names like Beyond, Otherworld, and Afterlife, adopting suitably disturbing disguises from the daydreams and nightmares of our species. The Visitors and the people they visit – psychics, prophets, shamans, dreamers, mediums, outsiders, misfits and yearners – seem to need each other as much as they both need Meaning and Belonging.
The Steigers are at their best at interviewing and bringing out individual stories, but their steadfast mission is to serve the Believers. There is little here in the way of old-fashioned, independent or unequivocal evidence, as each account – regardless of contradictions or subjectivity – is given equal weight in a court that a priori ‘believes’ every witness. The end result of this approach, sadly, is that we are left with no way to assess a story’s value to ourselves.
Bad Girls From History Wicked or misunderstood? Dee Gordon Pen and Sword 2017 Pb, 148pp, illus, bib, ind, £12.99, ISBN9781473862821
The cover of Bad Girls from History: Wicked or Misunderstood – apparently the result of years of research – features Mata Hari, George Sand and Lizzie Borden, with smaller images of Bonnie Parker, Barbara Villiers, Irma Grese, Emma Hamilton, Amelia Dyer and Mae West. Irma Grese, “the beautiful beast of Belsen”, was definitely bad… but George Sand? The back cover asks whether the women are wicked, misunderstood or “just out of their time. Read… and decide”, pretty much an indication of fudge. Many of the women in the first chapter, ‘Courtesans and mistresses’ (a courtesan is “a whore with classy clients!”, an example of the book’s leaden humour) used sex for advancement, pleasure or survival. It’s a relief to get to ‘Serial killers’ and ‘Gangsters, thieves and conartists’, including Diamond Annie of the Elephant Gang and Sadie the Goat. And then we’re back to ‘The rebel collection’ and Mary Wollstonecraft. Bizarre.