ALSO RECEIVED
We leaf through a selection of recent fortean books...
Unidentified
The UFO Phenomenon
Robert Salas
New Page Books 2015
Pb, 238pp, illus, bib, ind, $15.99, ISBN 9781601633422
Salas – a retired missile engineer and USAF officer – takes issue with the statement made by the USAF in 1969 that “No UFO investigated and evaluated by the Air Force was ever an indication of threat to our national security” and has confronted the problem of ‘official secrecy’ at every opportunity. Here, he sets out a very detailed case and, along the way, his own UFO experience in 1967 leads into his reasons for believing that a ‘UFO Cabal’ exists at the highest level of the Air Force. However, he also conflates what was personal and local into a conspiracy that spans governments of other countries. It is a very sober yet heartfelt narrative which mitigates against the temptation to dismiss it without due consideration.
our Holographic World
The Shocking Truth about Time and Reality
Anthony Milne
Empiricus Books 2014
Pb, 355pp, notes, ind, £10.95, ISBN 9781857568271
Curiously subtitled ‘The Shocking Truth about Time and Reality’, this is yet another take on the argument that ‘reality’ – referred to in the blurb rather simplistically as ‘the Universe’ – seems more like a super hologram. That said, Milne writes clearly and makes some interesting correlations between the many different experiences of time as related in accounts of NDEs, OOBEs, reincarnation, ESP, prophecy, déjà vu, dreams, etc. His own assessment of how different branches of science deal with them – whether any common ground can be found – is well thought-out, making it a useful survey and introduction for any newcomer to these subjects.
Fearless in Tibet
Matteo Pistono
Hay House, 2014
Pb, 351pp, ind, refs, glossary, notes, $17.95, ISBN 9781401941468
Pistono’s previous book – an account of his decade-long journey through present day Tibet – was praised by the Dalai Lama for its descriptions of the social and religious life of modern Tibetans. Pistano says that it also brought him, by stages, to an awareness of the importance of Tertön Sogyal, regarded
by many as a visionary saint and one of the most influential mystics of the 19th century, who was also a teacher and companion to the 13th Dalai Lama.
This book presents, for the first time in English, a detailed study of the life and teachings of Tertön Sogyal. Of interest here – besides an extraordinarily robust mysticism that accommodates reincarnation, visions, prophecies and ‘spirit-entities’ that personify either emanations of Buddhas of or subjugated demons – is Pistano’s portrait of the Tertön’s yogic training, endurance and antique discoveries. In Tibetan tradition, the title tertön is bestowed upon those who discover termas, ‘treasures’ – which may be texts, ritual objects, relics or long-hidden teachings, etc – believed to have been concealed by the Padmasambahva – the Indian guru who promoted Buddhism in Tibet in the eighth century – until the time was right for their revelation. Fearless in Tibet also records the historic meeting of the two present-day ‘simultaneous’ incarnations of Tertön Sogyal, one of whom, Sogyal Rinpoche, provides the book’s introduction. Given all that weight and solemnity, Pistono’s writing gallops along and enlightens as it entertains.
Walking Among Us
David M Jacobs
Red Wheel Weiser 2015
Pb, 287pp, notes, ind, $21.95, ISBN 9781938875144
Anyone who has read Dr Jacobs’s previous books – particularly Intruders (1987), Secret Life (1992) and The Threat (1998) – knows his sincere commitment to the idea that earthlings are being abducted by aliens and subjected to medical investigation and genetic manipulation.
This book takes his thesis a step further, concluding: “The abduction evidence has forced me to evolve into a fearful investigator. I have uncovered the alien reality, as much as I dislike it.” In Threat, he detected changes in alien abduction patterns, suggesting here that by now untold numbers of human-alien ‘hybrids’ are walking among us. Apparently, one abductee was told: “Soon we will all be together. Soon everyone will be happy and everyone will know his place.” This chilling prediction about the alien plan to control humanity is exposed here, based on 13 interviews with abduction claimants. Those who will dismiss this as whacky will ignore it, but Jacobs is writing for believers … and there are a lot of them out there.