Welcome to my Friday feature!
In each weekly post, I explore
my thoughts on several
book-related topics.
I have recently become interested in reading about conspiracy theories. Although I'm not currently featuring such books on this blog, I would definitely like to do so sometime soon. The thing about these books is that they can be fascinating even if the theories themselves are a bit off the wall. Of course, if a given theory is completely ridiculous, then that's another matter entirely. It would simply be a waste of time to read about it.
Actually, I have featured at least one book dealing with UFO conspiracy theories. It's titled The Secret History of Extraterrestrials: Advanced Technology and the Coming New Race, by Len Kasten. Unfortunately, I found this book to be an uneven mix of fascinating facts and totally ridiculous, as well as very obvious, fiction. The book even included a picture of an alleged building on an alien planet, occupied by humans. This photo has been proven to be a hoax. You can access my review of this book HERE.
I've been a science fiction fan for most of my life, so it stands to reason that I would be interested in such theories. In spite of my disappointment with the book mentioned above, I am still very much intrigued by the concept of UFOs secretly landing on our planet, and the whole thing being covered up by governments, especially the U.S. government. So, I am by no means going to stop reading such books!
The topic of UFOs and alien life is a rather broad one, as I'm beginning to discover. So, I'd like to start off with the most famous incident of all -- the Roswell incident. This took place near Roswell, New Mexico, on July 8,1947. At the time, the military reported that an ordinary weather balloon had crashed at a ranch near Roswell. It was later said to be an Air Force surveillance balloon whose purpose was the monitoring of nuclear testing.
For 30 years, the Roswell incident was forgotten by UFO researchers. Then, beginning in 1978 and continuing until the present, interest in it revived. This interestt was at its peak in the 1990s. Several books were written during this time, such as The Roswell Incident (1980), by Charles Berlitz and William Moore, UFO Crash at Roswell (1991), by Kevin Randle and Donald Schmitt, Crash At Corona: the U.S Military Retrieval and Cover-Up of a UFO, (1992), by physicist Stanton Friedman and Don Berliner, who has written books about space and aviation, The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell (1994), also by Randle and Schmitt, and The Day After Roswell (1997), an autobiographical book written by Colonel Philip J. Corso.
According to the Wikipedia article, there are contradictions and differences among all of the accounts of the Roswell incident.
Berlitz and Moore claimed to have interviewed over 90 witnesses for their book, while Stanton Friedman also contributed some research, for which he was not credited. The book mentions debris that was purportedly not of earthly origin, and the authors add that the press was not allowed to examine it closely.
In their own book, Randle and Schmitt added 100 new witnesses, one of which described alleged alien autopsies for the first time.
Friedman and Berliner wrote in their book that there were actually two spacecraft and eight aliens, two of which survived and were subsequently taken into custody by the U.S. government.
In their second book on the subject, Randle and Schmitt claimed that several alien bodies were flown to Washington, D.C., to be viewed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Philip J. Corso reported, in his book, that he was shown alien bodies by a Sergeant Brown, while he was assigned to Fort Riley, in Kansas, in July of 1947.
In spite of all of these variations, many people continue to believe that an alien craft did indeed crash in New Mexico in 1947. At the risk of being considered slightly wacko, I must confess to wishing and even hoping that a UFO really did crash at Roswell..... Again, my lifelong interest in science fiction has spiked my curiosity about alien spacecraft and civilizations. Besides, I definitely think that being fascinated by the possibility of the reality of UFOs is VASTLY preferable, and far more intellectually stimulating, than being interested in the doings of the Kardashians, for instance!
Here are the books mentioned above, and which I would very much like to read!
Actually, I have featured at least one book dealing with UFO conspiracy theories. It's titled The Secret History of Extraterrestrials: Advanced Technology and the Coming New Race, by Len Kasten. Unfortunately, I found this book to be an uneven mix of fascinating facts and totally ridiculous, as well as very obvious, fiction. The book even included a picture of an alleged building on an alien planet, occupied by humans. This photo has been proven to be a hoax. You can access my review of this book HERE.
I've been a science fiction fan for most of my life, so it stands to reason that I would be interested in such theories. In spite of my disappointment with the book mentioned above, I am still very much intrigued by the concept of UFOs secretly landing on our planet, and the whole thing being covered up by governments, especially the U.S. government. So, I am by no means going to stop reading such books!
The topic of UFOs and alien life is a rather broad one, as I'm beginning to discover. So, I'd like to start off with the most famous incident of all -- the Roswell incident. This took place near Roswell, New Mexico, on July 8,1947. At the time, the military reported that an ordinary weather balloon had crashed at a ranch near Roswell. It was later said to be an Air Force surveillance balloon whose purpose was the monitoring of nuclear testing.
For 30 years, the Roswell incident was forgotten by UFO researchers. Then, beginning in 1978 and continuing until the present, interest in it revived. This interestt was at its peak in the 1990s. Several books were written during this time, such as The Roswell Incident (1980), by Charles Berlitz and William Moore, UFO Crash at Roswell (1991), by Kevin Randle and Donald Schmitt, Crash At Corona: the U.S Military Retrieval and Cover-Up of a UFO, (1992), by physicist Stanton Friedman and Don Berliner, who has written books about space and aviation, The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell (1994), also by Randle and Schmitt, and The Day After Roswell (1997), an autobiographical book written by Colonel Philip J. Corso.
According to the Wikipedia article, there are contradictions and differences among all of the accounts of the Roswell incident.
Berlitz and Moore claimed to have interviewed over 90 witnesses for their book, while Stanton Friedman also contributed some research, for which he was not credited. The book mentions debris that was purportedly not of earthly origin, and the authors add that the press was not allowed to examine it closely.
In their own book, Randle and Schmitt added 100 new witnesses, one of which described alleged alien autopsies for the first time.
Friedman and Berliner wrote in their book that there were actually two spacecraft and eight aliens, two of which survived and were subsequently taken into custody by the U.S. government.
In their second book on the subject, Randle and Schmitt claimed that several alien bodies were flown to Washington, D.C., to be viewed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Philip J. Corso reported, in his book, that he was shown alien bodies by a Sergeant Brown, while he was assigned to Fort Riley, in Kansas, in July of 1947.
In spite of all of these variations, many people continue to believe that an alien craft did indeed crash in New Mexico in 1947. At the risk of being considered slightly wacko, I must confess to wishing and even hoping that a UFO really did crash at Roswell..... Again, my lifelong interest in science fiction has spiked my curiosity about alien spacecraft and civilizations. Besides, I definitely think that being fascinated by the possibility of the reality of UFOs is VASTLY preferable, and far more intellectually stimulating, than being interested in the doings of the Kardashians, for instance!
Here are the books mentioned above, and which I would very much like to read!
Of course, other books have been written on this topic, but these 5 appear to be the most important ones. I happen to own the last one -- The Day After Roswell -- so I will probably begin with it.
I hope to be able to get to read all of these books, as well as those written by other authors regarding the mysterious events in the New Mexico desert......
NOTE: The information source for this post was the Wikipedia article listed below.
NOTE: The information source for this post was the Wikipedia article listed below.
For Further Information
What are your thoughts on
this subject?
Please leave me a comment
and let me know!
this subject?
Please leave me a comment
and let me know!
I too wish that we were visited by alien intelligence. If that makes us wacko I think that we are in good company as lots of bright and imaginative people feel the same way.
ReplyDeleteI do think that it is likely, but not certain, that alien intelligence exits. I am highly skeptical however that we are being visited by aliens in ships as some folks are contending.
I think that you mentioned that you were planning to read Lonely Planets by David Grinspoon. Among other things he takes a very fair and respectful look at those contending that we are being visited by alien intelligence.
Hey, Brian!
DeleteYou do have a point! I guess I should pat myself on the back for being part of the bright and imaginative, and who cares about the people who might think I'm crazy? After all, lots of people who contributed to the advancement of civilization were labeled as nuts! So thanks for the good word!! : )
I wonder whether we are indeed being visited by alien ships. And what about those stories of aliens kidnapping humans and performing bizarre experiments on them? That sure boggles the mind!
In case you didn't know, there are folks who believe that we are indeed being visited, but the aliens are really demons. What do you think of that? I wonder about that myself, since demons are spirits. However, since angels have been said to materialize and be seen as regular people, who's to say the demons are not doing the same thing? Of course, in order to state something like this, you have to be a believer n the spiritual world. I do firmly believe in it.
I remember, when I saw the movie "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", that I LOVED the plot, and soon became obsessed with this movie. I saw it several times. I bought the soundtrack, and used to play it over and over. I kept wondering if one day, I would have such an encounter myself. I fervently hoped I would!!
You might remember that Richard Dreyfuss's wife in the movie thought he was crazy. The other woman who, like Dreyfuss,
had had an image implanted in her mind by the aliens, understood him completely.
I LOVE this movie as much as "E.T.: The Extraterrestrial"!!!!
Yes, I'm planning to read "Lonely Planets", which will most likely be fascinating in the extreme!
BTW, when I was 12, I met a very imaginative girl named Sylvia, who told me, very solemnly, that she was a government official from another planet. She didn't know about this until the day a fellow alien from this planet suddenly materialized in her backyard, and informed her of her true identity.... Her real name, she informed me, was Chel-al Burr. I promptly began to hero-worship her, and invented my own story. In my case, though, I was from the planet Mars (her planet was not in our solar system), my real name was Chal-ter Byron (same initials, see?) and I was informed about my real identity by a white unicorn who suddenly appeared in MY backyard!
It was Sylvia who first introduced me to the SF genre. She even had her own "planetary newspaper", which she wrote and "published" herself. So, I stopped reading horse books, and turned to reading science fiction. And, BTW, you should have seen the spaceships Sylvia could draw!! I admired and envied her skill!!
I thought she would end up becoming a writer and an artist when she grew up, but instead, she studied nursing, and actually did become a nurse. I was very disappointed. Guess she figured she had to put food on the table.....
I do wish aliens were really coming to Earth. However, I think, if they do exist, that they should present themselves to our leaders. (Imagine the headlines: President Obama privately confers with the Grand Administrator of Regulus, in the Alpha Centauri Galaxy" )
Thanks for the great comment!! : )