BookPleasures.com - http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitepublisher
UFOs and Aliens: Is There Anybody Out There? Reviewed By James Broderick of Bookpleasures.com
http://www.bookpleasures.com/websitepublisher/articles/3552/1/UFOs-and-Aliens-Is-There-Anybody-Out-There-Reviewed-By-James-Broderick-of-Bookpleasurescom/Page1.html
James Broderick Ph.D

Reviewer James Broderick, Ph.D: James is an associate professor of English and journalism at New Jersey City University. A former newspaper reporter and editor, he is the author of six non-fiction books, and the novel Stalked. His latest book is Greatness Thrust Upon Them, a collection of interviews with Shakespearean actors across America. Follow Here To Listen To An Interview With James Broderick.







 
By James Broderick Ph.D
Published on June 7, 2011
 

Editors: Michael Pye and Kirsten Dalley

Publisher: New Page Books

ISBN: 978-1-60163-173-2




Click Here To Purchase Exposed, Uncovered & Declassified: UFOs and Aliens - Is There Anybody Out There?

Editors: Michael Pye and Kirsten Dalley

Publisher: New Page Books

ISBN: 978-1-60163-173-2

Like religion and politics, UFOs are a subject probably best left un-discussed among friends and family members. It’s really a no-win situation. If you say that you think the whole idea of extra-terrestrial intelligence (usually disparaged as “little green men”) is nonsense, you come off as close-minded and perhaps a little unimaginative. If you say you believe – or, Heaven forfend, admit you’ve actually seen a UFO! – you’ll very likely open yourself up to sneers and jeers about tin foil hats and secret signals from the mothership. And if you say you’re just not sure, you come off as something of a milquetoast, too timid to even weigh in on a subject that remains solely a matter of opinion rather than fact – so why not take a position?

But unlike religion and politics, the position most of us hold on the subject of UFOs is probably that of reluctant agnostic. Secretly, we WANT to believe that there might be someone, or something, out there, with which we might one day commune. Even the most hardcore skeptic must entertain at least a few deep-down doubts when staring up at a star-studded sky, wondering if there is anybody out there.

My advice is to stop staring at the sky and start leafing through UFOs and Aliens: Is There Anybody Out There?, a collection of essays on several aspects of the UFO question, edited by Michael Pye and Kirsten Dalley. You’ll learn quite a lot about the history of UFO-ology, its keynote historical moments, and the history of governmental secrecy. And if you’re willing to endure a one-sided debate (the contributors constitute a “Who’s Who” of contemporary UFO advocates, such as Stanton Friedman, Nick Redfern, and Erich von Daniken among others), you’ll come away with a solid understanding of just why so many people seem to believe so fervently.

There’s no real connective tissue that ties the 13 essays together, ranging as they do from a re-examination of the reporting of the infamous Roswell incident to an inquiry into alien abduction stories and a scientific consideration of the pragmatics of inter-stellar travel. But that’s what makes this book so fascinating. You might not want to endure a book-length screed about the history of the British government’s efforts to cover-up UFO sightings, but a chapter seems about right. Same thing with invisibility experiments: most readers wouldn’t hang in there for hundreds of pages of scientific discussion of stealth technology, but a dozen pages pretty much covers the basics.

Reading UFOs and Aliens is like being at a dinner party with some really smart, really eclectic, slightly odd people who all discover they have the same passion for UFOs and begin swapping stories about what they know. And just when you start to nod off listening to one speaker and begin thinking about making an exit, or at least another pass at the punch bowl, another enthusiast suddenly corners you and you’re off, exploring some new and bizarre quadrant of the galaxy. Before you know it, you’ve stayed way longer than you expected, and had a surprisingly good time.

Click Here To Purchase Exposed, Uncovered & Declassified: UFOs and Aliens - Is There Anybody Out There?