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At first sight this was the book which the author's deplorable UFO Encyclopaedia should have been. Rather than a useless alphabetical list of arbitrary and unknown names, the cases described here are arranged in a logical geographical sequence, covering Europe, USA, Africa, etc. Each section is introduced by an authority on ufology in the continent concerned (Dennis Stacy's brief overview of North American ufology gives a well-rounded viewpoint of a contentious scene), then goes on to a 'Database' of a couple of dozen of the best known or most significant cases r that area.
It is with the 'Database' the trouble starts, and it is the same trouble that destroyed the Encyclopaedia: apart from Scandinavian cases which Spencer has been involved with personally, and which dominate the European section of the hook, the author just does not appear to know his subject very well. Most of the individual reports seem to be hasty scissor-and-paste jobs compiled from inadequate and not terribly up-to-date sources. The summary of the Peter Day film seems totally unaware of the explanation offered in the BUFORA case history (or the alternative suggested by Steuart Campbell), which is quite remarkable as the author is BUFORA's vice-chairman - doesn't he read his own organisation's publications? Other cases with proven explanations (the Trident radar-visual case of 1976 for one) are here given with such trivial comments as "no conclusion has been reached about this case though for a time the hoary old weather balloon explanation was trotted out', Hoary maybe, but also true!
Most outrageous of all, the 'Missing Norfolks' case is dredged up yet again and presented as a UFO mystery. Even the Hamilton Calf-napping hoax is retold, and its authenticity defended. Is this because Spencer has not read very many UFO books and magazines lately (in which case why is he writing this book?) or that he has read the explanation and chosen to disregard it (in which case why should we take this book seriously?), If this was a book written by some publisher's Grub Street hack, I would probably give it a reasonable review as a good effort, but it is written by a person who is supposed to be a leading figure in world ufology, and quite honestly it's just not good enough.
BUFORA members may be relieved that unlike the Encyclopaedia this book does not have BUFORA's name emblazoned over it, and it is certainly a more attractive production than its predecessor, Lots of pretty pictures, -- John Rimmer, from Magonia 40, 1991
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