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Although written for children, and using a largely pictorial presentation, these books nonetheless offer a more intelligent and level-headed approach to their subjects than many allegedly aimed at adults, and could safely be recommended to the casual reader of any age seeking a simple overview of their subject. All About UFOs offers brief descriptions of several of the classic cases (E.g. Hopkinsville 1955, Socorro 1964) while at the same time pointing out that the great majority of UFOs are misinterpretations of normal events, and demonstrating with examples how easy it is to fake photos.
Not all the contents are beyond criticism. The section on UFOs in history consists of a summary of the claims of the ancient astronaut theories. Although the writer's attitude is sceptical they are still made to appear more central to the UFO mystery than they are. The final section of the book relates UFOs to the question of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. It seems to assume that this is the only alternative to dismissing UFOs (although there are brief references to theories of UFOs from other dimensions or that UFOs are "created by the human brain like characters in dreams"). This is probably inevitable, since the ideas of the 'New Ufology' are not easily explainable to children.
However these are minor quibbles and the author is to be congratulated on steering a sane course through a subject beset with misinformation and inaccuracy. The other two volumes in this series are also interesting. Both manage to avoid being simply compendia of 'amazing stories' by putting the phenomena they deal with in context. The ghosts volume describes the beliefs concerning death in different cultures, the techniques of psychical researchers, and fraudulent mediums; while the monsters volume relates creatures like Nessie and the Sasquatch to prehistoric creatures mythical monsters and recently discovered animals (although the 'Monaghela' dead sea serpent hoax is repeated) . A worthwhile series .
- Roger Sandell, from MUFOB 9, Winter 1977-8.
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