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From: campbell@ufomind.com (Glenn Campbell, Las Vegas) Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 00:16:19 -0800 |
As a known government agent and aspiring Man in Black, I feel an obligation to support the work of my fellow operatives. Thus, I have just accepted a clandestine shipment from Prometheus Books, mouthpiece of the Buffalo Cabal. Among them are a number of amusing and well-written works of skepticism. They are all a bit pricey but are worth the cost if you have been attracted to any of the cases they discuss. Below are a few that I have reviewed so far. All reviews are my own. These books are available from our Research Center by phone (702-729-2648) or on-line shopping cart. See more at the given URL. -------------------------------------------------------------- SPACESHIPS OF THE PLEIADES: THE BILLY MEIER STORY By Kal Korff, $26.95, http://www.ufomind.com/catalog/k/korffmeier/ Kal Korff effectively trashes the Billy Meier story in this weighty, well-illustrated volume. Meier's claims are among the most enduring, mainly because they produced stunningly clear photos of flying saucers hovering above the Swiss landscape. Meier said he was in contact with "Semjase," a beautiful female humanoid from the Pleiades star system who allowed Meier, but no one else, to photograph her "beamships." Korff methodically dissects the claims and the photos. Not only does he prove the photos hoaxes; he also provides detailed how-to instructions for producing your own. In Switzerland, Agent Korff goes undercover to investigate Meier and his group, the Semjase Silver Star Center, which Korff calls a ufo "cult." (A bit too strong a word we think. "Clown college" would be a better term, with special guest appearances by Wendelle Stevens, Lee Elders and Jim "Give-Me-A-Photo-And-I'll-Show-You-A-UFO" Dilettoso.) There are plenty of footnotes and references, and the whole work is so carefully researched and ultimately devastating that we feel a little sad. Billy Meier's aliens were so full of peace and love -- a product of the 60s -- and the saucers were so stunningly stylish -- even if made with dinner plates -- that it seems inhumane to dispatch them with such efficiency. (We can imagine poor Santa Claus getting similar treatment from Korff.) Still, this book is a lot of fun, and Korff comes off as quite a character himself -- a sort of mad crusader who will let no Pleiadians stand in the way of the truth. (1995) -------------------------------------------------------------- THE TRUTH ABOUT URI GELLER By James Randi, $20.95, http://www.ufomind.com/catalog/u/uri/ Professional magician James Randi analyses the feats of famed psychic Uri Geller, who Randi argues is little more than a crafty illusionist. The difference between Geller and a stage magician, Randi says, is that the magician acknowledges he is a trickster. Geller performs the same tricks but never admits them, instead using them to defraud wealthy benefactors. Randi provides how-to instructions on spoon-bending, clairvoyance, psychic photography and "teleportation." Gellers psychic feats only seem to happen when people look away momentarily or when his low-key assistant, who you rarely hear about, is lurking nearby. Randi can't prove that _everything_ Geller does is phony, because he can't be everywhere Geller is. What Randi does prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, is that Geller cannot be trusted. Randi is at his best when explaining magical illusions and the art of misdirecting attention; he is weaker when attempting to debunk remote viewing experiments at SRI, where Geller earned a qualified endorsement. (Randi only speculates that some sort of fraud must have occurred.) Written at the height of Geller's popularity in 1975, this book still stands as a fascinating exercise in healthy skepticism. --------------------------------------------------------------- THE ROSWELL UFO CRASH: WHAT THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW By Kal Korff, $26.95, http://www.ufomind.com/catalog/r/roskorff/ This is a book you won't find in the Roswell International UFO Museum! It is a devastating disassembly of the Roswell case which leaves little of it standing. Korff methodically addresses each point of the crashed saucer hypothesis and pokes holes in the claims of each of the prominent witnesses, including Frankie Rowe, Glenn Dennis, Frank Kauffman and all the others you have heard about. Published this year, the book includes chapters on the Project Mogul balloon and the alien autopsy film. Apart from the Air Force's more recent "Parachute Dummy" report, you can't claim that Korff is overlooking anything, and his style is much easier to take than that of the better known Roswell curmudgeon Phil Klass. (Klass has just released his own Roswell book, but it seems superfluous after this one.) This book is much more effective in addressing the Roswell claims than the much ballyhooed Air Force report, which only fanned the flames with more speculation. This is the book that Roswell proponents must deal with if the hope to resurrect their case. If they can't respond effectively, then the Roswell Incident will live on only on T-shirts. --------------------------------------------------------------- UFOS: THE PUBLIC DECEIVED By Philip Klass, $19.95, http://www.ufomind.com/catalog/k/klassufo/ Our favorite misanthrope tackles the belief that UFOs are being covered up by the highest levels of the U.S. government. Klass analyses dozens of popular claims prior to this book's 1983 publication date, including the Travis Walton case, classified CIA documents, UFOs over SAC bases and many alleged aircraft/UFO encounters. Not surprisingly, Klass finds only fraud, fantasy and misperception. Klass is an impassioned disbeliever - a religious zealot of ufology's far right - and all of his writings and investigations are colored by this ideology. He makes many of the same mistakes of reasoning as the true believers - inferring the whole from one detail, for instance, or liberally inserting his own speculation where facts are lacking - but unlike the believers, Klass also conducts solid research on occasion, and he has dug up devastating information on many seemingly plausible UFO claims. Unfortunately this book suffers from a lack of footnotes or a bibliography, but most of those references can be found in "pro-UFO" books like "The UFO Cover-Up," which examines many of the same cases. Whenever reviewing an historical UFO case, it is important to seek Klass's analysis to read the worst that anyone can say about it. If the case holds up after a "Klass attack," then it might be something worth pursuing. --------------------------------------------------------------- UFO ABDUCTIONS: A DANGEROUS GAME By Philip Klass, $20.95, http://www.ufomind.com/catalog/k/klassabd/ Philip Klass agrees that alleged abductees are victims -- but not of aliens. They have been deceived, instead, by abduction researchers, who in the process of promoting themselves are determined to see alien intrusions regardless of the facts. Many victims are suffering from ordinary human mental illnesses, which go untreated as long as as the false "alien" diagnosis prevails. Due to popular books, movies and TV shows on the subject, thousand have been "implanted" with the idea that aliens are messing with them, and this breeds unnecessary fear and neurosis. This book is mostly a response to Whitley Strieber's Commmunion and Budd Hopkin's Missing Time and Intruders. Those who know Klass and his work won't find any surprises here. This book is written by the Klass-o-Matic skeptic machine without footnotes or index. If you are seriously interested in abductions, then you need to read it. However, if you are only casually interested and already recognize the possibility of human self-deception, then the book probably isn't worth the high price, since you know what Klass is going to say before he says it. (1989) --------------------------------------------------------------- Entries for other Prometheus books will follow as I have a chance to review them. (I've already rejected a number of them as Way Too Boring.) (c) Glenn Campbell, 1997. This message may be freely distributed on the internet so long as it remain intact. +--------------------------------------------------------------- | AREA 51 MAILING LIST - A moderated forum for selected topics | http://www.ufomind.com/area51/list/ - G. Campbell, Moderator | "unsubscribe"/"subsingle" to: <area51-request@lists.best.com> | Submissions to: <area51@lists.best.com> | | RELEVANCE OF THIS MESSAGE: Paying the Rent | | Info: http://www.ufomind.com/catalog/ Index: Essays & Articles by Glenn Campbell +---------------------------------------------------------------
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Created: Nov 20, 1997