Charles Berlitz (1914–2003)

Original reading, mid- to late-1990s. Original review when I got LibraryThing in 2006ish (misspelling of weird and all):

A fun weave of half-baked theories and quarter-baked research. Was the US cooking up some wierd stuff? Sure. Did it include invisibility? Probably not. Did Moore and Berlitz have to engage in sloppy scholarship? No.

Second reading in 2023. New review:

To me it appears Moore did the lion's share of research and writing, and Berlitz was tacked on for publicity and sales. Moore appears to have been duped by some folks (on a newspaper clipping that appears to not exist), he is too credulous on Carl Allen, and he bounces around too much to make a proper case. The story of Jessup is the most interesting: his book on U.F.O.s, the annotations (by Allen only?), and the Varo Edition. But Moore is too credulous here too. Better research can now be found on the internet. To rehash my original review: did the U.S. try to make a ship invisible? Most likely not. Was it degaussing blown up by urban legend? Probably. A good book? Not really, but foundational for dozens of others in its ilk of government, conspiracy, ufology, etc.… (more)

These types of books intrigued me as a young teen, when, with the remains of my weekly allowance, I could afford cheap Avon and Fawcett paperbacks. Thus I got things like Zecharia Sitchin and Charles Berlitz. This is some more of Berlitz's hackwork. In 1991, you really couldn't check these things. Now, with the internet, you can. I checked up on one, a Frenchman who served his 100 year sentence and was released. Well, no such person appears to have ever existed and it looks like Berlitz plagiarized the story from Ripley's Believe It or Not (not just taken, pretty much plagiarized). This book also has direct repeats of some of the same stories in his similar books: World of Strange Phenomena and World of the Odd and the Awesome. Like he didn't have enough material (this one is shorter in length). A good walk down memory lane, and some interesting stuff.… (more)

An extremely interesting nonfiction book about the strange disappearances in and around the Bermuda Triangle, this brief (208 pages) hardcover that I purchased at a library book sale discusses known disappearances and other anomalies (such as maelstroms or whirlpools) within a region of the Atlantic Ocean that the U.S. Navy doesn't officially recognize. Several theories explain the strong magnetic forces at work, including the idea that it is one portal to Hell (the Sea of Japan is said to be the other); that the Triangle is a prime area of alien abduction; and that the forces may be signals from a long-lost, superior civilization (e.g., Atlantis).

Dr. Berlitz discusses all of these theories and more in an easy-to-understand manner, as well as the geological origin of the region. I found all the stories of the disappearances fascinating, especially when one considers that the Florida Keys and much of the Caribbean Sea, a cruise destination, is within it.… (more)