Brad Steiger (1936–2018)

I've just downgraded my rating on this book from 3 to 2, based on having read it again after 30-odd years. Really, it should be a 1 star, but I've succumbed to a nostalgic leniency.

On its own terms, and if you subscribe to the authors' beliefs in UFOs as highly advanced flying craft of a super-intelligent race, then it probably rates 4 stars. And, on its own terms, it is an enjoyable read. However, as it purports to be "the truth" I don't see how anybody with a reasonable degree of the show more critical faculty could accept it as such (which I did when I was 10 years old, but not now), hence my low rating.

An example of the authors' incredulity, whether simply naïve or wilful, is that of the "Eltanin Antenna": the Eltanin was an Antarctic research vessel that in 1964 was surveying the ocean floor by dragging along the sea-bed a camera which periodically took photographs. One of those photographs was of an object (the authors call it "a device" from the outset) estimated to be about 2 feet tall with a number of evenly-spaced spokes radiating along its length, each terminating in a small globe. The Eltanin scientists were not immediately able to identify the object, when ufologists stepped in and proclaimed it be non-human-technology: an antennae made to study the earth's seismic activity and transmit the data to its unknown creators for unknown (but impliedly sinister) reasons. In fact, the "antenna" had been scientifically described decades earlier from examples dredged from the sea-floor. It was a type of sponge, scientific name Cladorhiza concrescens. It had never before been photographed in its natural setting, hence the initial difficulty in identifying it. A quick internet search found http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/155/the_eltanin_enigma.html - an article in the Fortean Times and http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/how-natures-deep-sea-antenna-puzzled-... - an article on the Treehugger website - with more recent and better quality photos of the sponge in its habitat.

Now, hindsight is a marvellous thing and it's easy to mock the theories of those past commentators who did not have access to our store of knowledge. However, in the face of the unknown you can either theorise within the realm of the possible, even if improbable, based upon the foundation of what is known to science, or let your fancy take flight and indulge yourself in unfounded speculation. The authors and their ilk do the latter, hammering together ill-fitting pieces of various enigmas to create a collage of the picture they already have in their minds.

In the face of scientific advance, it seems there are a range of possible responses:
1. Accept the new findings and abandon your previous theory;
2. Ignore the new findings and continue with your previous theory as if nothing new had been found;
3. Accept the new findings but remove your theoretical construct to another area in which science has yet to form a definite view;
4. Denounce the new findings as a cover-up and use them as evidence of a conspiracy designed to silence the "true believers".

Sadly, despite their belief in "advanced science" and therefore, presumably, the scientific method, many ufologists seem reluctant to adopt response 1 and all too ready to adopt the other responses.

It was interesting for me, personally, to revisit these haunts of my youth, but I don't think it will be a trip I need to make again. show less

This rather credulous account of the founder of Eckankar's apparent spiritual attainment, including accounts of miraculous healings, control of the weather, and more; and his sage spiritual advice to devotees, is made all the more fascinating after one reads more critical accounts written later, uncovering Twitchell's rather 'unenlightened' background and his profuse plagiarizing of the metaphysical written works of others.

That the spiritual movement of Eckankar continues to this day show more (despite many disheartened defectors, and its label of 'cult') is proof that Twitchell nevertheless touched, however imperfectly, some aspect of our connection to Source that people are hungry for. However, I'd venture to say that the lesson is--no one can have true spiritual growth from cheating off his neighbor's test, or by reading the Cliff Notes! show less

There comes a time in every person's life when they discover a book they know they will love. They see the title and the cover and are instantly intrigued. With trembling hands they pull it from the case and read the back.

YOUR PET IS A SPACE ALIEN the text will scream from the back.

I had no idea, really. One in five pets in an alien from outer space? Which of my 8 hedgehogs falls into that classification? Inquiring minds need to know.

Yes, this book was every bit as ridiculous as I hoped for. show more I learned how to discover my pets Power Number, how to name it to correspond with its Power Number and keep it spiritually aligned. I learned how to discover my Totem Animal by visualizing myself as a Native American doing mundane tasks.

Truly an enlightening book.

It isn't as if science could explain almost every story within it....

I do appreciate the fact they acknowledge that animals are smarter than we think.

Very entertaining read. show less

So, this was obviously repackaged (actually I'm not entirely sure if this is the writer's earlier Sex and the Supernatural or a completely different book, but I believe so) to take advantage of the popularity of Rosemary's Baby. There's even a short chapter in the end specifically talking about the young director's (Polanski! before everything) technically brilliant, if wrong on witchcraft, movie.

Anyway, it is more evenhanded than I would have expected from something that is obviously... show more the literary equivalent of "The Big Bird Cage" or any of those other sexpoiltation movies. Not that anyone is expecting like, a detailed history or intellectual rigor when picking up this thin book. Haha, maybe a different kind of "rigor," YKWIM? It's not exactly terrible, though obviously none of the stories within should be taken as completely factual. I mean, I give props to the writer, Brad Steiger, for writing like, 50 books... and he is still writing! Another book of his comes out this year (2013). But whenever I did I quick google search on a particularly interesting story it turns out to be a lot less titillating than presented, if I could find anything at all. Like, apparently that whole San Francisco story, about a vigilante group in the old west being sekret satanists!! was actually written by the original writer to be historical fiction, not fact. And then it was "discovered" by some author in the 60s and taken as OMG fer realz. And then it ended up in this book. Aaaahahaha. But what the hell was I looking for reading this book, restraint? Whatever.

But there are interviews with pagans/occultists, and they are presented as reasonable, philosophical people. So not terrible. show less