The UFO Book: Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial

Apparently, defending Jerome Clark's "UFO Book" and pointing out his critic's flaws has turned me into a UFO "zealot". Amusingly, I'm accused of "mudslinging", yet the previous reviewer does plenty of mudslinging himself, calling Clark a "crackpot" who only uses sources from other "crackpots", and this reviewer "lazy". He also didn't respond to many of the points in my other post, but for those that he did, here goes: at no point in his chapter on the Betty and Barney Hill UFO "kidnapping" case does Clark write that he believes that the Hills were abducted by a UFO. Instead, he simply gives their side of the story, the claims of their critics, and the claims of their defenders. That sounds like a balanced approach to me - you present one side, then the other, and then let the reader decide the truth. In fact, Clark writes in his "UFO Book" that the Hill case is "unprovable" and is indeed based on "circumstantial" evidence! Yet this is ignored by the previous reviewer, who claims that Clark's "UFO Book" omits anything negative about UFOs. This statement can easily be proven false merely by reading the chapter on the Hill case, in which Clark discusses both Klass AND Kottmeyer's criticisms of the Hill's story. Of course, the real problem here is that Clark doesn't agree with their criticisms, and thus must be a "crackpot". Klass didn't create his "excuse" for why he criticized the University of Nebraska for holding a UFO Conference until AFTER his claims had been publicized. In a memo written by the administrator who took Klass's bizarre phone call, Klass charged that he "has a personal feeling that...these {UFO} organizations, by publicly questioning the government, lend support to the Communist movement". Klass clearly didn't want to simply complain about there being no debunkers (specifically himself) at the conference. Instead, he bluntly equates "questioning the government" with "supporting the Communist movement" - an absurd charge. Klass also made this charge privately, and only AFTER it was exposed did he come up with the lame "excuse" now touted by his admirers. To use two of Klass's favorite words, how "logical" or "rational" is it to equate dissent with supporting Communism? "Cry me a river", indeed! As for CSICOP's "Skeptic Annotated Bibliography", the CSICOP website clearly states "The Skeptic Annotated Bibliography is NOT sponsored by CSICOP". So, who's being "lazy" here? CSICOP continues to refuse to print virtually anything which is critical of its goals or methods. Just ask noted skeptic Dennis Rawlins, a onetime CSICOP admirer who wrote a hilarious article entitled "Starbaby" (you can easily find it on the web) in which he describes how CSICOP's leadership (including Klass) tried desperately to cover up a "research project" into astrology which was terribly botched due to scientific incompetence on the part of CSICOP's "investigators". So CUFOS, a ufologist group of which Clark is a member, promotes Timothy Good's book in which Go

I don't usually write rebuttals, but in this case I thought I'd make an exception. Jerome Clark (and it's Clark, not Clarke) is no "conspiracy theorist". The "UFO Book" is an abridged version of Clark's two-volume, in-depth "UFO Encyclopedia". In that book Clark does mention Phil Klass, Robert Sheaffer, and other prominent debunkers, sometimes at considerable length. He even includes separate bios of Klass and Donald Menzel, the "original" UFO debunker. It IS rare for Klass to do any field investigations or to talk directly to the UFO witnesses. Instead, most of his "research" was done over the phone. As for the "rational thinking" of Klass & Company, in 1983 Klass tried to shut down a UFO conference at the University of Nebraska by privately telling a school administrator that people who studied UFOs were supporting Communism, and that for the university to sponsor a conference of ufologists would be the same as if they sponsored one held by Nazis! When he discovered that the administrator had released a written account of his absurd claim, an infuriated Klass threatened legal action (which never materialized). Robert Sheaffer, another CSICOP debunker, uses dubious sources such as the "National Enquirer" on his website (The Debunker's Domain), wherein he attacks not just UFOs, but Christianity, poor people (whose poverty is "an inevitable consequence of their achievement-hating values"), and "radical feminists" (and Sheaffer seems to think nearly all women are radical feminists). Sheaffer claims that American women have "bamboozled" their men into making "life-destroying exertions" to keep them living in style. Apparently, Sheaffer thinks it's absurd to believe that the government might be hiding evidence of UFOs, but it's OK to believe there's a vast female conspiracy to destroy American men. Go figure. As for the claim that ufologists are in it "just for the money", debunking is now a big business - CSICOP has more money than nearly all of the "pro-UFO" groups, such as CUFOS and MUFON, combined. CSICOP has no ufologist literature listed on their website, so it's hypocritical to criticize CUFOS for not listing debunker literature. As for the UFO cases listed below: CUFOS has consistently charged that the Ed Walters sightings and photos are a hoax. Dr. Mark Rodeghier, the Director of CUFOS, wrote one of the first articles "debunking" the case. There's no need to use the so-called "skeptical" literature on Gulf Breeze when those supposedly "crackpot" fellows at CUFOS agree with them! As for Roswell, Clark NEVER claims that a UFO crashed there in 1947. He simply presents the story (including the 1994 Air Force report criticizing the case) and states that the arguments about Roswell are continuing. Karl Pflock's book debunking Roswell was published AFTER the "UFO Book", so it's unfair to criticize Clark for not using it. The 1890's "Airship" sightings: Clark has been writing about this subject since the 1960s, and he was one of the first research

Contrary to what a previous reviewer wrote, Jerome Clark's "UFO Book" is neither biased nor too "thin" to be a superb reference source for someone who wants to learn more about the UFO phenomenon. While Clark is a "believer" in the sense that he believes that not every UFO sighting can be be dismissed as swamp gas, stars, weather balloons, or (failing all else) hoaxes, he is fair to the skeptics and debunkers and does include the explanations they have given for each of the sightings he discusses. And, given the negative publicity that this topic constantly recieves, it is refreshing to read a thoroughly-researched, well-written account of UFOs that at least tries (and usually succeeds) to be fair and balanced. Unlike many UFO books which are written by "true believers" who do little research and who see every UFO sighting as "proof" that we are being visited by aliens, or books by so-called UFO "skeptics" who actually twist or ignore the evidence in order to debunk every UFO sighting and dismiss the topic as "nonsense", Clark openly states in the prologue that both sides need to adopt a little-used three word phrase when dealing with the UFO phenomenon: "We don't know". This book is actually an abridged version of his much longer and more in-depth "UFO Encyclopedia". The "Encyclopedia", which has 273 entries, comes in two volumes, and costs about $(...), is designed for the more serious researcher or ufologist. The "UFO Book" contains some 90 entries from the "UFO Encyclopedia", yet it still covers, alphabetically, almost every major UFO sighting in America since the UFO phenomenon started in the summer of 1947. It also looks at the major theories used to explain UFO sightings and has brief biographies of most of the leading ufologists AND skeptics in the field. If you're a reader with a casual interest in UFOs, or you simply want to purchase a UFO book for your personal library that will give you a good overview of the subject, then the "UFO Book" is simply the best work that's been published...and it will probably remain so for a very long time.

The book is great. It answers everything you want to know about UFO's, abductions, and Aliens. I found there were more sightings in the state I live in (Michigan) than I thought possible. I personally research the existance of UFO's, and Extraterrestials, and this is the best UFO book out there.

This is one of the most comprehensive collections of UFO material I have seen. It is very up to date, including accounts of Heaven's Gate. I highly recommend this book.