Burnt State
Paranormal Adept
Ever since i first started listening to The Paracast back in the DB co-host days the constant question has always been, how can we reboot Ufology? What new directions can we go in because we've gotten relatively nowhere so far? And the ongoing tension in that debate is what to do about the ETH. So many have relied on this as the basic standard ideology for how to view the phenomenon - that aliens from outer space, or nearby space, are visiting us in flying saucers, abducting humans and experimenting on them as any good field scientist should, while often leaving telepathic messages in the minds of the experiencer to remind us to look after the planet and not make war etc. But this theory has no real substantial evidence behind it, nor has science done much of anything serious to either investigate or define anything specific about the phenomenon.
The authors in this text hold varying opinions about the ETH and where to go next in the study of this maddening conundrum. There's a lot of contradicting and contrasting ideas in this book and a lot of substantial considerations as to what to get up to next in the study of this field. Many of them have been on the Paracast a number of of times and their voices collectively work as an excellent barometer of where Ufology is at circa 2017. There's some pretty creative, critical, scientific and imaginative thought at work in this text. As a writer in the book i've had the opportunity to read the completed manuscript a couple of times now. It's an excellent read as far as UFO books go - as Robbie Graham the editor said recently, reading this book can save you about ten years wasted in reading what i would describe as the consumer ice cream that is pop culture ufology. This book is far from ice cream - there's some highly damning, hilarious and downright serious and complex essays in here.
There are some real gems in this text and ones that will probably become classics in the ufological community. Greg Bishop's essay alone is worth the price of the text. This is a definitive piece of writing from him that effectively provides a synopsis of the history of the field and identifies and explains with great eloquence what the new directions for the study of the UFO. He raises some exceptional considerations and well synthesized ideas about issues regarding perception, consciousness and memory as they relate to the experience of witnessing something as awesome as the UFO up close and personal.
As a sidenote i have to say i find it a little weird that i started as a listener to the show and then years later i started posting on the forum and one thing led to another, untili took up Chris O'Brien's challenge to get involved and not just complain about things. So now i guess i'm involved to some extent. I've had a chance to meet and talk with some really interesting people in the field, engage in some really fun podcasting and have read articles and papers in fields i thought i never would. it's been a good long strange trip to getting published in this book. I hope it jogs up the field a little and that people enjoy the show with Robbie and I.
For anyone who reads the text and wants to discuss some of the ideas contained in there please furiously type out your agreements, challenges, distaste and questions right here. Maybe i can convince some of the other authors to get involved as well here and get a robust discussion going on where to go from here and what ways we need to reframe the ufo debate.
