PETER HUSTON
The UFO Invasion: The Roswell Incident, Alien Abductions, and Government Coverups. Edited by Kendrick Frazicr, Barry Karr and Joe Nickell. Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York 1997. ISBN 1-57392-131-9. 315 pp. Hardcover, $25.95
Sometimes a book reviewer's job is appallingly simple. Since this book contains reprints of some of the best SKEPTICAL INQUIRER articles about UFOs, if you like this magazine, and are interested in UFO claims, then you will like this book. If you don't like this magazine (but perversely read it anyway), then, naturally, you won't like this book (but might read it anyway, I suppose). No favoritism there, I hope. Yet even rabid UFO believers and other antiskep¬ tics should find this book of value, as it contains a good, single-volume collection of some of the most important skeptical writings produced on this subject to date.
Essays are grouped into the following categories: The UFO Enigma (a general introduction and overview); The Crash at Roswell; Roswell and the "Alien Autopsy"; Other UFO Cases (mostly explanations of some sightings of flying objects); Alien Abductions; Crop Circles; and Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Contributors include Robert Baker, Robert Bartholomew, Robyn M. Dawes, Eugene Emery, John F. Fischer, Thomas R. MacDonough, Lloyd Stires, David E. Thomas, James Oberg, and Philip J. Klass (of course), among others. In fact, one thought that went through my mind as I read the essays in this collection was amazement at the amount of work that many very talented people have put into investigating the entire realm of UFO claims despite long ago having come to the conclusion that it was quite unlikely, to say the least, that UFOs were objects of much significance.
Page after page, we have reports of highly intelligent people analyzing documents such as the MJ-12 papers (allegedly detailing a Truman-era presidential memo about a crashed saucer) to prove that it is a forgery. Elsewhere, medical professionals and special effects experts debate the truth or fiction of the "Roswell alien autopsy" film, concluding for several reasons that the film is a hoax (i.e. why can't the highly trained government personnel keep their camera in focus at the important parts?). It's interesting to speculate about the motives of the skeptical investigators. But then again, speaking from experience, the bottom line is that reading about strange claims is fun. And looking into them in detail, a.k.a. investigating them, is often more fun than simply reading about them, as well as an interesting mental challenge. And, finally, when all is said and done, it's my firm belief that the skeptics often simply produce better grounded results, more able to stand up to long-term criticism than that of many believers, who, instead, opt for easily disproves much more fanciful theories involving space visitors and giant conspiracies. Besides, inevitably, the facts are more interesting than such fiction, and such research does indeed inevitably touch on many fascinating subjects.1
The last section primarily concerns SETI (the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and the possibility of alien intelligence. As UFOs and extraterrestrial intelligence are intertwined in many people's minds, the inclusion is probably quite welcome and both essays quite interesting. One, Zen Faulkes's "Is Intelligence Inevitable?," has been extensively updated for this volume.
Personally, being more of an amateur psychologist than an amateur astronomer, the part I found most interesting was the section on alien-abduction claims. This included a well-done,completely new, unpublished essay (the only one in die book), "No Aliens, No Abductions; Just Regressive Hypnosis, Waking Dreams, and Anthropomorphism," by Robert Baker, CSICOP Fellow and professor emeritus of psychology.2 This details the way in which sleep paralysis and waking dreams often lead to strange experiences which can be interpreted as otherworldly visitations. When the initial experience is combined with misuse of hypnosis to "recover" the memories, the actual events of die situation can be completely distorted, being replaced instead by confabulations of quite a dramatic nature. Baker states that at least four contemporary legends directly relate to die misuse of regressive hypnosis—UFO abductions, false memories of childhood abuse, the myth of Satanic ritual abuse, and the myth of widespread multiple-personality disorder.
Other essays describe die argument that many "UFO abductees" exhibit signs consistent widi a fantasy-prone personality. Here I was a litde bit less comfortable. Although it is dear diat some of us humans have less of a grasp on reality than others, I also believe some skeptics may be overly quick to thrust this label upon anyone who might claim an experience that cannot be easily explained. This could easily become a pretext to dismiss things that should be looked into more deeply, including other psychological or sensory anomalies. Personally, I believe skeptics should be quite cautious about labeling their opponents as suffering from personality disorders, for several ethical, public relations, legal, and methodological reasons; besides if we don't, we might dismiss something interesting out of hand while simultaneously alienating the general public. (If we are quick to label believers as "fantasy prone," they, inevitably, will begin landing us, with some justification, as suffering from an "obsessive compulsive need to overcompensate for our repressed fantasy-prone tendencies.")
Of course, I expect my reactions are typical of many readers of this volume. Most will love some essays, while simultaneously wishing they had die chance to post a letter to die editor about others. (But that's what critical thinking is all about.) Sadly most of die original illustrations arc not reproduced.
Nevertheless, these arc minor criticisms. All in all, this work is a fine, onevolume collection of some of the best articles ever collected in the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. It should make a welcome addition to many skeptics' personal libraries. Better yet, this book would be a valuable addition to almost any good school, college, or public library, and skeptics shouldn't hesitate to recommend that such institutions acquire it.
I. Some day. I wish that science educators would use scientific principles to explain "paranormal mysteries." I haw received mud) of my science education from my interest skeptical books and publications about the paranormal.
2. As much as I respect Robert Baker, let me state that I disagree with his statement that anthropomorphic aliens are quite unlikely, and therefore an obvious human creation. Essentially he states that since many people argue that alien life is probably unbelievably alien, aliens should not resemble us. For another viewpoint, see 'Design for Life" and the related writings of CSICOP fellow, engineer, and science fiction author L Sprague DeCamp. DeCamp has argued that since our form obviously works reasonably well and efficiently it might be repeated elsewhere, although not exactly, of course, by an intelligent tool-using species which evolved from a fourlimbed predecessor. DeCamp states that convergent evolution is quite possible and proven to exist on Earth. For example, in the air, bats, birds, and pterodactyls all evolved into roughly similar forms without necessarily sharing a common ancestry. In the water, dolphins, icrhyosaurs, and fish all did the same thing. For the record, this does not mean that I believe in the existence of visiting "Greys," however. Why should I. when persons such as Baker have done such a fine job of explaining the phenomena involved without requiring the unprecedented presence of extraterrestrial visitors?