Despite a misleading title (the book is not about what UFOs are up to these days but about the state of our knowledge concerning UFOS and related phenomena), this is a fine piece of reporting. Do UFOs exist, are extraterrestrial visitations real? On such questions, Wright (author of three books in the Star Trek series; co-author of Destination Mars, not reviewed) is something more than an agnostic but less than a true believer. “Something is happening in our skies,” she writes, and she faithfully records the myriad attempts to find out what that something is. She offers detailed reports on individuals and organizations involved in investigating UFOs. Her method is not to dismiss out of hand such activity, but to carefully debunk wild and unsubstantiated claims while reserving judgment on other, more plausible efforts. Central to all she writes is the role of the US government in the study of UFOs. Here she finds a history of secrecy,, duplicity, and evasion that has simply added to the paranoia and suspension of reason (think Heaven’s Gate) surrounding the topic. Government policy has been highly inconsistent. On the one hand, for instance, it has denied the existence of UFOs; on the other hand,, it refuses to release documents on government investigations of UFOs on the grounds of national security. If UFOs don’t exist, the author wonders, how can they be a threat to national security? The government denies investigating UFOs at all, yet Freedom of Information Act documents show it has done so for years. It’s this broader theme of the harm government secrecy does to an open society that makes this more than just another UFO book. The author finds UFO phenomena worthy of study, but study in an open, systematic way. To some, this recommendation is itself the height of folly, yet in the end she simply suggests we “use our eyes to see the world around us” and “record it carefully.” Not bad advice at all.
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-312-18530-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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