# decent, non-nutty writing on UFO's, Ghosts, Cryptozoology?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decent-non-nutty-writing-on-ufos-ghosts-cryptozoology/240126
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 15, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decent-non-nutty-writing-on-ufos-ghosts-cryptozoology/240126 "2004-04-15T06:48:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Freejooky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freejooky)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decent-non-nutty-writing-on-ufos-ghosts-cryptozoology/240126/1 "2004-04-15T06:48:39Z")
If there’s one area of study that’s absolutely, hopelessly given over to wackos and nuts, it’s paranormal phenomena.
What books out there on these subjects are informative, realistic, serious, and yet are surprisingly un-nutty? It’s driving me nuts, because I’ve always had a huge interest in these fields, but there’s such a dearth of non-_Fortean Times_ material.
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### Author:  [@RTA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTA)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2004, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decent-non-nutty-writing-on-ufos-ghosts-cryptozoology/240126/2 "2004-04-15T12:39:28Z")
You already know of the _Fortean Times_; do you subscribe?
They always have a lot of web links and book reviews etc.
(as you probably already know).
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2004, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decent-non-nutty-writing-on-ufos-ghosts-cryptozoology/240126/3 "2004-04-15T13:14:20Z")
Carl Sagan’s _The Demon Haunted World_.
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### Author:  [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2004, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decent-non-nutty-writing-on-ufos-ghosts-cryptozoology/240126/4 "2004-04-15T14:55:43Z")
I really like and recomend Travels by Michael Crichton.
[amazon link](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060509058/qid=1082040764/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/002-3872820-4875236?v=glance&s=books)
Doesn’t have UFOs or cyrptozoology but some stuff on ghosts and other psy-type phenomenon.
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### Author:  [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decent-non-nutty-writing-on-ufos-ghosts-cryptozoology/240126/5 "2004-04-15T15:15:15Z")
A book on UFO’s I heartily recommend is Keith Thompson’s [_Angels and Aliens: Ufo’s and the Mythic Imagination_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0201550849/qid=1082041326/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-2600876-8956620?v=glance&s=books). Thompson delves mostly into the psychology of myth and archetypes, and explains how UFO sightings and abductions might plant themselves firmly into people’s experiences without actually being real or taking place.
Another good read: [_Weird Science_](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0380805057/qid=1082041699/sr=1-7/ref=sr_1_7/103-2600876-8956620?v=glance&s=books), by Michael White, covers a wide variety of topics, from near-death and out-of-body experiences to ghosts, telepathy, and voodoo rituals. White is actually pretty open minded to quasi-scientific explanations for such phenomena, but he is highly critical of any overtly supernatural explanations.
Reviews for both books are at the links provided above.
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### Author:  [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2004, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decent-non-nutty-writing-on-ufos-ghosts-cryptozoology/240126/6 "2004-04-15T15:23:15Z")
What’s wrong with Fortean Times? Those guys are frickin great.
Seriously, though, here are some good, very serious resources (that, while serious, are not in line with Sagan’s _Demon Haunted World_):
- _The Missing Times_ by Terry Hansen ( [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0738836125](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0738836125) ), which documents apparent instances of newspapers (particularly national ones) ignoring/spiking UFO stories or slanting them to make the witnesses look like fools.
- _UFOs and the National Security State: Chronology of a Coverup, 1941-1973_ by Richard Dolan ( [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1571743170](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1571743170) ) is a fantastic, exhaustive (and exhausting) history of the UFO phenomenon in the US, and how the govt. has warred with itself in efforts to cover up or disclose the phenomenon. If you’re some uber-skeptic that can’t buy that our trustworthy govt. would ever lie to its people or cover anything up, this book at least proves that the fallacy that “UFO sightings only happen to dumb farmers in the sticks” is pure bullshit. Nearly every sighting mentioned here–several hundred–was made by an experienced observer, usually in the military, and in some cases from several different locations with actual measuring equipment (for example, two teams of high-ranking military officers out to formally observe a missile test on one of the proving grounds in the Southwest, both of whom observe the unexpected object from different locations and with theodolites). Personally, I can’t wait for the next installment (1974-?).
- _Gray Highway: An American UFO Journey_ by Matthew Holm and Jonathan Follett ( [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0966604407](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0966604407) ), is some light reading that looks at the social phenomenon of UFOs in America. I highly recommend it. But then, I wrote it.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2004, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decent-non-nutty-writing-on-ufos-ghosts-cryptozoology/240126/7 "2004-04-15T15:48:06Z")
I suggest [The Demonologist](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0595246184/qid=1082043885/sr=8-1/ref=pd_ka_1/102-1305967-3961720?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) by Gerald Brittle for more ghost & demon stuff.
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### Author:  [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decent-non-nutty-writing-on-ufos-ghosts-cryptozoology/240126/8 "2004-04-15T18:49:54Z")
**Jeff** , is Brittle at all critical of the Warrens in that book, or does he seem to be mainly complimentary? I would hope it’s the former, but the Warrens are interesting either way.
I’ve added it to my wish list.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decent-non-nutty-writing-on-ufos-ghosts-cryptozoology/240126/9 "2004-04-15T19:14:00Z")
I haven’t read it since high school but I don’t remember Brittle being very far in either direction. Pretty much just a concise account of their investigations.
Judging by the consumer reviews, I suggest finding the hardcover edition instead. That’s what I found in the public library all those years ago.
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### Author:  [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2004, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/decent-non-nutty-writing-on-ufos-ghosts-cryptozoology/240126/10 "2004-04-15T19:18:47Z")
Cool. Thanks, **Jeff**.