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Revelations
Bracing finale to Vallee's "Alien Contact trilogy" (Dimensions, '88; Confrontations, '90), as the ufologist brings some famous UFO cases down to earth--& into the mud. In Dimensions, he presented his theory that UFOs are probably not spacecraft but manifestations of a consciousness-controlling technology from "dimensions beyond spacetime"; in Confrontations, he bolstered that theory with examples from his own casebook. Here, deftly blending theory & memoir, he attempts to clear ufololgy of "the weeds & the vines of human fantasy &...the poisonous flowers of unbalanced minds." That is, to him, cases from the infamous Roswell incident (spacecraft & aliens purportedly captured by the USAAF in '47) to the popular legend of Area 51 (aliens working tentacle-in-hand with US officials beneath the Nevada desert) to the alleged abduction of Franck Fontaine in '79 (exhaustively researched 1sthand by Vallee) to the purported top-secret federal UFO-investigating committee of Howard Blum's Out There ('90) aren't only mostly nonsense, but--here's the rub--"complex hoaxes that have been carefully engineered for our benefit." But by whom, & why? By federal disinformation agents, & possibly as "psychological warfare experiments" or "as a cover for something else"--i.e., experimental spy/warcraft or real "flying discs." He offers little hard evidence to back those conjectures, but he does unglove the heavy hand of military intelligence in many cases, while at the same time exposing the absurdity of others, including Budd Hopkins' best-selling alien-rape reports. So what's left? A host of genuinely mysterious cases, e.g., the '89 USSR sightings, & the spirit of rigorous scientific inquiry that he urges they be subjected to. Except for his wobbly conclusions, a forceful & refreshingly iconoclastic study that, for all its good sense, will likely add up to only a cry in the alien-infested ufowilderness.--Kirkus (edited)
310 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
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About the author
Jacques F. Vallée
66 books390 followersExcerpted from wikipedia: Jacques Fabrice Vallée (born September 24, 1939 in Pontoise, Val-d'Oise, France) is a venture capitalist, computer scientist, author, ufologist and former astronomer currently residing in San Francisco, California.
In mainstream science, Vallée is notable for co-developing the first computerized mapping of Mars for NASA and for his work at SRI International in creating ARPANET, a precursor to the modern Internet. Vallée is also an important figure in the study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), first noted for a defense of the scientific legitimacy of the extraterrestrial hypothesis and later for promoting the interdimensional hypothesis.
In mainstream science, Vallée is notable for co-developing the first computerized mapping of Mars for NASA and for his work at SRI International in creating ARPANET, a precursor to the modern Internet. Vallée is also an important figure in the study of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), first noted for a defense of the scientific legitimacy of the extraterrestrial hypothesis and later for promoting the interdimensional hypothesis.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
August 7, 2019
Lots of interesting cases of crock, crap, (and maybe even crack), psychical illness, fraud and gullibility all turning into alien brouhaha.
I totally loved some of the dialogues the author's quoting here. Lovely skepticism.
I totally loved some of the dialogues the author's quoting here. Lovely skepticism.
February 8, 2018
This is the concluding book in Jacques Vallee's 'Alien Trilogy'. The first two books, Dimensions & Confrontations are for me, more rewarding and informative. However, this is a very good book and contains some important observations made by Vallee about some of the most well known ufo cases and subject matter. He raises some very valid doubts about the authenticity of some of the most documented and popular 'ET' events. With this book, Vallee has indeed caused me to question the validity or rather, to think more critically about certain events. Because of that reason, I can not give this any less than 4 stars. I was going to award it 3 but because it has genuinely made me 'think' more about certain aspects and raise questions I'd never considered before, it has to be a 4 star rating. Vallee does indeed insist that there is a very real UFO phenomenon but the phenomenon is something more than 'ET' from space. I think his Alien trilogy books do indeed prove that the phenomenon is real and my take on the subject is that it is likely inter - dimensional or, if it is ET from space, they are manipulating space time in some manner of extreme advanced physics. As for Dr Vallee himself, I think he is a standout figure in the world of Ufology and a genuine researcher who wants nothing more than genuine true and honest scientific study of this important subject matter.
August 4, 2019
After watching History's series Unidentified, I thought it might be a good idea to go back and reread the final volume of Jacques Vallee's "Alien Contact Trilogy," Revelations.
I was initially impressed by Unidentified, but less so as I realized the producers had about enough material for a two hour documentary and padded like mad by reshowing the so-called "go fast" and "gimble" videos that had been released by the military a few years ago (Navy gun camera film that reputedly showed UFOs that were shadowing our carrier task forces) over and over and over, diving back into the Rendlesham Forest case (mysterious but done to death), and running endless scenes of Luis Elizondo for some reason shot in a mirror (why?!). Initially impressive, a lot of it was a mess.
And most interesting is the presence of Chris Mellon in the middle of this. Mellon, after all, a very calm, level headed, well-educated man, is also a professional spook, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, among other positions. What made his presence even more interesting are the pervasive rumors that Luis Elizondo is not what he claimed to be - the former head of a very shadowy Pentagon program called AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program). Whoever Elizondo is, and he seems to have been a special ops operator of some kind, Mellon was clearly in a position to blow his cover and did not.
That's a lot of typing to say, I suspect that what we have here is a government attempt to, once again, influence the discussion on UFOs and possibly at the same time boost defense spending. It's been done before, as Vallee argued in 1991 in this book.
Revelations is good reading, and useful because a lot of the material Vallee discusses in detail here - the UMMO case, the Majestic 12 documents, the shrieking about underground bases full of aliens and vats of human body parts (!), the odd case of Kirk Allen, Carlos Allende and his "revelations," etc., are largely forgotten or have never been heard of by younger people following the UFO question today. Vallee himself is not a believer in the extraterrestrial hypothesis; he believes UFOs are largely some kind of interdimensional phenomena. He has a wonderful talent for defusing true believers (one of the funniest scenes in the book is where Vallee dryly asks a True Believer in the "underground alien bases" theory, "Who takes out the trash?"), and as a scientist and computer expert his view is detached: he didn't have to make a living on UFOs, he had the ability to most of the time make it a hobby. In Revelations, Vallee argues that a lot of "mysterious" cases may have been entirely the creation of intelligence agencies, or the interpretation and reception of them may have been nudged by same to push serious researchers either out of the field in disgust or towards truly insane speculations that basically discredited the entire field.
There's a lot to digest here. The book is a little disorganized but it's packed with interest. Almost 30 years ago, Dr Vallee wrote "The time has come to restore some sanity to this field of research. It may prove to be a difficult task." It didn't happen then, and how hard it will be, in a time of steeply deepening public irrationality, to do it now. There is a genuine UFO mystery of some kind. But right now I suspect we're being force-fed another pile of crap and a historical look back might prove very useful.
I was initially impressed by Unidentified, but less so as I realized the producers had about enough material for a two hour documentary and padded like mad by reshowing the so-called "go fast" and "gimble" videos that had been released by the military a few years ago (Navy gun camera film that reputedly showed UFOs that were shadowing our carrier task forces) over and over and over, diving back into the Rendlesham Forest case (mysterious but done to death), and running endless scenes of Luis Elizondo for some reason shot in a mirror (why?!). Initially impressive, a lot of it was a mess.
And most interesting is the presence of Chris Mellon in the middle of this. Mellon, after all, a very calm, level headed, well-educated man, is also a professional spook, a former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Intelligence, among other positions. What made his presence even more interesting are the pervasive rumors that Luis Elizondo is not what he claimed to be - the former head of a very shadowy Pentagon program called AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program). Whoever Elizondo is, and he seems to have been a special ops operator of some kind, Mellon was clearly in a position to blow his cover and did not.
That's a lot of typing to say, I suspect that what we have here is a government attempt to, once again, influence the discussion on UFOs and possibly at the same time boost defense spending. It's been done before, as Vallee argued in 1991 in this book.
Revelations is good reading, and useful because a lot of the material Vallee discusses in detail here - the UMMO case, the Majestic 12 documents, the shrieking about underground bases full of aliens and vats of human body parts (!), the odd case of Kirk Allen, Carlos Allende and his "revelations," etc., are largely forgotten or have never been heard of by younger people following the UFO question today. Vallee himself is not a believer in the extraterrestrial hypothesis; he believes UFOs are largely some kind of interdimensional phenomena. He has a wonderful talent for defusing true believers (one of the funniest scenes in the book is where Vallee dryly asks a True Believer in the "underground alien bases" theory, "Who takes out the trash?"), and as a scientist and computer expert his view is detached: he didn't have to make a living on UFOs, he had the ability to most of the time make it a hobby. In Revelations, Vallee argues that a lot of "mysterious" cases may have been entirely the creation of intelligence agencies, or the interpretation and reception of them may have been nudged by same to push serious researchers either out of the field in disgust or towards truly insane speculations that basically discredited the entire field.
There's a lot to digest here. The book is a little disorganized but it's packed with interest. Almost 30 years ago, Dr Vallee wrote "The time has come to restore some sanity to this field of research. It may prove to be a difficult task." It didn't happen then, and how hard it will be, in a time of steeply deepening public irrationality, to do it now. There is a genuine UFO mystery of some kind. But right now I suspect we're being force-fed another pile of crap and a historical look back might prove very useful.
April 26, 2012
This volume caps Vallee's summary trilogy about his decades of UFO research with the conclusion that the phenomenon represents some kind of control mechanism. This conclusion is not neat. While he gives much evidence that agencies of the government of the USA have been involved in employing the phenomenon, he also leaves open the possibility of other, even more occult, agencies at work.
I have not done the kind of hands-on research that Jacques Vallee has conducted, nor have I had the kinds of experiences he had which led me to become personally concerned about the matter. I have, however, read scores of books and countless articles on the subject, ranging from governmental publications to first person accounts to theories, summaries and allegations of all sorts and, so, am pretty much on top of the literature. From this, it is clear that many governments, including our own, have a demonstrably bad record serving their publics as regards UFO reports. There is no question that we have been and probably still are being lied to, that events are being covered-up or intentionally misinterpreted. There is also evidence that there have been outright fabrications, that agencies of our government have attempted to use the phenomenon and the popular thinking about it in order, presumably, to study the means by which public consciousness may be manipulated. Beyond this, however, I am not prepared to go quite so far as Vallee.
It is also clear that what is covered by the UFO rubric is a complex phenomenon involving much more than governmental control mechanisms. Vallee is on the right track when he relates current UFO experiences with past reports of angels and demons, of visits to heavens and hells and notes that such experiences run throughout human experience however much the interpretations of them vary.
I have not done the kind of hands-on research that Jacques Vallee has conducted, nor have I had the kinds of experiences he had which led me to become personally concerned about the matter. I have, however, read scores of books and countless articles on the subject, ranging from governmental publications to first person accounts to theories, summaries and allegations of all sorts and, so, am pretty much on top of the literature. From this, it is clear that many governments, including our own, have a demonstrably bad record serving their publics as regards UFO reports. There is no question that we have been and probably still are being lied to, that events are being covered-up or intentionally misinterpreted. There is also evidence that there have been outright fabrications, that agencies of our government have attempted to use the phenomenon and the popular thinking about it in order, presumably, to study the means by which public consciousness may be manipulated. Beyond this, however, I am not prepared to go quite so far as Vallee.
It is also clear that what is covered by the UFO rubric is a complex phenomenon involving much more than governmental control mechanisms. Vallee is on the right track when he relates current UFO experiences with past reports of angels and demons, of visits to heavens and hells and notes that such experiences run throughout human experience however much the interpretations of them vary.
June 12, 2023
In the final part of his Alien Contact trilogy, Vallée dumps a bucket of cold water on the subculture of UFOlogy and believers that UFOs are vehicles of flesh and blood aliens from another planet. While believing that UFOs are a genuine phenomenon that demand investigating, he believes more incidents are actually psyops by governments or other groups for research or other nefarious purposes.
He takes several well known cases, Rendlesham Forest, UMMO, Dulce, and others and tries to dismantle the interpretations that involve extraterrestrials and proposes alternative theories. He also extensively discusses Bill Cooper and other authors that later admitted they had been paid by governments to promote disinformation, to distract from the truth of UFOs.
I agree that extraterrestrials are one of the less likely explanations for UFOs, some of his criticisms I felt fell flat but raised good questions.
He takes several well known cases, Rendlesham Forest, UMMO, Dulce, and others and tries to dismantle the interpretations that involve extraterrestrials and proposes alternative theories. He also extensively discusses Bill Cooper and other authors that later admitted they had been paid by governments to promote disinformation, to distract from the truth of UFOs.
I agree that extraterrestrials are one of the less likely explanations for UFOs, some of his criticisms I felt fell flat but raised good questions.
October 30, 2023
This is an amazing wake up call for everybody! The author's experience is second to none and he has done the heavy lifting for all public societies of the world. I am humbled at the notion and validation that there really is a phenomenon and I'm also sickened at the notion and fact that our societies are being played by some type of psi-op campaign to control the thinking and direction of the masses. I'm sure the groups involved are well intentioned but the manipulation is nothing short of brutal. This sober wake-up call was exactly what I needed to pump the brakes on the imagination which is on high alert as a result of the last 5-10 years of astounding claims made by multitudes of people across the planet, including well trained observers, scientists, and people of high credibility. Unfortunately, this book was written in the '90s and so much has happened since then that it is definitely outdated and doesn't include any of those recent revelations that have been blowing everybody's mind. As a result, in addition to my recommendation of the series, I would also recommend reading the authors more recent books if you are interested in the subject. This trilogy is now my favorite collection on the subject. It reveals the falsehoods of other authors and their books which I have recently read with claims that were jaw-dropping and ripe with mystery and wonder.
November 17, 2023
Excellent book. The last of the so called 'Alien Contact' trilogy after Dimensions, and Confrontations.
(Notes and highlights on the book)
This, together with Messengers of Deception: UFO Contacts and Cults are the best when it comes to governmental involvement in UFO/UAP hoaxes.
Obviously his book Passport to Magonia: On UFOs, Folklore, and Parallel Worlds is the first you should read if you havent read anything from the author.
Dimensions: A Casebook of Alien Contact is also very very good.
Well, all his books are a must read. I will start to read his "Forbidden Science" diaries/series if I find them all.
(Notes and highlights on the book)
This, together with Messengers of Deception: UFO Contacts and Cults are the best when it comes to governmental involvement in UFO/UAP hoaxes.
Obviously his book Passport to Magonia: On UFOs, Folklore, and Parallel Worlds is the first you should read if you havent read anything from the author.
Dimensions: A Casebook of Alien Contact is also very very good.
Well, all his books are a must read. I will start to read his "Forbidden Science" diaries/series if I find them all.
February 15, 2025
Maybe required reading if you're even casually interested in UFOs because it's a good demonstration how much of it is repetitive bullshit that comes in cycles and always says the truth is just a few years off, with lots of promises. And this time around, the actors haven't even changed! Jeremy Corbell just resuscitated the living corpse of Bob Lazar to unleash a new wave of bullshit. Sure, noted fed? Bill Cooper is now dead (John Lear too) and Bill Moore is God knows where, but don't worry, George Knapp is in this book as well and Linda Moulton Howe and hey, did you know disclosure really is gonna happen this time? Reddit and noted fascist Anna Luna told me so.
April 29, 2021
Good explanations
However, there is a lot of describing the politics and fraud and misinformation and the bias investigators have to find data to back their conclusions to the exclusion of other data. To him the phenomena is that the ufos phenomena are caused by some form of ultra consciousness that can alter space time and the physical which we are unable to understand.
However, there is a lot of describing the politics and fraud and misinformation and the bias investigators have to find data to back their conclusions to the exclusion of other data. To him the phenomena is that the ufos phenomena are caused by some form of ultra consciousness that can alter space time and the physical which we are unable to understand.
January 19, 2023
Food for thought.
If Vallee wasn't so honest and willing to look at the whole spectrum of consciousness he would have made a great Sagan type debunker. Which would be our loss. Instead he turns a critical eye to the nuts and bolts just so stories without the snarky just so stories of debunkers. There are times when I could do without the account after account after account scenarios. My eyes glaze over but in all this is highly recommended.
If Vallee wasn't so honest and willing to look at the whole spectrum of consciousness he would have made a great Sagan type debunker. Which would be our loss. Instead he turns a critical eye to the nuts and bolts just so stories without the snarky just so stories of debunkers. There are times when I could do without the account after account after account scenarios. My eyes glaze over but in all this is highly recommended.
July 29, 2023
Essential reading on the subject.
December 16, 2025
Fascinerande
January 22, 2022
It's an interesting book, certainly, but hardly conclusive. Vallée stands by his earlier theory that (some) UFOs are a genuine phenomenon with a complex metaphysical element, but in Revelations he argues that there's a lot of nonsense in the UFO-sphere, and that it's intentionally fostered by government agents.
To support this, he essentially offers two arguments. The first is that a number of cases were actually just government hoaxes, for unknown purposes - possibly either to test psychological warfare, or to see how people would react if aliens were discovered. Quite frankly, his argument is rather weak. There's very little evidence to offer, so much of his reasoning is just "well, I don't think the authorities would have acted like this in a genuine UFO case, but their actions make perfect sense if it was a hoax."
His second argument, which is considerably stronger, is simply that the government has heavily infiltrated the UFO community, and spread a lot of disinformation. This is already a well-established fact, but Vallee gathers a lot of relevant information together, and offers some anecdotes of his own.
That's it, really. If you're going deep on the UFO phenomenon, it's worth reading Revelations just so you remember to be skeptical, but it's not the most convincing, authoritative, or ground-breaking work.
To support this, he essentially offers two arguments. The first is that a number of cases were actually just government hoaxes, for unknown purposes - possibly either to test psychological warfare, or to see how people would react if aliens were discovered. Quite frankly, his argument is rather weak. There's very little evidence to offer, so much of his reasoning is just "well, I don't think the authorities would have acted like this in a genuine UFO case, but their actions make perfect sense if it was a hoax."
His second argument, which is considerably stronger, is simply that the government has heavily infiltrated the UFO community, and spread a lot of disinformation. This is already a well-established fact, but Vallee gathers a lot of relevant information together, and offers some anecdotes of his own.
That's it, really. If you're going deep on the UFO phenomenon, it's worth reading Revelations just so you remember to be skeptical, but it's not the most convincing, authoritative, or ground-breaking work.
July 16, 2015
Like the author, I find the subject of UFOs fascinating. Also, like the author, I’m skeptical that UFOs are spacecraft flown by ETs. Although the IDH hypothesis is even wilder, the interdimensional hypothesis seems to be the more likely answer to the puzzling phenomena. In this third book of a trilogy, the author continues investigating UFO sightings. Trying to get at the truth is often rather frustrating. The “Truth” is often just beyond one’s grasp. Getting in the way are the true believers of the ET hypothesis, shadowy government/intelligence agencies with agendas all their own, and individual witnesses who run the full range of down to Earth respectable people to wild eyed crazies. Despite the frustrations, Vallee believes the scientific community should seriously examine this strange phenomenon. I agree. I recommend this book to those interested in UFOs, the Philosophy of Science, and human psychology.
March 6, 2008
By far the best UFO book I have ever seen. In fact, it's the only good one I've seen, and I can't wait to read the other 2 in the trilogy. This book is essential for anyone interested in the UFO phenomenon.
June 1, 2015
Excellent look at the UFO phenomenon without the standard Extraterrestrial Hypothesis. Jacques Vallee is one of the great thinkers of our time. An incredibly courageous man.
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