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The Flying Saucers Are Real
This book is the first in-depth, authoritative look at the flying saucer phenomenon and is considered to this day to be one of the best books on the subject ever written. Extremely well researched work with facts that were documented, containing none of the disinformation and hype that has crept into the field over time. The author was a retired Marine Corps Major who became an aviation writer, and was therefore perfect for the job of researching and writing this book. Using his own knowledge and information from friends in the military, Keyhoe came to the conclusion that UFOs originate from outer space and the U.S. military was engaged in a cover-up. He includes a number of documented cases whereby thousands of people witnessed strange objects in the sky all at the same time, in various parts of the country. Eyewitnesses are interviewed and much is done to show how and why the veil of government secrecy was enforced.
213 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1950
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About the author
Donald E. Keyhoe
56 books14 followersDonald Edward Keyhoe (June 20, 1897 – November 29, 1988) was an American Marine Corps naval aviator and writer of aviation articles and stories. In the 1950s, Keyhoe became a UFO researcher and writer, arguing that the U.S. government should conduct research into UFO matters, and should publicly release all its UFO files. [Wikipedia]
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October 21, 2021
Old books about UFOs and the paranormal in general are always fun: Sometimes for the unintentional humour, sometimes for interesting theories, sometimes as time capsules illustrating how their respective era's "Zeitgeist" deals with the unexplainable.
"The Flying Saucers are Real" by Donald E. Keyhoe is a good example of the last third category. While dated, it also immediately betrays its early-1950's origin by being absolutely swathed in Cold War paranoia. What struck me as interesting at first was how the default assumption Donald Keyhoe started the book arguing against was that UFOs necessarily are either US or Soviet secret aerospace vehicles. The next thing I found interesting was Keyhoe arguing that the UFOs are worth investigating even if they were found to not be a military threat to any state on Earth.
The book is also structured as sort of an autobiography focusing on the author's experiences going against the red tape of governmental procedure, him being a US Navy aviator unsatisfied with the authorities' official UFO investigations at first titled "Project Saucer" later renamed "Project Grudge". These investigations focused exclusively on whether the UFOs were secret weaponry, aircraft or space vehicles tested by either foreign nations or secret US projects - and whether they were a national security threat to NATO. Keyhoe found most of the official explanations for UFO sightings unconvincing, making little sense as anything else than placeholders once they had been identified as anything else than Warsaw Pact military secrets. He also uncovered evidence of actual lying by the USAF and USN investigations, which is described in detail here. All the coverups that Keyhoe found evidence turn out to be of the fact that the authorities didn't know what the UFOs really were, rather than them covering up the hard evidence for extraterrestrial visitation of Earth. One case that really stuck to Keyhoe was fighter pilot Thomas Mantell dying in a plane crash while pursuing a UFO, since that case proved the UFOs to be a national security concern even if they weren't secret aerospace vehicles operated by the USSR.
Keyhoe also wrote this book in the very earliest days of the space race before large-scale space exploration had begun, so his speculations about space travel come across as quite old-fashioned. "Star Trek" fans might notice that the star of Wolf 359, which was the focus of a prominent space battle in one episode of that TV series, features prominently here as Keyhoe's favourite candidate for the origin of the extraterrestrial visitors in case Mars and Venus are both ruled out. (again, this book was written before the other planets of our solar system were discovered to be unhabitable) The book being a product of the Cold War becomes obvious again in Keyhoe's assumption that extraterrestrial visitors were necessarily observing nuclear tests or at least the arms race between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, no doubt as a result of many high profile UFO sightings. The so-called Nazi UFO mythos, in recent years popularised by the film "Iron Sky", also makes an early appearance with Keyhoe speculating that perhaps sightings of alien spacecraft motivated German/Italian/Japanese engineers during WW2 to design their own.
Quite a few of the UFO sightings listen by Keyhoe have since been identified, often as misidentifications of observation balloons or Venus. This book nonetheless remains an essential read for people curious to find out how the popular image of UFOs shifted from man-made secret aircraft to alien spaceships.
"The Flying Saucers are Real" by Donald E. Keyhoe is a good example of the last third category. While dated, it also immediately betrays its early-1950's origin by being absolutely swathed in Cold War paranoia. What struck me as interesting at first was how the default assumption Donald Keyhoe started the book arguing against was that UFOs necessarily are either US or Soviet secret aerospace vehicles. The next thing I found interesting was Keyhoe arguing that the UFOs are worth investigating even if they were found to not be a military threat to any state on Earth.
The book is also structured as sort of an autobiography focusing on the author's experiences going against the red tape of governmental procedure, him being a US Navy aviator unsatisfied with the authorities' official UFO investigations at first titled "Project Saucer" later renamed "Project Grudge". These investigations focused exclusively on whether the UFOs were secret weaponry, aircraft or space vehicles tested by either foreign nations or secret US projects - and whether they were a national security threat to NATO. Keyhoe found most of the official explanations for UFO sightings unconvincing, making little sense as anything else than placeholders once they had been identified as anything else than Warsaw Pact military secrets. He also uncovered evidence of actual lying by the USAF and USN investigations, which is described in detail here. All the coverups that Keyhoe found evidence turn out to be of the fact that the authorities didn't know what the UFOs really were, rather than them covering up the hard evidence for extraterrestrial visitation of Earth. One case that really stuck to Keyhoe was fighter pilot Thomas Mantell dying in a plane crash while pursuing a UFO, since that case proved the UFOs to be a national security concern even if they weren't secret aerospace vehicles operated by the USSR.
Keyhoe also wrote this book in the very earliest days of the space race before large-scale space exploration had begun, so his speculations about space travel come across as quite old-fashioned. "Star Trek" fans might notice that the star of Wolf 359, which was the focus of a prominent space battle in one episode of that TV series, features prominently here as Keyhoe's favourite candidate for the origin of the extraterrestrial visitors in case Mars and Venus are both ruled out. (again, this book was written before the other planets of our solar system were discovered to be unhabitable) The book being a product of the Cold War becomes obvious again in Keyhoe's assumption that extraterrestrial visitors were necessarily observing nuclear tests or at least the arms race between NATO and the Warsaw Pact, no doubt as a result of many high profile UFO sightings. The so-called Nazi UFO mythos, in recent years popularised by the film "Iron Sky", also makes an early appearance with Keyhoe speculating that perhaps sightings of alien spacecraft motivated German/Italian/Japanese engineers during WW2 to design their own.
Quite a few of the UFO sightings listen by Keyhoe have since been identified, often as misidentifications of observation balloons or Venus. This book nonetheless remains an essential read for people curious to find out how the popular image of UFOs shifted from man-made secret aircraft to alien spaceships.
July 12, 2021
The Granddaddy of UFOlogy?
Donald Keyhoe, who is considered to be not only the first “flying saucer” researcher/investigator – and hence, UFOlogist before that term was fashionable – was also the first to suggest that the United States Air Force was covering up the truth about UFOs. And from what the research and his books and articles indicate, he might be in a position to know.
While Keyhoe was a writer working for True Magazine circa 1949/1950 when he first began to cover the ‘flying saucers,’ he also had quite an interesting past. Keyhoe graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy as a Naval aviator in 1919/1920 with a B.S. degree, was also initially commissioned as a Marine Corp Lieutenant and ultimately retired from his military career with the rank of Major after an active-duty injury. Keyhoe was also known to pilot both balloons and airplanes, making him exceptionally qualified to evaluate the data he was provided by the United States Air Force’s Project ‘Saucer,’ and later, Project Blue Book. Additionally, Keyhoe was the aide to the famous aviator, Charles Lindbergh, as well as the founder of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena otherwise known as N.I.C.A.P. in 1956.
And if this isn’t enough to pique your interest in this book, let me just say that I agreed with his observations before I read his book, and after reading it I REALLY agree with him!
There’s something rotten in Dayton, Ohio as well as Washington, D.C., but what it is exactly is still not certain.
For more biographical information on Donald E. Keyhoe, see self dot gutenberg dot org forward slash articles forward slash Donald_Keyhoe.
Note that this book is now in the Public Domain and can be downloaded for free off of Amazon.
Further note that the original article which Keyhoe wrote – also entitled THE FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL – can be read on the website: project1947 dot com; just do a search for that website and truejan1950 and/or Donald E. Keyhoe. The article as it appears on this website is the original The Flying Saucers are Real article as it appeared in TRUE Magazine and which was expanded into the later book with the same title.
Donald Keyhoe, who is considered to be not only the first “flying saucer” researcher/investigator – and hence, UFOlogist before that term was fashionable – was also the first to suggest that the United States Air Force was covering up the truth about UFOs. And from what the research and his books and articles indicate, he might be in a position to know.
While Keyhoe was a writer working for True Magazine circa 1949/1950 when he first began to cover the ‘flying saucers,’ he also had quite an interesting past. Keyhoe graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy as a Naval aviator in 1919/1920 with a B.S. degree, was also initially commissioned as a Marine Corp Lieutenant and ultimately retired from his military career with the rank of Major after an active-duty injury. Keyhoe was also known to pilot both balloons and airplanes, making him exceptionally qualified to evaluate the data he was provided by the United States Air Force’s Project ‘Saucer,’ and later, Project Blue Book. Additionally, Keyhoe was the aide to the famous aviator, Charles Lindbergh, as well as the founder of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena otherwise known as N.I.C.A.P. in 1956.
And if this isn’t enough to pique your interest in this book, let me just say that I agreed with his observations before I read his book, and after reading it I REALLY agree with him!
There’s something rotten in Dayton, Ohio as well as Washington, D.C., but what it is exactly is still not certain.
For more biographical information on Donald E. Keyhoe, see self dot gutenberg dot org forward slash articles forward slash Donald_Keyhoe.
Note that this book is now in the Public Domain and can be downloaded for free off of Amazon.
Further note that the original article which Keyhoe wrote – also entitled THE FLYING SAUCERS ARE REAL – can be read on the website: project1947 dot com; just do a search for that website and truejan1950 and/or Donald E. Keyhoe. The article as it appears on this website is the original The Flying Saucers are Real article as it appeared in TRUE Magazine and which was expanded into the later book with the same title.
December 31, 2020
Overall a pretty boring book that is just a bunch of interviews and reports made by the author regarding alleged sightings and government coverups - nothing groundbreaking or unexpected for anyone who has read at least a little into the hunt for flying saucers. Personally, I'm not really a believer in the more otherworldly explanations. Not at this point anyway. I do find the idea a fascinating one and I go through my phases of being more into it all. But my agnosticism is more of a philosophical rather than instinctive one. I do think most if not all flying saucers that have not been entirely debunked were just secret military aircraft being tested (American, Russian or whatever). However, I am more open to the potential existence of alien life somewhere in the universe. Such a discovery would be monumental but, unlike those whose religious faith is apparently only shallow, this would not in any way shatter my belief in God or the Biblical story. It would simply be a new revelation we were not to find out about until later.
Unless this all happens, however, and I do not think there ever will be proof of anything beyond microscopic organisms or something else relatively unexciting on any another planet, my default will remain that they might be but probably are not out there.
But hey, it's fun to speculate. And there are better books than this one to do that with. Far better.
Unless this all happens, however, and I do not think there ever will be proof of anything beyond microscopic organisms or something else relatively unexciting on any another planet, my default will remain that they might be but probably are not out there.
But hey, it's fun to speculate. And there are better books than this one to do that with. Far better.
May 11, 2020
It's an interesting analysis but you should read for yourself and make your own conclusion. The main premise is that another highly advanced civilization(s) had been watching us for a while and ever since we developed A bomb and Hydrogen bomb their interest in us significantly increased since we possess a threat to ourselves (in a sense of exploding several of those bombs and kicking earth out of its orbit that will create problems in the near laying planets).
Also, the author says that military had denied anything related to it.
Also, the author says that military had denied anything related to it.
April 22, 2016
Forget the cheesy pulpy cover, forget the blatantly sensational title, and forget how bloody old this thing is (1950), it is still one of the most entertaining, interesting and informative UFO books.
Its author, Major Donald Keyhoe, was a wonderfully pesky little shit, sinking his teeth into the topic like a bulldog and not letting go, and giving the U.S. Air Force brass a helluva run when they would rather he had gone away.
This book is almost certainly the first UFO conspiracy book ever written, or, if not, certainly the first one to become a bestseller. When it was first published in 1950, the UFO phenomenon had only been around in the public consciousness for three years. Keyhoe uses the military's hemming and hawing about UFOs to establish the government's lack of credibility and to bolster his, and in doing so he makes no bones about declaring UFOs to be alien craft. (Actually, the term 'UFO' had not even been coined yet; 'flying saucers' was still the standard appellation).
Whatever you may think about all of that, Keyhoe had at least the writing chops of a decent storyteller, and this book is a lot of fun, whether talking about UFO cases or speculating on future space travel and on real or theoretical aerospace technologies. It is better written than Ruppelt's famous Report on Unidentified Flying Objects (see my review), but not, on balance, as important a book. It is, however, a very good adjunct book to the Ruppelt tome, giving another perspective on the issue in its early days.
The narrative's first-person strategy turns Keyhoe into the dogged, intrepid reporter, and the pulp detective novel vibe and its old-school newsroom-style dialogues with his colleagues and his persistent editor, Ken Purdy, are retro gold.
(I had written a lot more notes, but am choosing to keep this one short).
(KevinR@Ky 2016)
Its author, Major Donald Keyhoe, was a wonderfully pesky little shit, sinking his teeth into the topic like a bulldog and not letting go, and giving the U.S. Air Force brass a helluva run when they would rather he had gone away.
This book is almost certainly the first UFO conspiracy book ever written, or, if not, certainly the first one to become a bestseller. When it was first published in 1950, the UFO phenomenon had only been around in the public consciousness for three years. Keyhoe uses the military's hemming and hawing about UFOs to establish the government's lack of credibility and to bolster his, and in doing so he makes no bones about declaring UFOs to be alien craft. (Actually, the term 'UFO' had not even been coined yet; 'flying saucers' was still the standard appellation).
Whatever you may think about all of that, Keyhoe had at least the writing chops of a decent storyteller, and this book is a lot of fun, whether talking about UFO cases or speculating on future space travel and on real or theoretical aerospace technologies. It is better written than Ruppelt's famous Report on Unidentified Flying Objects (see my review), but not, on balance, as important a book. It is, however, a very good adjunct book to the Ruppelt tome, giving another perspective on the issue in its early days.
The narrative's first-person strategy turns Keyhoe into the dogged, intrepid reporter, and the pulp detective novel vibe and its old-school newsroom-style dialogues with his colleagues and his persistent editor, Ken Purdy, are retro gold.
(I had written a lot more notes, but am choosing to keep this one short).
(KevinR@Ky 2016)
April 27, 2012
This is one of the first big books in ufology. It came out in 1950, only a couple of years into the UFO craze. It focuses on a few key sightings most of which are still considered to be classic UFO encounters. It's written in first person and feels very much like reading a mystery novel. It makes for a dramatic and fast paced read. My problem is the logic: if it's not a weather balloon or Venus then it must be interplanetary space craft. Just because an answer doesn't present itself doesnt mean it was something paranormal. Throughout the book he takes the approach with government and military personal that if they'd just tell him these sightings are connected to some top secret project he'd drop the whole thing. Having dealt with a number of reporters and been misquoted by a few, I can only imagine what these people were thinking of this UFO guy's question. It was probably along the lines of 'what 's the minimum I can say to make him go away?' His theories of a government cover up also rely on believing different departments within the government effectively communicate with each other. The encounters themselves are interesting and some of them to this day remain unsolved.
March 24, 2010
I picked this book up from the Park Ridge Public Library during my UFO phase in grade school. Too young to check out books from the adult library, I read it there along with many other books on the subject. Meanwhile, at home I'd spend evenings in the backyard watching the sky with my cardboard telescope, hoping...
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July 24, 2011Kindled for free: Apparently one of the first modern books in the UFO genre. I'm not sure how many other books I've read from this time period (around the 1940s/50s) and it is an odd era to be sure. On the one hand the 19th century isn't too long gone, but on the other hand the World Wars have changed everything. On the one hand everyone seems very familiar to the way it is now, but on the other there are definitely things we would consider ancient today. The actual argument of the book was a bit lacklustre - it wasn't either sensationalist enough to be exciting or scientific enough to be compelling, which is a sad mixture. On the other hand the writing style was good and the book was easy to read unlike certain other book's I've read recently. 3 quotes:
(Glossy magazines, flying saucers and telegrams! What a mixup!)
"IT WAS A strange assignment. I picked up the telegram from my desk and read it a third time. NEW YORK, N. Y., MAY 9, 1949 HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATING FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY. FIRST TIP HINTED GIGANTIC HOAX TO COVER UP OFFICIAL SECRET. BELIEVE IT MAY HAVE BEEN PLANTED TO HIDE REAL ANSWER. LOOKS LIKE TERRIFIC STORY. CAN YOU TAKE OVER WASHINGTON END? KEN W. PURDY, EDITOR, TRUE MAGAZINE "
(Reflections on the Nazis)
"Their buzz bomb, a low-altitude semi-guided missile, was just the beginning. Even the devastating V-2, which soared high into the stratosphere before falling on England, was just a step in their tremendous space program. If the Nazis could have hung on a year or two more, the war might have had a grimly different ending. "
(Trying to think outside the box and failing miserably... Sorry Keyhoe, you would never make it as an Anthropologist)
"They might live and think on a coldly intelligent level, without a touch of what we know as emotion. To them, our lives might seem meaningless and dull. We ourselves might appear grotesque in form. But in their progress, there must have been struggle, trial and error, some feeling of triumph at success. Surely these would be emotional forces, bound to reflect in the planet races. Perhaps, in spite of some differences, we would find a common bond--the bond of thinking, intelligent creatures trying to better themselves. "
(Glossy magazines, flying saucers and telegrams! What a mixup!)
"IT WAS A strange assignment. I picked up the telegram from my desk and read it a third time. NEW YORK, N. Y., MAY 9, 1949 HAVE BEEN INVESTIGATING FLYING SAUCER MYSTERY. FIRST TIP HINTED GIGANTIC HOAX TO COVER UP OFFICIAL SECRET. BELIEVE IT MAY HAVE BEEN PLANTED TO HIDE REAL ANSWER. LOOKS LIKE TERRIFIC STORY. CAN YOU TAKE OVER WASHINGTON END? KEN W. PURDY, EDITOR, TRUE MAGAZINE "
(Reflections on the Nazis)
"Their buzz bomb, a low-altitude semi-guided missile, was just the beginning. Even the devastating V-2, which soared high into the stratosphere before falling on England, was just a step in their tremendous space program. If the Nazis could have hung on a year or two more, the war might have had a grimly different ending. "
(Trying to think outside the box and failing miserably... Sorry Keyhoe, you would never make it as an Anthropologist)
"They might live and think on a coldly intelligent level, without a touch of what we know as emotion. To them, our lives might seem meaningless and dull. We ourselves might appear grotesque in form. But in their progress, there must have been struggle, trial and error, some feeling of triumph at success. Surely these would be emotional forces, bound to reflect in the planet races. Perhaps, in spite of some differences, we would find a common bond--the bond of thinking, intelligent creatures trying to better themselves. "
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 23, 2021
It's been reported in the news lately that a UFO report is going to be released this month or so about "Unidentified Aerial Phenomena" - UAPs - apparently the new m0niker for what have been called UFO's for the past 70+ years, so I was motivated to dig out my father's old copy of this book which he got when it came out about 1950. The author served with the Marine Corp during World War II and afterwards, having retired from the MC with the rank of Major, became a reporter and was working for True Magazine - a prominent men's magazine of the mid-20th century. Its editor, Ken Purdy assigned him to look into several UFO sightings and prepare an article . So most of the book is taken up with his pursuit of information - from the Air Force, the Pentagon, commercial airline pilots and others. Reports of UFOs were coming in from all over the country, as well as overseas. There were a few sightings from the 19th century and before. In general it seems that the Air Force was out to quash these reports, to explain them away as best they could, in fear of causing a widespread panic (remembering a panic that broke out in 1938 when Orson Welles broadcast a radio play version of H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds" in which Martians invade the Earth). They were said to be misunderstandings of seeing weather balloons, missile testings, hallucinations, even the planet Venus, etc. Author Kehoe came to the conclusion that they were indeed aliens from another planet(s). One other explanation which he did not discuss at all is that they might have come from a different dimension, a different universe than ours. As far as I know, theories of a multiverse were not around in 1950. Think of a bunch of bubbles all together - each with a universe inside of them. In any case, so far no ETs have tried to take over the world, as far as we know. Stay tuned!
July 8, 2019
I will start by saying, in the end I was ultimately convinced that the reported sightings were genuine UFOs. That being said, I did not get truly convinced until about the final 4 chapters or so. Actually, up until that point the opposite was occurring, and the narrative was actually near to convincing me that the answer was a big government secret weapon. Why? Because the author has very limited imagination and there seems to be the ultimatum that the answer either has to be a guided missile (which he effectively proves it is not) or a UFO. There is no grey inbetween zone. At least have a chapter outlining some possible -albeit far fetched- ideas. This inability to think anywhere outside the box becomes evident when the author is completely stumped by the idea of a floating light that seems to not be attached to anything (which should be stated he already proved and believed that the light did in fact exist). But come on! You’re going to accept the possibility that these saucers exist and are able to defy all known physics and yet can’t accept a floating light or even think of an idea as to how this might be possible such as an advanced camouflage system?? I understand that the author didn’t want to jump to conclusions without any affirmative proof, but if you’re going to write a novel on the exceedingly confusing topic of interplanetary ships you need to let your mind go to far off places.
September 7, 2021
Dated but a lot of information on sightings. A little boring in places. The Mr. Keyhoe stated just the facts as given to him. A lot of investigation.
January 10, 2017
Really interesting to read the opinion of someone investigating at the time and speaking to credible witnesses. Very much of its time (they thought the flying saucers might be from Mars or Venus) but it is not encumbered with the garbage that has settled on this subject matter now. A fun read and thought provoking.
The version I had was a terrible kindle transfer with MANY spelling errors.
The version I had was a terrible kindle transfer with MANY spelling errors.
July 7, 2016
The roots of Space Age paranoia. Where does the reporting end and the mythoteching begin?
Want to read
November 29, 2020- contradictory reports from the Pentagon, first denying their existence and then confirming that they were investigating them, as his boss says, "the report contradicts itself. It looks as if they're trying to warn people and yet they're scared to say too much."
- first sighting was by a businessman named Kenneth Arnold on June 24, 1947, flying a private plane he saw nine disks linked in a "diagonal chainlike line,"
- first encounter was on January 7, 1948, 25-year-old Captain Thomas F. Mantell, a Kentucky Air National Guard pilot, died in the crash of his P-51 Mustang fighter, after being sent in pursuit of a UFO, later reckoned to be a weather balloon.
- Chiles-Whitted UFO encounter of 1948, two experienced commercial pilots saw what was later considered to be a bright meteor
- looks into the history of UFO sightings going back to the 19th century. They were mainly in Europe then, increased during the two world wars, and after the atomic bomb were largely in America. He comes to the conclusion that aliens have been observing us.
- Mars, Venus or the star Wolf 359, which is 8 light years away (all three have been all but dismissed as harbouring life, certainly not advanced life
- about to take a flight on a luxury DC-6 to Mexico City:
'The couple going up the gangway ahead of me were in their late sixties. Fifty years ago, what would they have said if someone had predicted this flight? The answer to that was easy; at that time, high-school songbooks featured a well-known piece entitled "Darius Green and His Flying Machine." Darius, it seems, was a simple-minded lad who actually thought he could fly.'
- first sighting was by a businessman named Kenneth Arnold on June 24, 1947, flying a private plane he saw nine disks linked in a "diagonal chainlike line,"
- first encounter was on January 7, 1948, 25-year-old Captain Thomas F. Mantell, a Kentucky Air National Guard pilot, died in the crash of his P-51 Mustang fighter, after being sent in pursuit of a UFO, later reckoned to be a weather balloon.
- Chiles-Whitted UFO encounter of 1948, two experienced commercial pilots saw what was later considered to be a bright meteor
- looks into the history of UFO sightings going back to the 19th century. They were mainly in Europe then, increased during the two world wars, and after the atomic bomb were largely in America. He comes to the conclusion that aliens have been observing us.
- Mars, Venus or the star Wolf 359, which is 8 light years away (all three have been all but dismissed as harbouring life, certainly not advanced life
- about to take a flight on a luxury DC-6 to Mexico City:
'The couple going up the gangway ahead of me were in their late sixties. Fifty years ago, what would they have said if someone had predicted this flight? The answer to that was easy; at that time, high-school songbooks featured a well-known piece entitled "Darius Green and His Flying Machine." Darius, it seems, was a simple-minded lad who actually thought he could fly.'
February 13, 2024
This book is essential to the researcher, no non sense thinking and the understanding of the day, how the media was really seeing this situation at the time. Through elimination the conclusions were nearly as fresh as our own now. Of course the situation now is much more complex, but did not take long to understand that this devices were not ours and the were responding over some intelligent command, and the author was already understanding the spinning tactics of the American intelligence (Dr. Allen Hynek), who were saying that it could also be Venus, or Swamp gas, or electromagnetic vortex, could be in some cases but would not explain most cases, so the strategy was to focus on the non problem, to forget the real problems, and the non explained cases, that would be perfectly explained with the extra terrestrial hypothesis, which was the more likely to be the answer.
April 3, 2018
I can only say one thing...I've always suspected, I've figured the government and/or military knew more than they let on, etc. But until I read this book, there was that niggling, pervasive, subconscious element of doubt. I HAVE NO MORE DOUBT. I wish I had read this decades ago.
However, if we can unilaterally accept Christ walking on water, being resurrected and other Biblical things without question, what is so hard about this? Much less people saw Jesus or God than have seen these saucers and/or aliens. If we were investigating a new place or species, how would we act? Yup. Just like them.
However, if we can unilaterally accept Christ walking on water, being resurrected and other Biblical things without question, what is so hard about this? Much less people saw Jesus or God than have seen these saucers and/or aliens. If we were investigating a new place or species, how would we act? Yup. Just like them.
March 26, 2021
3 Stars — Average, Meh, Will Probably Never Think About Again in Great Detail
This book is a fairly straightforward investigation into a UFO sighting, featuring interviews with military personnel, scientists, UFOlogists, and other journalists covering those topics.
The narrative is pretty engrossing, but the writing style is often clumsy and unsophisticated. Having said that, the book is, as of time of writing this review, 71 years old, so that's obviously a factor.
Definitely a must read if you're into UFOlogy and the paranormal, but otherwise hardly essential.
This book is a fairly straightforward investigation into a UFO sighting, featuring interviews with military personnel, scientists, UFOlogists, and other journalists covering those topics.
The narrative is pretty engrossing, but the writing style is often clumsy and unsophisticated. Having said that, the book is, as of time of writing this review, 71 years old, so that's obviously a factor.
Definitely a must read if you're into UFOlogy and the paranormal, but otherwise hardly essential.
February 12, 2020
It's a shame conspiracy theories lead to so much suffering since they are so entertaining. Loved it, some of it sounds fairly convincing all things considered.
What this book does do accurately is give a reflection of what these people thought the atomic age would bring. Exploration of the solar system, nuclear engines, incredible leaps in aviation technology etc.
The fifties sure was a great time for science fiction!
What this book does do accurately is give a reflection of what these people thought the atomic age would bring. Exploration of the solar system, nuclear engines, incredible leaps in aviation technology etc.
The fifties sure was a great time for science fiction!
March 15, 2022
Very interesting read for a 1950's title. Keyhoe's findings make it obvious that our government has lied to us since the beginning about unidentified areal phenomenon for both the purposes of quelling panic (Booking's Report) and manipulation/propaganda purposes. Considering the lies we've been told—for over six decades!—one must wonder if our government doesn't know the true nature of the UAP and where they originate. If so, what lie is worth protecting for the better part of a century?
June 11, 2019
Poorly written, and by a journalist The attempts at narrative "Once in the car, David exclaimed. . ." are just painful
Still, a convincing text: it's always the lies that lead to the truth, in this case the air forces lies-
Still, a convincing text: it's always the lies that lead to the truth, in this case the air forces lies-
December 13, 2019
This book gives no any useful information, neither hold any poetic value.
Summary:
Maybe they are real maybe not - who knows?
Government hides something from us...
Summary:
Maybe they are real maybe not - who knows?
Government hides something from us...
July 10, 2020
Informative
The book is informative and entertaining. However there are grammatical errors as well as incomplete sentences. That's why I can't give a higher star count.
The book is informative and entertaining. However there are grammatical errors as well as incomplete sentences. That's why I can't give a higher star count.
April 17, 2022
Lots of information, but the type o's are a real pain to deal with while reading. This is a free copy, but still I expected a level of quality control. I would recommend this book for the UFO lover.
August 9, 2022
Solid review, by a technically qualified ex-militar jet pilot, of events that seems to have no falling part that could set them as fake.
January 5, 2023
Terrible proof reading holds this interesting story back
October 28, 2015
As a kid, I gobbled up anything I could get about UFOs, ghosts, cryptozoology, and the like, so of course I had to pick up a copy of "the book that started it all" re: the 1950s UFO craze. Keyhoe's prose is so straightforward, dogged, and journalistic that had I read it at the time of publication, I would have probably been convinced. Seeing it now through the lens of 65 years of hindsight, it still stands as an interesting historical artifact. The little green men have yet to land, no government conspiracies to hide them have been revealed, and we've yet to invent anti-gravity propulsion, even though Keyhoe insists in the 1966 addendum that top scientists are on the verge of a breakthrough. What this book really drove home for me was how much the America of the 1950s was an alien planet to the world of today.
One thing I caught on to about 2/3 through the book was that whatever Keyhoe's strengths as an investigative journalist, he didn't understand jack about science. Sure, we knew less in the 50s than we do now, especially about the other planets in the solar system, but he throws around terms like "atomic power" and "electromagnetism" as if he learned about them chiefly from Ed Wood movies. When he invokes that crackpot-of-all-crackpots Immanuel Velikovsky as a credible scientist, it made my eyes roll so far back into my head I could see my own medulla oblongata.
It also struck me as odd that all of Keyhoe's evidence for UFOs and aliens comes from eyewitness accounts related from witnesses. Did no one own cameras in the 1950s? Were there no recording devices? From reading this book, I have to conclude they did not.
One thing I caught on to about 2/3 through the book was that whatever Keyhoe's strengths as an investigative journalist, he didn't understand jack about science. Sure, we knew less in the 50s than we do now, especially about the other planets in the solar system, but he throws around terms like "atomic power" and "electromagnetism" as if he learned about them chiefly from Ed Wood movies. When he invokes that crackpot-of-all-crackpots Immanuel Velikovsky as a credible scientist, it made my eyes roll so far back into my head I could see my own medulla oblongata.
It also struck me as odd that all of Keyhoe's evidence for UFOs and aliens comes from eyewitness accounts related from witnesses. Did no one own cameras in the 1950s? Were there no recording devices? From reading this book, I have to conclude they did not.
December 25, 2015
There is an obvious bias in the book, but this is balanced against a real flair for writing, a style much like a pulp detective novel (at least at the outset). There are some interesting speculations and considerations to underpin Keyhoe's ideas about space travel problems and potential nature of any aliens that might visit the Earth. Keep in mind, this is a 1950 work, and we had not managed to put a vehicle into space at this point. A good read and quick too! (I actually read an ebook of this title, which is in the public domain at archive.org but I couldn't find an entry for that particular version.)
October 23, 2007
1950. I thought this would be a lot of bull, but it was really convincing. A reporter goes and talks to a whole lot of people who have seen ufos and investigates their claims. The ufos, seen by many witnesses, behaved in ways that terrestrial crafts cannot, neither could they be explained away convincingly by any natural phenomena. Keyhoe concludes that at least one alien race is watching the Earth to see how our technology is developing. For what purpose no one knows. I personally, can't wait to meet the aliens. It seems like it should have happened by now.
July 16, 2013
There's some interesting speculation, and research in this book. Donald Keyhoe was one of the first people on the scene in the late 1940's to take a serious look into the UFO subject. He was a retired Navy officer, and that seemed to get him into some places and interviews no other ufologist of that era was really capable of. Parts of the book seem a little clunky, until you remember, that at the time of its writing we didn't have much of a space program. Our knowledge of our own solar system wasn't what it is today either, but Keyhoe keeps it interesting.
March 2, 2024
More interesting than I expected.
A very early book in the genre. It was interesting to read these initial impressions and i was surprised by how many sightings there were at the time. Most observers seemed quite level headed. The case of the air force pilot who died while chasing something at high speed and altitude was particularly interesting as it was taken very seriously at the time, based on this book. Worth reading if the subject is of interest to you.
A very early book in the genre. It was interesting to read these initial impressions and i was surprised by how many sightings there were at the time. Most observers seemed quite level headed. The case of the air force pilot who died while chasing something at high speed and altitude was particularly interesting as it was taken very seriously at the time, based on this book. Worth reading if the subject is of interest to you.
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