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Them
Them is the first book ever to examine the intent of the presence known as "aliens" or "visitors" from the perspective of what both civilian and military close encounter witnesses report happening to them.
Leslie Kean, author of UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record calls Them "groundbreaking in the truest sense of that word."
Mitch Horowitz says in his preface that it's "among the most important interpretations of visitor phenomena since Jacques Valle's Passport to Magonia appeared in 1969."
Jacques Vallee, in the foreword, states that "This book cites fact after fact to build the case for in-depth realignment of public policy with public need."
In part one of the book, Whitley Strieber analyzes the experiences of eleven close encounter witnesses and from that derives the first in-depth picture of what the extremely strange and complex experience known as "contact" may mean, and what our visitors' intentions may be.
In part two, he turns to the military experience, showing how the visitors themselves placed governments in the position of having to keep their presence and actions secret, and what the effects of conflict with them has had on public policy as well as the lives of military personnel who have confronted them. Strieber also discusses why conflict situations occurred in the past and why this may be continuing. He then explores the enormous difficulty of communication between species with differently structured brains, and how these issues can be recognized and addressed.
There has never been a book written like Them. It is as much a first as Mr. Strieber's groundbreaking volume about his own close encounter, Communion. While it does not deal with his own experiences, in it he takes advantage of over three decades of study and research to create a vision of contact that may prove foundational to useful understanding of what is now a confused, sometimes violent, and fraught relationship.
Dr. John Alexander says, "This is an important next chapter in that unending adventure that transcends time and space."
Dr. Hal Puthoff comments, "Whitley has taken a deep dive into the UAP mystery not heretofore taken in any depth. That is, just what does it mean to potentially interact with a species so foreign to our understanding of reality as to be well nigh incomprehensible. Questions are raised and addressed which are themselves so provocative that the fact that we recognize that we have no answers is itself exceedingly valuable. I highly recommend immersion in such a challenge.
Leslie Kean, author of UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go on the Record calls Them "groundbreaking in the truest sense of that word."
Mitch Horowitz says in his preface that it's "among the most important interpretations of visitor phenomena since Jacques Valle's Passport to Magonia appeared in 1969."
Jacques Vallee, in the foreword, states that "This book cites fact after fact to build the case for in-depth realignment of public policy with public need."
In part one of the book, Whitley Strieber analyzes the experiences of eleven close encounter witnesses and from that derives the first in-depth picture of what the extremely strange and complex experience known as "contact" may mean, and what our visitors' intentions may be.
In part two, he turns to the military experience, showing how the visitors themselves placed governments in the position of having to keep their presence and actions secret, and what the effects of conflict with them has had on public policy as well as the lives of military personnel who have confronted them. Strieber also discusses why conflict situations occurred in the past and why this may be continuing. He then explores the enormous difficulty of communication between species with differently structured brains, and how these issues can be recognized and addressed.
There has never been a book written like Them. It is as much a first as Mr. Strieber's groundbreaking volume about his own close encounter, Communion. While it does not deal with his own experiences, in it he takes advantage of over three decades of study and research to create a vision of contact that may prove foundational to useful understanding of what is now a confused, sometimes violent, and fraught relationship.
Dr. John Alexander says, "This is an important next chapter in that unending adventure that transcends time and space."
Dr. Hal Puthoff comments, "Whitley has taken a deep dive into the UAP mystery not heretofore taken in any depth. That is, just what does it mean to potentially interact with a species so foreign to our understanding of reality as to be well nigh incomprehensible. Questions are raised and addressed which are themselves so provocative that the fact that we recognize that we have no answers is itself exceedingly valuable. I highly recommend immersion in such a challenge.
273 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2023
500 people are currently reading
362 people want to read
About the author
Whitley Strieber
152 books1,251 followersAmerican writer best known for his novels The Wolfen,The Hunger and Warday and for Communion, a non-fiction description of his experiences with apparent alien contact. He has recently made significant advances in understanding this phenomenon, and has published his new discoveries in Solving the Communion Enigma.
Strieber also co-authored The Coming Global Superstorm with Art Bell, which inspired the blockbuster film about sudden climate change, The Day After Tomorrow.
His book The Afterlife Revolution written with his deceased wife Anne, is a record of what is considered to be one of the most powerful instances of afterlife communication ever recorded.
Strieber also co-authored The Coming Global Superstorm with Art Bell, which inspired the blockbuster film about sudden climate change, The Day After Tomorrow.
His book The Afterlife Revolution written with his deceased wife Anne, is a record of what is considered to be one of the most powerful instances of afterlife communication ever recorded.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
February 27, 2024
Surprisingly grounded book on various aspects of the UFO phenomenon. It is well-researched and also introduces the reader to the opinions, speculations and conclusions of other well-known researchers in the field such as Jacques Vallee and more. All in all, a well-rounded, quite encompassing and most of all very up-to-date work of non-fiction on a topic that is well on its way to getting its well-known recognition as a serious research item.
February 27, 2024
Surprisingly grounded book on various aspects of the UFO phenomenon. It is well-researched and also introduces the reader to the opinions, speculations and conclusions of other well-known researchers in the field such as Jacques Vallee and more. All in all, a well-rounded, quite encompassing and most of all very up-to-date work of non-fiction on a topic that is well on its way to getting its well-known recognition as a serious research item.
April 29, 2023
Them is the first new book by ET contactee Whitley Strieber in years, and the first since the Pentagon's verification of UAP last year or so. Strieber was the first author I read on this topic and the publication of his latest "right after" UAP verification is a landmark in the evolution of my own perspective. I read the preface by Mitch Horowitz where he compares it to Jacques Vallee's 1969 Passport to Magonia in terms of importance, a couple of pages by Jacques Vallee, and the beginning by Strieber, which hooked me enough to order a copy. Begins with a couple of accounts of disguised visitors in a bookstore reading a copy of another of Strieber's books and laughing at things he's got wrong before making the brand new sounding to me claim that the visitors themselves are the ones behind all the secrecy not the governments and promising to show us how that works, which is either a canny novelist's trick to keep me reading, or will be explicated, and I'm hooked either way. A friend of mine is a CE5ist. "Whoah, any good?" he commented when I posted a pic of this one on FB. "Must-read, but I've only barely started." By now I've got about twenty pages to go, and I stand by my original statement that this is a must-read. More like John Keel than other books by Strieber I've read, Them doubles-down on the "are they a threat?" interrogative, asserts that the visitors are the ones behind the secrecy not world governments, and reexamines abductee reports of visitor behavior previously considered inexplicable from the visitors' point of view rather than the abductees', where they make better (theoretical) sense.
May 1, 2023
Whitley Strieber returns with another book about the entities he calls the visitors, and while Them is perhaps a bit unfocused and doesn't tread much new ground, it does allow Strieber to test out some new theories on what the whole visitor experience may mean. The tone is also generally a bit gloomier than it's been in the past, with less emphasis on the transformative parts of the experience and more placed on the darker aspects--abductions, violent confrontations with civilians and the military, and whether the intentions of the visitors are benign or more sinister.
On the latter, he at least assures the reader that they're not probably not harvesting us for food, since reports of abductions have dropped off sharply in recent years and if we were a food source, they'd still be ordering take-out, so to speak.
Apart from one late chapter, this book does not cover his own experiences, except mentioning them where relevant to others he discusses.
The first half of the book consists of letters pulled from the 200,000+ Communion letters archive, with each followed up by an analysis. Each case is chosen to help illustrate a particular aspect of the visitor experience, and the overall impression one gets--if the assumption that everyone having these experiences is not simply experiencing these things in their minds--is that the visitors are not a monolithic entity with a single purpose, but rather an assortment of factions, some with more noble goals (help us evolve), others less so (using us as playthings).
A point Strieber drives at repeatedly, is that the visitors themselves are responsible for all the secrecy concerning their presence, and governments and their agencies have been compelled to play into this, creating a system of classification that has perhaps forever insured the full truth of what is happening will never be known. The tremendous amount of money the Pentagon spends that goes unaccounted for is no flight of fancy, and Strieber suggest it may be funding vast projects the public is utterly unaware of.
One of the more interesting aspects of the visitor experience that Strieber has talked about before is how it might relate to death, but while he brings it up multiple times here, he makes no further attempt to better explain or theorize on the connection, steering the reader toward other books of his, such as The Afterlife Revolution. Understandable, perhaps, but still disappointing.
The second part of the book mainly covers how the government and military have helped to cover up what is happening, then ends with a chilling chapter on how Strieber himself has been targeted recently for harassment, via hacking of his website, as well as intrusions into his home that compelled him to journey overseas to finish the book. It ends, as he notes so much of the visitor experience has, without any clear answers.
If you've read his other books on this topic, you won't find a lot that is truly new here, but he still explores the subject in a way I find measured and compelling, never making bold claims about things he does not know, but neither standing back as a supposedly detached observer. As I've said before, if this is all an act, it is convincing enough to be indistinguishable from reality.
My biggest complaint is that the book never really pulls together in an overall narrative, it reads as more an overview on several broad aspects of the visitors, UAPs and government secrecy. But it covers these things well, and the book is an easy recommendation for anyone interested in the topic of the visitors or UAPs/UFOs.
(And yes, the title is a direct reference to the 1956 science fiction film about giant ants, Them.)
On the latter, he at least assures the reader that they're not probably not harvesting us for food, since reports of abductions have dropped off sharply in recent years and if we were a food source, they'd still be ordering take-out, so to speak.
Apart from one late chapter, this book does not cover his own experiences, except mentioning them where relevant to others he discusses.
The first half of the book consists of letters pulled from the 200,000+ Communion letters archive, with each followed up by an analysis. Each case is chosen to help illustrate a particular aspect of the visitor experience, and the overall impression one gets--if the assumption that everyone having these experiences is not simply experiencing these things in their minds--is that the visitors are not a monolithic entity with a single purpose, but rather an assortment of factions, some with more noble goals (help us evolve), others less so (using us as playthings).
A point Strieber drives at repeatedly, is that the visitors themselves are responsible for all the secrecy concerning their presence, and governments and their agencies have been compelled to play into this, creating a system of classification that has perhaps forever insured the full truth of what is happening will never be known. The tremendous amount of money the Pentagon spends that goes unaccounted for is no flight of fancy, and Strieber suggest it may be funding vast projects the public is utterly unaware of.
One of the more interesting aspects of the visitor experience that Strieber has talked about before is how it might relate to death, but while he brings it up multiple times here, he makes no further attempt to better explain or theorize on the connection, steering the reader toward other books of his, such as The Afterlife Revolution. Understandable, perhaps, but still disappointing.
The second part of the book mainly covers how the government and military have helped to cover up what is happening, then ends with a chilling chapter on how Strieber himself has been targeted recently for harassment, via hacking of his website, as well as intrusions into his home that compelled him to journey overseas to finish the book. It ends, as he notes so much of the visitor experience has, without any clear answers.
If you've read his other books on this topic, you won't find a lot that is truly new here, but he still explores the subject in a way I find measured and compelling, never making bold claims about things he does not know, but neither standing back as a supposedly detached observer. As I've said before, if this is all an act, it is convincing enough to be indistinguishable from reality.
My biggest complaint is that the book never really pulls together in an overall narrative, it reads as more an overview on several broad aspects of the visitors, UAPs and government secrecy. But it covers these things well, and the book is an easy recommendation for anyone interested in the topic of the visitors or UAPs/UFOs.
(And yes, the title is a direct reference to the 1956 science fiction film about giant ants, Them.)
July 12, 2023
The author of Communion analyses both his own and some other encounters with the Visitors. "Them" is a logical and science-based review of the experiences many humans have had with these beings. The recent intrusions by unknown humans add a particularly concerning aspect to Strieber's sober analysis of this phenomenon.
April 1, 2023
Has some really good thought experiments on how to think about UFOs/ Aliens. Crazy read~
March 3, 2024
I want to believe. I really really do. But this? Really? This book has to be a joke no? The introduction consists of several attestations from people, praising the author's intelligence, clarity of mind, reliability, authenticity, even sanity if you will. Really ? Then in the first few paragraphs of the book, the author makes what he considers to be truthful statements about two black eyed aliens (visitors) in trench coats, having a conversation in a book store, speaking in English, critiquing a previous book written by the same author no less, being over heard and confronted for their giggling about what he got right and what he got wrong in his book Communion. That's as far as I got before I returned it, asked for and received a refund. I'm a little nervous of the people that gave it 4 and 5 stars. Unless maybe, they too are just his alien fans.
December 19, 2025
Good but not great. Enlightening but not intelligent. Part 1 was good. Part 2 was mediocre.
July 6, 2023
Great book, everyone should read this, people need to be ready, we are definitely living in very interesting times.
July 3, 2023
Author Whitley Strieber is perhaps most famous for his book "Communion" and relating his personal experiences of abductions, UFOs and other paranormal activity.
But who exactly are these visitors, and what are their goals?
This book explores "them". In the first half of the book, Strieber shares a number of letters detailing experiences that were curated from the thousands sent to him by people after Communion was released. These letters details all manner of high strangeness and the author analyses what the experiences might mean.
The second half of the book focuses on the secrecy surrounding the visitors, and what it all might mean for us as a society.
Strieber also covers some topics that others might shy away from, such as the phenomenon and how it relates to what we call death.
If you're interested in the UFO phenomenon, then this book is essential reading - a modern, thoroughly interesting look at this subject.
But who exactly are these visitors, and what are their goals?
This book explores "them". In the first half of the book, Strieber shares a number of letters detailing experiences that were curated from the thousands sent to him by people after Communion was released. These letters details all manner of high strangeness and the author analyses what the experiences might mean.
The second half of the book focuses on the secrecy surrounding the visitors, and what it all might mean for us as a society.
Strieber also covers some topics that others might shy away from, such as the phenomenon and how it relates to what we call death.
If you're interested in the UFO phenomenon, then this book is essential reading - a modern, thoroughly interesting look at this subject.
May 23, 2023
This short book travels to places I’d never been. Whitley Strieber moves beyond the question of “who” or “what” and instead asks, “why?” Why is the phenomenon the way it is? Repeatedly stressing the fact that neither he nor anyone knows anything with certainty when it comes to this subject, he takes the reader on an overview of the information we do have, eyewitness accounts and military records. From this perspective, it’s clear the phenomenon is inconsistent and beyond our full understanding. Why? Because it dwells at the limits of our ability to perceive it. The military surely has records that could help us understand it better, but they do not release it. Why? Because decades of haphazard policy have made it impossible for anyone to gather all the information together. And above it all, the phenomenon itself is so varied, and so obscure, it seems like a deliberate choice was made to keep us in the dark, guessing about facts and motives. Why? Because this is precisely what the phenomenon is designed to do. The book clearly shows how the entire establishment, from the UFO community to the governments of the world, have been doing exactly what the phenomenon has been engineered to do: present us with an impossible problem.
Whitley suggests some possible reasons why this might be, but most importantly, it becomes clear that passively waiting for government disclosure, or for saucers to land and open their doors, is not in our best interest. We must, instead, acknowledge the full experience, as reported across every bizarre aspect of it, and decide for ourselves how much of it we want and don’t want. We are not powerless, and never have been. Knowing where we came from and how we got here, from bungling through kneejerk reactions to being very subtly backed into a corner, is the only way to step forward and take the future that we want from the hands of the worldly and otherworldly powers that have manipulated us into passivity.
Whitley suggests some possible reasons why this might be, but most importantly, it becomes clear that passively waiting for government disclosure, or for saucers to land and open their doors, is not in our best interest. We must, instead, acknowledge the full experience, as reported across every bizarre aspect of it, and decide for ourselves how much of it we want and don’t want. We are not powerless, and never have been. Knowing where we came from and how we got here, from bungling through kneejerk reactions to being very subtly backed into a corner, is the only way to step forward and take the future that we want from the hands of the worldly and otherworldly powers that have manipulated us into passivity.
December 30, 2024
The first part is good—the weird, the sinister, the enlightening. Human perception, the relationship between the greys and the dead—it’s pretty damn interesting.
The second part, though? Bad. Really bad. There’s an industrial quantity of content about disclosure and UAP-related programs. Strieber maintains his unique POV while discussing it, but it wasn’t enough for me.
The finale gets weird. The whole topic is weird, but it becomes disturbing. And seems unrelated to the first part, no cohesion.
The second part, though? Bad. Really bad. There’s an industrial quantity of content about disclosure and UAP-related programs. Strieber maintains his unique POV while discussing it, but it wasn’t enough for me.
The finale gets weird. The whole topic is weird, but it becomes disturbing. And seems unrelated to the first part, no cohesion.
October 30, 2023
Strieber is revolving his experience since its inception... we can´t blame him for this, but... I feel like he is unable to be free of his "auto-myth", adding layers, persons, letters, voices to the same-same "maybe cake".
I repeat, it is NOT his fault. Probably I would do the same... if I was not covered with a pelicule of repetition teflon-avoidance!
I hope he finds any answer one day, but I definitely can´t find through his work.
For "fans" only.
I repeat, it is NOT his fault. Probably I would do the same... if I was not covered with a pelicule of repetition teflon-avoidance!
I hope he finds any answer one day, but I definitely can´t find through his work.
For "fans" only.
December 11, 2023
I was excited to learn of what Whitley had to say in regards to the intent of “them”. Unfortunately a bit through the book, I have yet to hear anything discussed about the intent. Although it was interesting to hear about the many letters he and his family received in their massive catalog of letters I had always heard about, the accounts are so bizarre it is hard to give them much credence, even for someone with an open mind. I unfortunately just couldn’t finish it.
December 23, 2024
Very good!
Whitleys writing can be a little flouncy at points, and I think it’s in an attempt to show intelligence, rather than showing off. “Them” was an interesting read, but with all the plugs for his other works, including Communion and A New World, it felt a little self serving.
I don’t personally agree with the premise that the UAP phenomenon has anything to do with the dead, but outside of other evidence, this is purely personal opinion.
Whitleys writing can be a little flouncy at points, and I think it’s in an attempt to show intelligence, rather than showing off. “Them” was an interesting read, but with all the plugs for his other works, including Communion and A New World, it felt a little self serving.
I don’t personally agree with the premise that the UAP phenomenon has anything to do with the dead, but outside of other evidence, this is purely personal opinion.
May 30, 2024
Rubbish.
I’ve researched alien abductions and watched alien documentaries most of my adult life. I’ve always kept an open mind on the subject.
This book is absolute rubbish!! It’s very repetitive and written in a way that makes it a work of fiction/ fantasy.
Don’t waste your good money on this book; I’ll guarantee you will not read past the first 3 or 4 chapters!!
I’ve researched alien abductions and watched alien documentaries most of my adult life. I’ve always kept an open mind on the subject.
This book is absolute rubbish!! It’s very repetitive and written in a way that makes it a work of fiction/ fantasy.
Don’t waste your good money on this book; I’ll guarantee you will not read past the first 3 or 4 chapters!!
September 21, 2025
Yikes, not great. A few "anecdotes" of aliens, from people who were almost certainly dreaming. And since Strieber keeps referring to our impending destruction by climate destruction, he clearly has zero critical thinking skills. He has totally accepted the climate hoax, so I don't trust his judgement on visitors. Too bad. Disappointing. But a quick read . . . 6 hour book at 1.5x speed.
April 23, 2024
Some truly terrifying accounts from the thousands of letters Mr. Streiber has been sent over the years. Mysterys on top of mysteries.
Speculation, events that are still baffling.
Highly reccommended to anyone who chooses to go down the rabbit hole.
Speculation, events that are still baffling.
Highly reccommended to anyone who chooses to go down the rabbit hole.
October 9, 2024
Poetry and passion
Both come out unexpectedly in this vulnerable and sincere memoir. I valued the author's sharing and analyses of the experiences of those who felt c compelled to share their experiences.
Both come out unexpectedly in this vulnerable and sincere memoir. I valued the author's sharing and analyses of the experiences of those who felt c compelled to share their experiences.
October 15, 2023
Whitley does it
He is such a good writer. He questions Them and the questions are mind blowing even if we don't have the answers.
He is such a good writer. He questions Them and the questions are mind blowing even if we don't have the answers.
April 23, 2024
Very boring. I never really got the point.
May 1, 2024
A Good Read
I feel Mr. Striber may have found the path we may all find ourselves on in this subject. It's still a good read.
I feel Mr. Striber may have found the path we may all find ourselves on in this subject. It's still a good read.
May 11, 2024
Amazing book!
Glad I was able to read this amazing book. Just like his other books, it was well written. This book is very informative and a fascinating read.
Glad I was able to read this amazing book. Just like his other books, it was well written. This book is very informative and a fascinating read.
December 23, 2024
This book starts out good but just gets weirder.
August 30, 2025
I enjoyed reading the letters. I did not always agree with the author’s analysis of them.
August 31, 2025
A fascinating look at the UFO phenomenon.
October 12, 2025
It was just ok. I wanted more from this book. There were some moments of gold, but overall, a bit meh.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews