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The Invisible College
The Invisible What a Group of Scientists Has Discovered about UFO Influences on the Human Jacques The Invisible What a Group of Scientists Has Discovered about UFO Influences on the Human E.P. Dutton & FIRST First Edition, First Printing. Published by E.P. Dutton & Co, 1975. Octavo. Hardcover; rebound in library binding. Book is very good with endpapers replaced, stamp to title page with no other library markings. An excellent copy of this vintage paranormal title. 100% positive feedback. 30 day money back guarantee. NEXT DAY SHIPPING! Excellent customer service. Please email with any questions. All books packed carefully and ship with free delivery confirmation/tracking. All books come with free bookmarks. Ships from Sag Harbor, New York.Seller 343273 Paranormal We Buy Books! Collections - Libraries - Estates - Individual Titles. Message us if you have books to sell!
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
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About the author
Jacques F. Vallée
66 books388 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 - 30 of 61 reviews
April 30, 2018
By the end, this has to be one of the more compelling books on the UFO problem. I'm surprised that more amateur and mainstream researchers don't cite this one as frequently as Magonia (though I suppose I can understand why). On the whole, this book reads less as a sweeping overview of the phenomena, with case study specifics throughout that build in momentum and strangeness as most UFO books do. Here, the book is more of a short argument toward Vallee's primary thesis (which brings together each section to play on the whole in the final chapter): namely that the gaps and absurdities in witness accounts are forming a pattern of conditioning of the human race over time.
What I find compelling (as did Vallee, if you read the third volume of Forbidden Science) is how he and another famous UFO researcher of the time, John Keel, came to many similar conclusions as to the nature of the phenomena despite forging separate research paths (Keel was not a member of Vallee's Invisible College), particularly in the range of credible absurdity and nature of consciousness/psychic phenomena/hallucinations in regard to most witness sightings. Vallee, however, in my opinion, does a far better job distilling these observations into a more academic/scientific hypothesis, whereas Keel's are a bit scattered. Where Passport to Magonia blew readers' minds with its revolutionary perspective on ancient legends of folklore paralleling many modern day UFO experiences, here Vallee levels up the game by providing further insights into the parallels in religious experiences (the fascinating standout chapter being the Fatima Miracle) with ultimately a deeper understanding of the machinations at work -- or, as Vallee would likely argue, the effects of said machinations at least.
As always, the reader is left wanting more; whether that be more data, more primary sources, more stories, or if it's, like me, wanting more perspective now forty years later. That said, this amounts to an almost mandatory read for all UFO buffs looking for a far deeper and wiser dive than the surface-level "do you think extraterrestrials could be visiting us?" hypothesis.
What I find compelling (as did Vallee, if you read the third volume of Forbidden Science) is how he and another famous UFO researcher of the time, John Keel, came to many similar conclusions as to the nature of the phenomena despite forging separate research paths (Keel was not a member of Vallee's Invisible College), particularly in the range of credible absurdity and nature of consciousness/psychic phenomena/hallucinations in regard to most witness sightings. Vallee, however, in my opinion, does a far better job distilling these observations into a more academic/scientific hypothesis, whereas Keel's are a bit scattered. Where Passport to Magonia blew readers' minds with its revolutionary perspective on ancient legends of folklore paralleling many modern day UFO experiences, here Vallee levels up the game by providing further insights into the parallels in religious experiences (the fascinating standout chapter being the Fatima Miracle) with ultimately a deeper understanding of the machinations at work -- or, as Vallee would likely argue, the effects of said machinations at least.
As always, the reader is left wanting more; whether that be more data, more primary sources, more stories, or if it's, like me, wanting more perspective now forty years later. That said, this amounts to an almost mandatory read for all UFO buffs looking for a far deeper and wiser dive than the surface-level "do you think extraterrestrials could be visiting us?" hypothesis.
January 7, 2019
Jacques Vallee was associated with J. A. Hynek at Northwestern University, both of them being portrayed in 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind', Vallee by Trufault, Hynek, briefly, by himself. I had the fortune of meeting the latter when, serving as the head of the astronomy department's new observatory on the shore of Lake Michigan, he led a tour Father brought me to. At the time, back in elementary school, I was very interested in UFOs and planetary science and had heard of Hynek as the scientific consultant to Project Blue Book, the Air Force's public investigation of the mysterious phenomena until it was discontinued in 1969. As it happens, I now live near Hynek's old home in the East Roger's Park neighborhood on Chicago's far north side, friends of mine having attended school with his daughters. Northwestern's observatory, alas, is no more.
Hynek I started reading on my own. Vallee was introduced to me, many years later, by Michael Miley, then a writer for a UFO magazine out of California. While Hynek was primarily an academic, as reflected by his rather dry, but scrupulous, texts, Vallee, whose background was in information theory and cybernetics, plays a more broadly speculative game. Unlike most 'ufologists', Vallee rejects the nuts-and-bolts notion that we're being visited by representatives of advanced civilizations somewhere out there in space. Indeed, he ridicules it, his books, including this one, giving case after case wherein supposed aliens of various kinds perform absurd actions and convey crazy messages to hapless human contactees. Further, he goes to great lengths to show how well current contacts of all kinds correspond to accounts from previous ages, all the way back to antiquity, our aliens being their gods, or angels, or demons, or imps. Given the great, and inconsistent, varieties of observations and encounters, few of them leaving physical traces for subsequent study, Vallee adopts instead a focus on the effects of such experiences on the experiencers and on their culture, hypothesizing that the UFOs et alia manifest what may be heuristically considered a control mechanism intended to bring about cultural change.
This book was written in the early to mid-seventies, a period during which Vallee hoped that UFO reports and parapsychological studies were tending toward a cultural paradigm shift. The 'invisible college' of the title, beyond being an historical reference to early modern science, refers to the network of students of the phenomena, academic, scientific and governmental, with which he was, at the time of writing, involved. The paradigm shift, now, forty years later?
Hynek I started reading on my own. Vallee was introduced to me, many years later, by Michael Miley, then a writer for a UFO magazine out of California. While Hynek was primarily an academic, as reflected by his rather dry, but scrupulous, texts, Vallee, whose background was in information theory and cybernetics, plays a more broadly speculative game. Unlike most 'ufologists', Vallee rejects the nuts-and-bolts notion that we're being visited by representatives of advanced civilizations somewhere out there in space. Indeed, he ridicules it, his books, including this one, giving case after case wherein supposed aliens of various kinds perform absurd actions and convey crazy messages to hapless human contactees. Further, he goes to great lengths to show how well current contacts of all kinds correspond to accounts from previous ages, all the way back to antiquity, our aliens being their gods, or angels, or demons, or imps. Given the great, and inconsistent, varieties of observations and encounters, few of them leaving physical traces for subsequent study, Vallee adopts instead a focus on the effects of such experiences on the experiencers and on their culture, hypothesizing that the UFOs et alia manifest what may be heuristically considered a control mechanism intended to bring about cultural change.
This book was written in the early to mid-seventies, a period during which Vallee hoped that UFO reports and parapsychological studies were tending toward a cultural paradigm shift. The 'invisible college' of the title, beyond being an historical reference to early modern science, refers to the network of students of the phenomena, academic, scientific and governmental, with which he was, at the time of writing, involved. The paradigm shift, now, forty years later?
June 2, 2023
Some selected quotes. In square brackets [] are my comments/notes:
-
But we are not asked to comprehend here; we are asked simply to believe. We are asked to suspend our rational judgment and to trust the “higher” power that expresses itself through a few chosen people.
-
UMMO: A warning to mankind
[This warning is the most obvious proof this whole affair is a big fat hoax. Why? Very simple. All the names mentioned above, as role models, inevitably show the bias of the author/s of the hoax. They are also an explicit demonstrations of what thinkers were held at high esteem by certain circles at the time the UMMO hoax was being perpetuated. This explains the blind spot they have for a butcher like E. Guevara, or a intelectual liliput like Marx. This selection with the exception of Tolstoy who is a giant of literature, is a pure reflection of the dominat zeitgeist, or type of "culture" that circulated among the government hoaxers at the time. Consider for example the eventuality that contact with UMMO happened in 2012. Inevitably among the norable role models for humanity would have been Barack Obama. Obviously if the author perpetuated the hoax during this time, especially if governmental-related, he would have had a blind spot about Obama, and wouldnt yet be aware that the Obama administration caused several civil wars all around the middle east and also in Ukraine. The hoaxer/s also wouldnt have kown that Obama made extensive use of remoteley controlled drones to kill supposed terrorists and by doing so kill dozens un unrelated, unarmed civilians including families and young children. ]
[Vallee himself, although doesnt make the analysis I made, has this to say about UMMO.]
It is interesting to note that other factors existed in the development of UMMO, factors that were of a more sinister nature than the simple expression of personal exuberance. There was, in the first place, the fact that a military technical school and airfield lies at the focus of the three sightings that provide UMMO with all its “evidence.” Then there are the capsules, the strips of TEDLAR.
A military intelligence group could have a number of reasons either to sponsor or stage the UMMO process: the motivation, for example, could be simply a project for training intelligence agents. Was UMMO an exercise in camouflage that got out of hand? If the purpose was the creation of a small nucleus of fanatics, the “exercise” certainly succeeded!
[What is TEDLAR?] At the time of the events, this material was made exclusively by duPont de Nemours in the United States, under the brand name of TEDLAR. Its use was restricted and the product was not sold commercially. TEDLAR has an extraordinary resistance to ultraviolet radiation, weathering, dissolvents, chemical agents in general, and abrasion. It is used by NASA at Cape Kennedy to cover rockets on their tower prior to launching. The same material is also noted for “some military applications.”
...
The fact is that the beliefs of humanity can be manipulated both by physical and symbolic means. Certainly this is one of the objectives of UMMO, whether it is a prankish game, a psycho-sociological test or a sinister plot.
-
[From a letter sent to the author by a medical doctor in Pennsylvania]
...
[The book: Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution (New York: Norton, 1974 - Authors: P. Watzlawick, J. Weakland, and R. Rish)] quotes a fascinating story by Dr. Milton Erickson concerning what the authors call “The Gentle Art of Reframing”:
After quoting this story, the authors of Change continue:
...
Is this Confusion Technique deliberately used to effect change on a major scale? This could also help us to understand the strong resemblance that anyone who has examined the beliefs of esoteric groups could not fail to note between certain UFO encounters and the initiation rituals of secret societies. This “opening of the mind” to a new set of symbols that is reported by many witnesses is precisely what the various occult traditions are also trying to achieve.
-
It is becoming technically feasible for sounds and images to be projected into people’s minds at a distance. Is this part of the technology that creates the UFO phenomenon? Could the required equipment be carried on board an ordinary bus? Here again we must ask the question first posed at the occasion of the UMMO investigation: Are we dealing with a terrestrial technology that systematically confuses the witnesses? If so, it must be possible to demonstrate it. If certain areas of the human brain can be remotely stimulated, then it is not impossible to think of broadcasts literally saturating large territories with a flood of symbols. Such a device could be a major tool of social change. If disguised under a preposterous or “absurd” appearance, its effects would be undetected for a long time. I believe this could be a key to the confrontation with UFOs.
-
A newspaper column commented upon the apparent lack of reality of the whole UFO phenomenon: “It does not attack us. It does not affect our daily lives. It does not help us with our many problems. It has brought us nothing of value. It may have scared a few folks here and there, but then so do thunder storms and tornadoes. The whole thing, as a social issue, is of no consequence whatsoever.” The journalist who wrote this column was superficially right, of course. But he forgot another fact: human life is not ruled by the juxtaposition of problem-solving exercises. Human life is ruled by imagination and myth; these obey strict laws and they, too, are governed by control systems, although admittedly not of the hardware type. If UFOs are having an action at that level it will be almost impossible to detect it by conventional methods.
If UFO activity operates in a fashion similar to Skinner’s reinforcement, which is the least amenable to extinction (although it is slow and steady), then the learning will take time but it will never be forgotten.
How can we verify whether such conditioning is in fact operating?
We should firmly establish the primary effects. We should go on analyzing landing traces, punching IBM cards, and scrutinizing the heavens with cameras and radio telescopes, but this activity will be completely useless if it is not related to an investigation of the secondary impact, the shift in our world-view that the phenomenon produces. A phenomenon that denies itself, that annihilates evidence of itself cannot be mastered by engineering brute force.
-
When I speak of a control system for planet earth I do not want my words to be misunderstood: I do not mean that some higher order of beings has locked us inside the constraints of a space-bound jail, closely monitored by psychic entities we might call angels or demons. I do not propose to redefine God. What I do mean is that mythology rules at a level of our social reality over which normal political and intellectual action has no real power. At that level, time frames are long, of the order of a century, and evolution is slow and sure. Mass media, which are designed to give split-second images of transient noise (the noisier the better), miss this signal entirely. A society with an attention span of ten minutes (the interval between two TV commercials) can have no concept of events that have begun when my grandfather was not yet born and will end after my grandson dies. But there are such long-term changes and they may be deliberate. They dominate the destiny of civilizations. Myths define the set of things scholars, politicians, and scientists can think about. They are operated upon by symbols, and the language these symbols form constitutes a complete system. This system is meta-logical, but not metaphysical. It violates no laws because it is the substance of which laws are made.
-
What interests me is not the likelihood of such a contact (how could we prove it?) but the fact that a subculture now exists in every country, based on the idea that humanity has a higher destiny. You will find people in remote towns of California who have literally dropped out of city life (where they had held responsible positions and enjoyed good salaries) because they had received messages from space instructing them to do so. These people are not hippies, although similar experiences have been frequent also among younger commune members. The people I am referring to are middle-aged, have families and steady jobs. They would be regarded as perfectly square if it were not for the fact that their lives have been changed by what they consider to be genuine extraterrestrial communication. They wait. And, a curious fact in the current state of the world, they seem perfectly happy. We could categorize them among the victims of city pressures who have sought the psychological comfort of small-town life. But we might also wonder whether they are not the forerunners of a new spiritual movement.
-
Slowly a climate has been created in which a much larger number now participate in the myth-making. The belief is reinforced by successive waves of sightings. Skepticism is eroded. The cases are giving more and more evidence of the reality of the UFOs—but this evidence is so constructed as to elude classical analysis by scientists. Perhaps the UFOs are not behaving according to our laws of causality. Perhaps their time flows differently from ours. Perhaps their logic is a meta-logic.
-
But we are not asked to comprehend here; we are asked simply to believe. We are asked to suspend our rational judgment and to trust the “higher” power that expresses itself through a few chosen people.
-
UMMO: A warning to mankind
"Men of the Earth!
We convey to you our sincere condolences at the occasion of the death of your brother, thinker and mathematician Bertrand Russell.
The expeditionary group that originated with the solidified celestial body UMMO is found among the citizens of various nations on Earth, with the Man Bertrand Russell and others among his brothers: Mirandas K. Gandhi, Ernesto (Che) Guevara, Helder Camara, John XXIII, Martin Luther King, Karl Marx, Emmanuel Mounier, Albert Schweitzer, Tolstoi, and others.
They have dedicated their life to transforming the society into which they were inserted, orienting it in the direction of negative entropy towards forms more in conformity with the ethical norms of collective coexistence."
[This warning is the most obvious proof this whole affair is a big fat hoax. Why? Very simple. All the names mentioned above, as role models, inevitably show the bias of the author/s of the hoax. They are also an explicit demonstrations of what thinkers were held at high esteem by certain circles at the time the UMMO hoax was being perpetuated. This explains the blind spot they have for a butcher like E. Guevara, or a intelectual liliput like Marx. This selection with the exception of Tolstoy who is a giant of literature, is a pure reflection of the dominat zeitgeist, or type of "culture" that circulated among the government hoaxers at the time. Consider for example the eventuality that contact with UMMO happened in 2012. Inevitably among the norable role models for humanity would have been Barack Obama. Obviously if the author perpetuated the hoax during this time, especially if governmental-related, he would have had a blind spot about Obama, and wouldnt yet be aware that the Obama administration caused several civil wars all around the middle east and also in Ukraine. The hoaxer/s also wouldnt have kown that Obama made extensive use of remoteley controlled drones to kill supposed terrorists and by doing so kill dozens un unrelated, unarmed civilians including families and young children. ]
[Vallee himself, although doesnt make the analysis I made, has this to say about UMMO.]
It is interesting to note that other factors existed in the development of UMMO, factors that were of a more sinister nature than the simple expression of personal exuberance. There was, in the first place, the fact that a military technical school and airfield lies at the focus of the three sightings that provide UMMO with all its “evidence.” Then there are the capsules, the strips of TEDLAR.
A military intelligence group could have a number of reasons either to sponsor or stage the UMMO process: the motivation, for example, could be simply a project for training intelligence agents. Was UMMO an exercise in camouflage that got out of hand? If the purpose was the creation of a small nucleus of fanatics, the “exercise” certainly succeeded!
[What is TEDLAR?] At the time of the events, this material was made exclusively by duPont de Nemours in the United States, under the brand name of TEDLAR. Its use was restricted and the product was not sold commercially. TEDLAR has an extraordinary resistance to ultraviolet radiation, weathering, dissolvents, chemical agents in general, and abrasion. It is used by NASA at Cape Kennedy to cover rockets on their tower prior to launching. The same material is also noted for “some military applications.”
...
The fact is that the beliefs of humanity can be manipulated both by physical and symbolic means. Certainly this is one of the objectives of UMMO, whether it is a prankish game, a psycho-sociological test or a sinister plot.
-
[From a letter sent to the author by a medical doctor in Pennsylvania]
When the person is distracted by the absurd or contradictory, and their mind is searching for meaning, they are extremely open to thought transference, to receiving psychic healing, etc. Whatever they receive by way of thought transference, of course becomes their thought, and they have no resistance to it….
...
[The book: Change: Principles of Problem Formation and Problem Resolution (New York: Norton, 1974 - Authors: P. Watzlawick, J. Weakland, and R. Rish)] quotes a fascinating story by Dr. Milton Erickson concerning what the authors call “The Gentle Art of Reframing”:
“One windy day … a man came rushing around the corner of a building and bumped hard against me as I stood bracing myself against the wind. Before he could recover his poise to speak to me, I glanced elaborately at my watch and courteously, as if he had inquired the time of day, I stated, ‘It’s exactly ten minutes of two,’ though it was actually closer to 4 P.M., and walked on. About half a block away, I turned and saw him still looking at me, undoubtedly still puzzled and bewildered by my remark.”
After quoting this story, the authors of Change continue:
This is how Erickson described the incident that led him to the development of an unusual method of hypnotic induction which he later called the Confusion Technique. What had taken place?
The incident of bumping into each other had created a context in which the obvious conventional response would have been mutual apologies. Dr. Erickson’s response suddenly and unexpectedly redefined that same context as a very different one, namely, one that would have been socially appropriate if the other man had asked him the time of day, but even that would have been bewildering because of the patent incorrectness of the information, in contrast to the courteous, solicitous manner in which it was given. The result was confusion, unalleviated by any further information that would have re-organized the pieces of the puzzle into an understandable new frame of reference. As Erickson points out, the need to get out of the confusion by finding this new frame makes the subject particularly ready and eager to hold on firmly to the next piece of concrete information that he is given. The confusion, setting the stage for reframing, thus becomes an important step in the process of effecting second-order change and of “showing the fly the way out of the fly-bottle.”
...
Is this Confusion Technique deliberately used to effect change on a major scale? This could also help us to understand the strong resemblance that anyone who has examined the beliefs of esoteric groups could not fail to note between certain UFO encounters and the initiation rituals of secret societies. This “opening of the mind” to a new set of symbols that is reported by many witnesses is precisely what the various occult traditions are also trying to achieve.
-
It is becoming technically feasible for sounds and images to be projected into people’s minds at a distance. Is this part of the technology that creates the UFO phenomenon? Could the required equipment be carried on board an ordinary bus? Here again we must ask the question first posed at the occasion of the UMMO investigation: Are we dealing with a terrestrial technology that systematically confuses the witnesses? If so, it must be possible to demonstrate it. If certain areas of the human brain can be remotely stimulated, then it is not impossible to think of broadcasts literally saturating large territories with a flood of symbols. Such a device could be a major tool of social change. If disguised under a preposterous or “absurd” appearance, its effects would be undetected for a long time. I believe this could be a key to the confrontation with UFOs.
-
A newspaper column commented upon the apparent lack of reality of the whole UFO phenomenon: “It does not attack us. It does not affect our daily lives. It does not help us with our many problems. It has brought us nothing of value. It may have scared a few folks here and there, but then so do thunder storms and tornadoes. The whole thing, as a social issue, is of no consequence whatsoever.” The journalist who wrote this column was superficially right, of course. But he forgot another fact: human life is not ruled by the juxtaposition of problem-solving exercises. Human life is ruled by imagination and myth; these obey strict laws and they, too, are governed by control systems, although admittedly not of the hardware type. If UFOs are having an action at that level it will be almost impossible to detect it by conventional methods.
If UFO activity operates in a fashion similar to Skinner’s reinforcement, which is the least amenable to extinction (although it is slow and steady), then the learning will take time but it will never be forgotten.
How can we verify whether such conditioning is in fact operating?
We should firmly establish the primary effects. We should go on analyzing landing traces, punching IBM cards, and scrutinizing the heavens with cameras and radio telescopes, but this activity will be completely useless if it is not related to an investigation of the secondary impact, the shift in our world-view that the phenomenon produces. A phenomenon that denies itself, that annihilates evidence of itself cannot be mastered by engineering brute force.
-
When I speak of a control system for planet earth I do not want my words to be misunderstood: I do not mean that some higher order of beings has locked us inside the constraints of a space-bound jail, closely monitored by psychic entities we might call angels or demons. I do not propose to redefine God. What I do mean is that mythology rules at a level of our social reality over which normal political and intellectual action has no real power. At that level, time frames are long, of the order of a century, and evolution is slow and sure. Mass media, which are designed to give split-second images of transient noise (the noisier the better), miss this signal entirely. A society with an attention span of ten minutes (the interval between two TV commercials) can have no concept of events that have begun when my grandfather was not yet born and will end after my grandson dies. But there are such long-term changes and they may be deliberate. They dominate the destiny of civilizations. Myths define the set of things scholars, politicians, and scientists can think about. They are operated upon by symbols, and the language these symbols form constitutes a complete system. This system is meta-logical, but not metaphysical. It violates no laws because it is the substance of which laws are made.
-
What interests me is not the likelihood of such a contact (how could we prove it?) but the fact that a subculture now exists in every country, based on the idea that humanity has a higher destiny. You will find people in remote towns of California who have literally dropped out of city life (where they had held responsible positions and enjoyed good salaries) because they had received messages from space instructing them to do so. These people are not hippies, although similar experiences have been frequent also among younger commune members. The people I am referring to are middle-aged, have families and steady jobs. They would be regarded as perfectly square if it were not for the fact that their lives have been changed by what they consider to be genuine extraterrestrial communication. They wait. And, a curious fact in the current state of the world, they seem perfectly happy. We could categorize them among the victims of city pressures who have sought the psychological comfort of small-town life. But we might also wonder whether they are not the forerunners of a new spiritual movement.
-
Slowly a climate has been created in which a much larger number now participate in the myth-making. The belief is reinforced by successive waves of sightings. Skepticism is eroded. The cases are giving more and more evidence of the reality of the UFOs—but this evidence is so constructed as to elude classical analysis by scientists. Perhaps the UFOs are not behaving according to our laws of causality. Perhaps their time flows differently from ours. Perhaps their logic is a meta-logic.
June 1, 2024
Short answer: The UFO phenomenon is a worldview manipulation by dark forces.
February 27, 2013
Perhaps most notable passage is about a Vatican official describing "Lucy's Fatima letter" opened by the Pope in 1960 and re-sealed. Allegedly contained a prophecy of the shooting of the Pope by Commie bastards followed by a nuclear holocaust. Let's hope Lucy's final batting average is .500 in the prediction business.
More highly recommended is THE EDGE OF REALITY co-authored by Dr. Vallee and Dr. J. Allen Hynek, also published in 1975 (Henry Regnery Co, Chicago). Most of the reports analyzed involve folks who were reluctant witnesses and whose names are never identified. Transcripts of interviews stem in some notable cases from government agents themselves, who passed the reports sub rosa to Hynek in the 1960s when Hykek was the USAF consultant on UFOs. These accounts read better than a lot of science fiction short stories. "Edge of reality" indeed.
More highly recommended is THE EDGE OF REALITY co-authored by Dr. Vallee and Dr. J. Allen Hynek, also published in 1975 (Henry Regnery Co, Chicago). Most of the reports analyzed involve folks who were reluctant witnesses and whose names are never identified. Transcripts of interviews stem in some notable cases from government agents themselves, who passed the reports sub rosa to Hynek in the 1960s when Hykek was the USAF consultant on UFOs. These accounts read better than a lot of science fiction short stories. "Edge of reality" indeed.
May 5, 2025
I mean, it was interesting, there were just some parts that were too far fetched for me, but that is maybe a personal problem.
October 9, 2024
A unique approach to the UFO phenomenon and the paranormal in general.
January 20, 2023
As an "experiencer" myself, I support Valle´s main hypothesis: it is a "control system".
For what? Done by who? How is it done?
We can only speculate... and not properly.
Even when we are 100% sure of something on this topic, we have no idea what it really means...
Personally, I think it is a "device", an "experiment", to see where the human mind-soul can go... but, I feel that whoever is doing this wants to control the result... we are just lab rats.
For what? Done by who? How is it done?
We can only speculate... and not properly.
Even when we are 100% sure of something on this topic, we have no idea what it really means...
Personally, I think it is a "device", an "experiment", to see where the human mind-soul can go... but, I feel that whoever is doing this wants to control the result... we are just lab rats.
January 6, 2022
A must-read for any amateur Ufologist, this book lays out the foundations for researching and understanding the flying saucer phenomenon.
November 27, 2023
This book is a POD reprint of the original 1975 edition, and I'm glad it's available.
I have to say that it affected me much differently reading it now than it would if I had read it 30 or 40 years ago. Vallee addressed in 1975 the questions I ask all the time now: why do UFO witnesses and contactees report such illogical, disparate, inconsistent, and sometimes even seemingly ridiculous things?
Just for a couple examples: how can an unthinkably advanced civilization travel interstellar distances, and then crash their spacecraft on the earth, leaving behind trivial pieces of debris, or even dead bodies? And why would one or more of these civilizations help Egyptian or Mayan rulers spend 20 or 40 years building a Sphinx or huge pyramid?
The simple or common explanations (delusion, ignorance, attention-seeking, confusion, mental illness, etc.) he accepts are all possibilities and certainly have been the reason in many cases, but he believes there is more to the phenomena than that. He spends some time on the cases of the apparitions at Fatima and Lourdes, and shows many common factors with UFO contactee/witness reports.
The History Channel Ancient Aliens series is a wealth of raw data about inexplicable or mysterious events throughout world history. To say, "it's aliens!" as an explanation is fine. But when you ask the next question "but why?" you really get nothing reasonable.
Incidentally, many of the Goodreads reviewers have stated the thesis of this book much better than I, I strong recommend many of them.
I have to say that it affected me much differently reading it now than it would if I had read it 30 or 40 years ago. Vallee addressed in 1975 the questions I ask all the time now: why do UFO witnesses and contactees report such illogical, disparate, inconsistent, and sometimes even seemingly ridiculous things?
Just for a couple examples: how can an unthinkably advanced civilization travel interstellar distances, and then crash their spacecraft on the earth, leaving behind trivial pieces of debris, or even dead bodies? And why would one or more of these civilizations help Egyptian or Mayan rulers spend 20 or 40 years building a Sphinx or huge pyramid?
The simple or common explanations (delusion, ignorance, attention-seeking, confusion, mental illness, etc.) he accepts are all possibilities and certainly have been the reason in many cases, but he believes there is more to the phenomena than that. He spends some time on the cases of the apparitions at Fatima and Lourdes, and shows many common factors with UFO contactee/witness reports.
The History Channel Ancient Aliens series is a wealth of raw data about inexplicable or mysterious events throughout world history. To say, "it's aliens!" as an explanation is fine. But when you ask the next question "but why?" you really get nothing reasonable.
Incidentally, many of the Goodreads reviewers have stated the thesis of this book much better than I, I strong recommend many of them.
March 7, 2021
Rather appreciative of Jaques Vallee's work with this book. It was seminal when published in the 1970s. Reading works such as this through the backdrop of research now occurring on the complex issue that is understanding UAP, Vallee's work and final hypothesis is close to prophetic. The efficacy Vallee's hypothesis regarding a possible control system that is conditioning homo sapiens is supported by multiple research initiatives addressing conditioning behavior and the effects of the environment on social and cultural development. Applying current understanding of psychopathology and UAP relationships, I would offer a change in lexicon of Vallee's hypothesis. I'd offer that there is a complex array of systems that are interdependent that may be shaping homo sapiens and that the technological signatures may indicate a higher capability, I would postulate that instead of a 'higher' capability, it is a 'different' capability.
May 20, 2023
I have just finished this book for a second time. I like it much better this time a round. It is an original and interesting and unusual view of UFO phenomenon that includes paranormal phenomenon into the mix. I like that he mostly discusses only cases he has personally investigated and been convinced of the reality.of the event himself.
In short, I like the book.
I bought the book because I have heard and read about the author for decades and I wanted to see what he has to say. Mission accomplished, and it is interesting. But, It isn’t what I was expecting, though it is interesting and I like it.
But, the title is misleading and the text really goes out into the weeds and down the rabbit hole.
The author being a European in origin makes the book more interesting because many of his examples takes place in European countries, which adds depth to the book.
Basically, I recommend this book, but I don’t see it ever being a loved classic of UFO literature.
In short, I like the book.
I bought the book because I have heard and read about the author for decades and I wanted to see what he has to say. Mission accomplished, and it is interesting. But, It isn’t what I was expecting, though it is interesting and I like it.
But, the title is misleading and the text really goes out into the weeds and down the rabbit hole.
The author being a European in origin makes the book more interesting because many of his examples takes place in European countries, which adds depth to the book.
Basically, I recommend this book, but I don’t see it ever being a loved classic of UFO literature.
November 27, 2024
If you are interested in some particular case studies of UFO experiences, or if you in particular of interest in Uri Geller and his story, this book may hold some interest, but beyond that, regarding the authors own "theories" to explain the phenomena there is a lot of hand waving, non-committal empty and generic claims that could never be falsified in a million years. Unlike actual experiencers who give some interesting if most likely false theories this writer gives an uninteresting lack of theory that hedges its bets so much you will never find a bet amongst all the hedges.
To give an example, he talks vaguely of them as a control mechanism of some kind, but they are not the control of higher beings, instead they are some vague cultural and mythical construction. This kind of "control" is as verifiable and unfalsifiable as the wind or the air, because it is ubiquitous. You end up with a mere description of what is, no theory and no explanation at all.
To give an example, he talks vaguely of them as a control mechanism of some kind, but they are not the control of higher beings, instead they are some vague cultural and mythical construction. This kind of "control" is as verifiable and unfalsifiable as the wind or the air, because it is ubiquitous. You end up with a mere description of what is, no theory and no explanation at all.
October 15, 2025
This was interesting reading on the back of The Mothman Prophecies, which I read before this, as both deal with alien encounters that are nonsensical and strange and yet have the power to compell people - but to do what is the question? Vallee puts forth the theory that UFO encounters are a control system that directs humankind to evolve in a certain way, but isn't sure how exactly. It would have been really great, but perhaps expecting too much, to show how UFO sightings now and in the past have directed the evolution of society in certain ways. Nevertheless, it's a good sequel to Passport to Magonia in that it describes recent UFO encounters and how they influence people (and perhaps society).
Didn't care for the sections dedicated to Uri Geller, a purported psychic and contactee, who seems pretty uninteresting.
Didn't care for the sections dedicated to Uri Geller, a purported psychic and contactee, who seems pretty uninteresting.
January 11, 2023
I chose to read this book after reading after reading author Jacque Vallee's amazing Passport to Magonia.
In this book, Vallee explores the idea that UFOs and the UAP phenomena may not be extraterrestrial visitors, but might be something else entirely.
While this book made for compelling reading, it felt dated since its original publishing in the 1970s. Vallee spends a lot of time writing about Uri Geller, who at the time was causing widespread amazement, but has since been mostly dismissed by experts as a conjuror.
The book also lost me a little during the middle when Vallee goes deep into some theories that were beyond my understanding.
Despite these issues, I'd still highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject.
In this book, Vallee explores the idea that UFOs and the UAP phenomena may not be extraterrestrial visitors, but might be something else entirely.
While this book made for compelling reading, it felt dated since its original publishing in the 1970s. Vallee spends a lot of time writing about Uri Geller, who at the time was causing widespread amazement, but has since been mostly dismissed by experts as a conjuror.
The book also lost me a little during the middle when Vallee goes deep into some theories that were beyond my understanding.
Despite these issues, I'd still highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the subject.
August 11, 2023
It's hard to review the book itself without addressing the subject matter... I suppose you're either interested in UFOs or you aren't. With the recent congressional hearing involving Grusch, Graves and Fravor, my interest concerning UFOs/UAPs was reignited and I started seeing if there were other authoritative sources on the subject who I hadn't known about before in previous efforts to research the topic. Jacques Vallee's name came up quite often, either in direct reference or as a passing mention in conversation.
I was not previously aware of his work. This book is a really good introduction to some of the concepts that he has expanded on more in recent works. I'll definitely be looking to read other books that he's written.
I was not previously aware of his work. This book is a really good introduction to some of the concepts that he has expanded on more in recent works. I'll definitely be looking to read other books that he's written.
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February 20, 2024No Stone Unturned
Dr. Vallee and his invisible faculty provide not only deep research into the effects these phenomena have on the eyes but your heart, mind, and soul as well.
Had an experience in 1981 while in the Navy, followed my supervisors advice to "forget I ever saw it" but never realized the full effect it has had on me in every aspect of my thought processes every single day since.
Until..... reading this outstanding book!! Know I know why I am always looking at the sky. I know now the day that finally stops will be the day I die.
Thank you, Dr. Vallee and the rest of the Invisible College staff. I wish I had read this book when it originally came out. It would have saved me a great deal of personal anguish.
Dr. Vallee and his invisible faculty provide not only deep research into the effects these phenomena have on the eyes but your heart, mind, and soul as well.
Had an experience in 1981 while in the Navy, followed my supervisors advice to "forget I ever saw it" but never realized the full effect it has had on me in every aspect of my thought processes every single day since.
Until..... reading this outstanding book!! Know I know why I am always looking at the sky. I know now the day that finally stops will be the day I die.
Thank you, Dr. Vallee and the rest of the Invisible College staff. I wish I had read this book when it originally came out. It would have saved me a great deal of personal anguish.
September 28, 2024
this book is easily in my top three prefered writings on the topics of human consciousness, paranormal phenomena, aliens and other similar topics. written in the '70s it has the best conclusion - hypothesis of how all these notions might be connected i've seen so far.
the author takes a step back and watches all the information he has from the distance, trying to focus on the pieces that are not fraudulent and, interestingly, reaches the conclusion that the contradictions he is seeing mean one single thing. that we need to take yet one more step back, as the larger picture is yet to emerge.
the author takes a step back and watches all the information he has from the distance, trying to focus on the pieces that are not fraudulent and, interestingly, reaches the conclusion that the contradictions he is seeing mean one single thing. that we need to take yet one more step back, as the larger picture is yet to emerge.
December 19, 2024
solid. would be a decent place to start with Vallee's work, not overly technical. I think "Passport to Magonia" remains my overall favorite. at this point, i'm so aligned with his thesis and approach that it's hard to remember where his different books diverge from one another. i did particularly appreciate the discussion of the apparition of the Lady at Fatima in 1917, he covered it with great detail.
would recommend for anyone looking to dip their toes into Vallee's work, or as an entry to the UAP topic in general. unfortunately, despite a handful of updates from 2017 - the present, the information in this book from decades ago does not feel significantly outdated.
would recommend for anyone looking to dip their toes into Vallee's work, or as an entry to the UAP topic in general. unfortunately, despite a handful of updates from 2017 - the present, the information in this book from decades ago does not feel significantly outdated.
November 14, 2021
a bit scattered
Starts off nicely with some keen sober analysis. Credentials claimed. Promises made, never to be realised. But quickly degenerates into a scattered meandering collection of anecdotes straining the limits of credulity. To put it politely. And this is precisely what he said he wasn’t going to do. He does eventually get back to his main stated theme. And states it again. And I suppose the stuff in the middle was meant to have been collaborating ‘evidence’. Yeah, no.
Starts off nicely with some keen sober analysis. Credentials claimed. Promises made, never to be realised. But quickly degenerates into a scattered meandering collection of anecdotes straining the limits of credulity. To put it politely. And this is precisely what he said he wasn’t going to do. He does eventually get back to his main stated theme. And states it again. And I suppose the stuff in the middle was meant to have been collaborating ‘evidence’. Yeah, no.
September 29, 2024
A good summary of Vallée's general hypothesis. Vallée's real strength is that he is not like the military/intelligence people who can only look at things from their threat/non-threat paradigm and their materialist assumptions. Vallée looks at the history and isn't afraid to consider the data that doesn't fit neatly into the modern metaphysical framework.
This allows him to take in and work with more information, and draw more nuanced conclusions. The 'control system' hypothesis is worthy of serious consideration, but it leaves many questions unanswered.
This allows him to take in and work with more information, and draw more nuanced conclusions. The 'control system' hypothesis is worthy of serious consideration, but it leaves many questions unanswered.
November 26, 2024
Finished this book last month. It's one of the older UFO/UAP related books but oddly not as celebrated as others in this field. This one is pretty top notch as Vallée draws parallels to the phenomenon to parapsychological / psychic phenomenons that are more terrestrial. I love this. I love that he rejects the easy 'visitors from outer space' theories and tries to really dig into historical cases with a much more nuanced / and alternate hypothesis. No spoilers here, but if you are into this genre of study, I recommend this book.
September 30, 2024
Excellent. Vallée portrays his theories with such eloquence, in a manner that does not force a particular perspective onto the reader. He presents a breadth of information, meticulously chosen, that challenges traditional conceptualizations of “the UFO experience”. This book has undeniably changed my interpretation of the human experience, religion, and the age-old question of “UFOs”. A heavy but necessary read.
January 13, 2025
"Contact between human percipients and the
phenomenon occurs under conditions controlled by the latter. Its characteristic feature is a constant factor of absurdity that leads to a rejection of the story by the upper layers of the target society and an absorption at a deep unconscious level of the symbols conveyed by the encounter.”
The part about Fatima is insane. 60,000 witnesses all at once specifically there at a set time for a promised miracle that actually happened only 110 years ago, and it’s something I had never even heard of prior to this book. Interpret the event however you want, something undeniably happened there.
I might end up reading every book this dude ever wrote.
phenomenon occurs under conditions controlled by the latter. Its characteristic feature is a constant factor of absurdity that leads to a rejection of the story by the upper layers of the target society and an absorption at a deep unconscious level of the symbols conveyed by the encounter.”
The part about Fatima is insane. 60,000 witnesses all at once specifically there at a set time for a promised miracle that actually happened only 110 years ago, and it’s something I had never even heard of prior to this book. Interpret the event however you want, something undeniably happened there.
I might end up reading every book this dude ever wrote.
September 23, 2025
Deep thinking on UFOs
Monsieur Vallee and college "faculty" do not disappoint at the task of stretching your mind on the meaning of UFOs for humanity. Something is going on at a deeper level than many have thought. And Called has been involved for close to six decades (there's a reason a character was based on him in Close Encounters of the Third Kind). Are you up for the challenge? Then, read this book.
Monsieur Vallee and college "faculty" do not disappoint at the task of stretching your mind on the meaning of UFOs for humanity. Something is going on at a deeper level than many have thought. And Called has been involved for close to six decades (there's a reason a character was based on him in Close Encounters of the Third Kind). Are you up for the challenge? Then, read this book.
April 5, 2020
A new perspective on an ancient phenomena
Fresh and unique approach rather than the same old little grey men from planet X. I have long felt that there is an effort by some powerful force to condition humanity to accept the alien scenario. Mr. Vallee gives us a new area of investigation .
Fresh and unique approach rather than the same old little grey men from planet X. I have long felt that there is an effort by some powerful force to condition humanity to accept the alien scenario. Mr. Vallee gives us a new area of investigation .
May 9, 2023
A Classic in UFO Research
Do the phenomena of UFOs, religious visions, and parapsychological events (psi) derive from a common source? Vallee is one of the few researchers to argue that these happenings fall under the same epistemological umbrella. He certainly makes a thought-provoking, some may go so far to say, convincing, case in this volume.
Do the phenomena of UFOs, religious visions, and parapsychological events (psi) derive from a common source? Vallee is one of the few researchers to argue that these happenings fall under the same epistemological umbrella. He certainly makes a thought-provoking, some may go so far to say, convincing, case in this volume.
July 28, 2023
A book published 48 years ago which content is more advanced and sensible on the subject of UFO and other phenomena than any current informed author.
Compelling and believable argumentation which I highly recommend to acquaint you with.
Then read up on your mythology it will just give you that experience of an encounter of the … kind 😜.
Compelling and believable argumentation which I highly recommend to acquaint you with.
Then read up on your mythology it will just give you that experience of an encounter of the … kind 😜.
October 12, 2023
This is one of the most important of Vallee's books, and it is one that has high internal contradictions. However, it is possible to navigate and get the strongest points, and eliminate the weakest parts. It seems that the author felt that he "went too far", and started to temper his view, which is lamentable.
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March 21, 2024Oh, I love reading this. I've really loved it since I was a teenager. Even when I was in college, I chose a book between studying and an interesting book. It's good that I knew about the existence of https://canadianwritings.com/ and it helped me. I hope my husband will also like to read, that would be cool
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