Making Contact: Preparing for the New Realities of Extraterrestrial Existence

by Alan Steinfeld

" I feel it is one of the best approaches I have found to grasp the most jarring enigma humanity has ever faced." ― George Noory, host of Coast to Coast AM

“We cannot separate the earth from its greater cosmic environment. What is needed is a new story and Alan Steinfeld’s Making Contact is part of that story.” ―Deepak Chopra, Author, Total Meditation

How can we prepare for an event that is literally beyond anything humanity has ever faced?

Making Contact presents multiple perspectives on what no longer can be UFOs and their occupants are visiting our world. The book answers questions which remain in the wake of the recent Pentagon’s disclosures as to who and why these beings are here.

The volume contains original writings by the leading experts of the phenomena such Linda Moulton Howe , Earthfiles reporter, Whitley Strieber best-selling author of Communion , Professor John E. Mack , former head of the Harvard Medical school of psychiatry and an alien abduction investigator, Darryl Anka internationally known for his communication with the extraterrestrial Bashar, Nick Pope , former UK Ministry of Defense UFO investigator, Grant Cameron expert on American presidents and UFOs, Drs. J.J. and Desiree Hurtak , globalists and founders of the worldwide organization, The Academy for Future Science, Caroline Cory , director of Superhuman and Contact , Mary Rodwell , author of the New Human about star-seed children, Henrietta Weekes , actress and writer, expressing the poetic aspects of making contact. Alan Steinfeld , contributes and curates the collection with 30 years of experience with the subject. The Foreword by George Noory of Coast to Coast AM kicks off the volume with his veteran overview of the need to wake up to the “new realities of extraterrestrial existence.”

At this critical juncture in the government’s official acknowledgement of the reality of UFOs/UAPs, scientists, politicians and mainstream news outlets have no idea what to make of these startling revelations or the outpouring of sightings and “contact” experiences currently being reported on a global scale. The book stands as the most comprehensive clarification to date on the intent and intelligence behind the phenomena. The variety of viewpoints expressed in the volume provide a solid foundation for the “ preparation” of the greatest challenge to ever face humankind.

Making Contact stands as the essential handbook for embracing the most exalted moment in Meeting the cosmic others.

Genres: Nonfiction, Paranormal, Audiobook, Science

352 pages, Hardcover

First published May 4, 2021

Reviews

[Bren fall in love with the sea. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Do you believe?

The author makes an awfully good case for believing.

This book — wow!

This is not the type of book I usually read. The reason for that isn’t because I’m a non-believer, but because I simply haven’t given the matter a lot of thought .

In the past, when the subject has come up, I thought that perhaps there could be extraterrestrials. But maybe I was wrong. Not having a deep interest in the subject, it’s not a topic that I really read much about.

However, I was gifted this book at a party, and I read it, and all I can say is… If you believe, then, this is your book.

If you don’t believe this could still be your book, because the author weaves a fascinating tale.

And lastly, if you’re like me, and pretty much indifferent to the topic in general, this could definitely be your book because this author got me. He snagged me, and I found the story utterly fascinating.

Ultimately at the very least, this book will lead you to question. It’s a story, not just of the author, making contact, but many of the events that led up to that moment, including from the author’s fascinating childhood.

It is also about other people’s stories. What’s really great about the book for me is the colorful and imaginative prose.

I happen to love colorful writing, and I was afraid this would be very dry as often nonfiction is , only it wasn’t.

It was one big skyrocket of a book, and in fact, the writing had more color within it than many works of fiction do.

I think it will be easy to lose yourself in the journey, which is a fascinating one. It might make you believe and will definitely make you question.

I believe the writer’s background is unique, and very absorbing to read about.

Of note, must mention a particularly favorite part of the book for me.

When writing reviews particularly if non-fiction I like to be as abstract as possible and not give anything away so all I can say without giving away too much is that there is a part of this books which focuses in on the stars in the sky that was of interest to me because I’ve always been obsessed by stars myself .

In childhood , I used to gaze up at the stars and imagine that they were all the people in the world Who had passed away and were shining and smiling down upon us.

It was exhilarating and gave me a feeling of warmth to see that others have gazed at the stars, far , far above and ruminated on them


In short, this is a beautiful story,
that some may find new interest in and others, I have no doubt will feel like they have come home.


Highly highly recommended book.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

To graduate from the current cosmic and dimensional isolation we are going to have to stretch beyond our addictions to fossil fuels, corporate greed, and abuse and degradation of the planet itself. We need to become the “Mind at Large,” as Aldous Huxley named it, and bring forth our capabilities for lucidity. Only then might we be able to meet the “others” on an even playing field. The expansion of our mind beyond our limited personality will bring in a sense of super-conscious awareness of the implicate order, as Linda Moulton Howe and John Mack claim in this collection. In this way, meeting the others will make us more human and more humane. Additionally, as others in this collection — the Hurtaks, Mary Rodwell, and Caroline Cory — indicate, becoming multidimensional is becoming more of ourselves as human beings. Only then we will have what it takes to truly make contact. ~ Alan Steinfeld

I was offered an ARC of Making Contact from its publisher, and although it isn’t quite the sort of thing I might ordinarily pick up, I was interested enough to give it a read. Turns out, this is a collection of essays from various writers in the UFO community (curated by Alan Steinfeld, above) and that variety makes for a bit of a mixed bag. I found some of these essays to be quite compelling and some were...less so. I will say that these writers and their ideas don’t come across as dangerous or kooky conspiracy theories, and if this collection’s ultimate message is that there’s a higher consciousness out there waiting for humanity to treat the planet and each other better, and to then reclaim our birthright to enhanced love and understanding, then that’s a direction I can get behind. For another reader: I don’t know if “believers” will find much new here, and there wouldn’t be much to turn a “skeptic”, but for another open-minded general knowledge seeker such as myself, this is certainly interesting enough to fill some pleasant hours. (Note: I read an ARC and passages quoted may not be in their final forms.)

Do we know the rhythms of our world? What is a sigh of wind? Is it the breath of the dead? Are we visitors here on Earth? Have these white beings pierced this dimension? Those vehicles that we see in the sky — flying cigars, saucers, balls of light — do they slip in and out of our reality frames, time frames? Their motion is un-cognizable to us; they seem to slide, defying gravity as we understand it. There is no “thrust.” Imagine their huge and perilous adventure: What have they had to invent to get here? My mind chatters on . . . the intellect gabbles: “This stuff is nonsense. It doesn’t make sense.” ~ Henrietta Weekes

It’s common to dismiss the ideas of UFOs and alien abduction as “nonsense” and I appreciate that this collection begins with an essay that acknowledges that reality by Nick Pope. Having served as a civilian employee at the UK’s Ministry of Defense for twenty-one years, Pope opens with information on why governments might run secret UFO research programs — and why they would deny their existence. He then gives us perspective on the US government’s release of information, in December of 2017, that admitted to just such a program (AATIP), as well as releasing videos from Navy jets as they chased unidentified objects which travelled at impossible speeds and trajectories. Is this an acknowledgement of the existence of alien spacecraft? If the US government doesn’t believe in them, why do they fund research into their existence (especially as the funding goes to private aerospace companies which puts their findings out of the reach of FOI requests). And if the US government does have proof of alien contact, why wouldn't they make it widely known?

In a later essay, Dr. John E Mack — former head of the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, who, while trying to determine the psychiatric basis for people’s alien abduction stories became a believer in the phenomenon of alien abduction — writes about the Politics of Ontology, “which has to do with how a society organizes itself, particularly through a certain elite group, to determine for the rest of that society what is real.” We know that UFOs and alien contact is nonsense because everyone knows it. However, as Mack wrote:

People know their own experiences, and know when they have undergone certain experiences that don’t fit the prevailing mechanistic worldview. Whatever polling methods you may use, it is apparent that large percentages of people seem to know there is an unseen world or hidden dimensions of reality. They may not call it that, but they know that the subtle realms exist. They know their own experiences and trust them. They are not fooled by NBC or by The New York Times or Time or other official arbiters of the truth and reality. We have a kind of samizdat of reality going on here, an underground of popular knowledge, that the universe is not the one we are being officially told it is. It is really going to be interesting to see when the official mainstream, the small percentage of elites who determine what we are supposed to think is real, wake up to the fact that the consensus view of reality is gone. We are, I think, getting near that moment.

However, while I did find such information compelling, not everything in this book worked for me. There’s a wide variety of tone, structure, and content in these essays, and while I found it hard at times to connect with that or that author’s ideas, I was never bored.

We know that there are trillions of stars, in trillions of galaxies, and that this is probably only one of an effective infinity of universes . . . which all probably have an infinity of mirror universes breathing neutrons back and forth between their realities like great, enigmatic hearts. And then there is this band here on this tiny speck of dust, touched with intelligence and struggling to find our magic as we sail through infinity on the coattails of a wandering star. ~ Whitley Strieber

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this book in a goodreads drawing.

An anthology of essays discussing UFOs, aliens, and the assorted weirdness accompanying the phenomena. Some of them were informative, but they all seemed to lead back to one another.

[May Ling · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: Great for understanding perspectives on this topic. It might be not quite your book if you were looking for someone to "prove it to me."

Full disclosure, I was gifted this book to review while in Sedona, but am in no other way compelled to provide a positive or negative review (see my bio for my deal). I liked it as I like to understand how people are thinking about the topic. After reading it, I was a little surprised the ratings were so low. From what I can gather, it seems like some read this book thinking that its purpose was to provide evidence and proof of extraterrestrial life. As a result, I do think there is a bit of unfairly harsh criticism.

I don't think that was the intent of the book or how one should think of it. Instead, I think this book is better for those that would like to understand what prospectives exist on the topic, the frameworks and areas people are exploring, and other areas of relevant interest. I think the "prove it to me" people will be disappointed, because that just isn't what this book is.

But for me, I can easily give it 4 stars. I don't think, for a lot of people, you can know the answer right now anyway. As such, I'm curious how people are thinking about it. In that regard, you really do have a collection of essays from people who have a passion for this topic and have dedicated a lot of their lives to the study of it.

p. 8 - "Bud Hopkins often said that the job of science is 'to investigate the unexplained, not explain the uninvestigated." I think that is where some of the negative reviews missed the mark. this is a bit more of an explanation of what remains unexplained without actually trying to describe how we might then go about it.

Chapter 1 gives a great description of the governmental agencies in the UK and US and what they are up to. What's been released, and what hasn't. I like that it goes through the why and motivation on the research for governmental organizations.
p. 55 - Bigelow Aerospace's role in the research.

Chapter 2 also gives many different orgs that I had not heard of involved in the research. This wow thing gets a lot of grief in some other reviews. I'm personally not quite sure what to make of it, except that it would really freak me out if a bunch of cows and other animals had no heart, but no marks of incision.

Chapter 3 - They talk about different types of aliens and what they might be if not totally in physical form. Here we start to talk about different dimensionality and forms of communication. I had not considered this idea that other beings might not be so physical in nature, so I found this a very interesting thought process.
p. 107 - They discuss the Merkabah as a type of communication device as well as a transport device. I have seen that term in other religious books here in Sedona (more historical in nature on Christianity, actually). Intriguing still need to learn more about this.

p 114 "World War II was an extraterrestrial war fought through human bodies."ok... this one is a lot to take in, but as requested, suspending my judgment a little here.

p. 122 - The Extraterrestrial Biological Entities (EBEN) device, the Yellow book... very cool. The idea they have been here for a while and that their DNA is inside many of us already. Also intriguing particularly in the context of Chapter 5.

Chapter 5, but particularly around P. 152-53, there is a discussion of religion and this idea of "source" which is the new age thought process on source. The idea that we are connected here is intriguing to the extent that one is attempting to understand where new age spiritual concepts connect with UFO thought process.

p. 170-1 A reoccurring theme which is discussed again here is the idea that communication may be more than the limited ways in which we conceptualize it.

p. 199 the idea of the dream state as a way of communication. In fairness, we know very little about our possibilities in gamma brain wave length. (see my reviews on sleep books).

The entire chapter goes on to talk about the ideas of vibration and lucidity and what that might mean for ET contact.

p. 222 this idea of being able to conduct between realms. I mean, in general there are several places in the book that ask us to think of ET as not just from another planet but from other dimensions or time lines. It's fascinating as a framework.

p. 229 discusses specifically the gamma brain wave state separate from the sleep state (which for many is the main way to reach gamma state. You can get there if you're good through meditation, but it takes practice. These are all in my reviews on sleep books) "From my personal experience, the channeling state is also capable of allowing a person to connect, not only to one's own higher levels of consciousness , but also other independent beings whose consciousness operates at those higher levels, much in the same way that one tuning fork will cause a second tuning fork to vibrate in harmonic resonance." ... biological translation device. This is how the chapter is thinking about telepathy/tele-empathy.

p. 237 - He talks about this different form of communication that translates in ways other than language and allows people "who are willing to synchronize with his frequency and see things from his perspective as well as understand and process higehr-level concepts more easily."

p. 253, The DNA stuff is a little light science and a real bio nerd might be annoyed, but it's not so far out of realm.

p. 263 - This idea that ADHD is not a defect but a requisite to higher dimensional thinking is intriguing as I hate that it's seen as a defect given it exists in so many children/people. I mean, my issue has always been that it's also associated with higher mental capabilities. So to see it as a defect is weird. But I do think it's all poorly harnessed at this point. For this book, it's intriguing how it might segue into other ways of thinking about higher beings.

A lot of cool things in this chapter about different dimensional beings and why humans might need these sort of advanced mental capabilities.

I had a few issues with saving on Goodreads that resulted in me losing some of my notes. There is a section that talks about the fact that we barely know what is on the earth (not even off world, time or dimension so to speak). For instance we've barely charted the Mariana trench. So plenty of places to be if you're a very advanced being.

Additionally, there are some intriguing books that are referenced a few times such as "The Keys of Enoch" which I might have a look at later to see what the ideas are.

[Erik Graff · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the nice things about running a bookstore and/or reviewing on GR is that occasionally publishers send books. When this is done I will usually read the thing and review it. If signed by the author/editor(s) I'll even post it on Heirloom Books webpage.

I've read many, many books about UFOs. This is not among the better ones, but being a compilation by various authors, it's a mixed bag. Nick Pope's insider piece on why governments react to UFO encounters the way they do is the best of the lot, factual, informed, insightful. Cameron's essay has a good point to make, viz. that focusing on the effects of UFO appearances on us may be more productive than trying to get at what they are per se--reminiscent of Vallee. The Hurtak's piece which basically uses microphysics speculations (which they don't appear to understand) to 'explain' everything is worthless. Howe's essay, while less pretentious, is almost as bad. She seems to have a big heart, but appears to lack critical judgment. Mack's bit is like his books and offers nothing new. Strieber writes well, though I've wondered about his honesty since that lengthy critique in 'The Nation' back when 'Communion' was published. Weekes left no impression, contrary to her intent. Anka, who I expected to be the weirdest, being a channeler and all, was actually pretty good, his claims being, in final analysis, plausible. Rodwell and Cory reminded me of the Hurtak's with their reliance on the science of genetics evincing little sense that they know what they're talking about. Finally, Steinfeld, whose writing makes up a very large portion of this collection--what to say? Well, his autobiographical material was interesting and relatable. His product, however, this collection, is so uneven, so unfocused, that one wonders if he put much thought or work into it.
If considering good introductory material about 'ufology', this is definitely not a book to recommend.

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This topic is very new to me. I know very little about UFOs and have seen very few programs about it. However, at this point in my life, I have suddenly developed an interest in learning more.

This fascinating book is chock-full of information. All the chapters are written by famous UFO researchers and they provide answers to many questions. For example, some of the chapters are: Government Mindset and Our Future; UFO Disclosure and the Theory of Now; Extraterrestrials and Multidimensional Nonlocal Reality; Contact in the Implicate Order, etc. etc.

While I have a long way to go in learning more about this topic, this book was a great starting point and knowledge base for me.

Thank you Goodreads and St. Martin's Essentials for sending me a copy of this great book!

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this one to my dad, who has some strange obsession with "Ancient Aliens" on TV. He read through this book really fast, and wouldn't stop talking to me about it, even before my morning coffee.
His favorite section was the one by Nick Pope, the British journalist. He read that about 3 times, I think.
Really, really cool book, giving a modern look at aliens and extraterrestrial existence. I'm not sure if my dad is an actual believer or not, I personally think he just finds all these conspiracy theories amusing, but he DID really enjoy this book. He asked me to give it a 5* rating on his behalf, saying it was great and he had a fun time reading it.
Even though some of the sections were a bit repetitive, it was still an original, entertaining read. A must-read if you're interested in aliens, space, or just looking for something a bit different.

[Estrella Castillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review – Part 1

When I read Alan’s description of missing time, “like a film strip that is spliced in the middle of a scene, and a whole other scene was added…when the scene is finished, the original sequence is edited back in place as if nothing happened,” I was aghast at how uncanny similar this description was to that of Grant Cameron’s when he described his encounter with a triangular craft in his book Charlie Red Star.

As an example of how much we might not consciously be aware of, Alan’s friend Jane stated that during the time they were being taken, she felt that her ankle was connected to the back of his knee. I couldn’t help but think of a recent encounter nine people had at Mt. Shasta with Adama and his friends, where one witness reported that he felt a tube had been inserted into his leg and that it ran from the back of his knee to his ankle (he had had knee problems prior to the encounter and feels perhaps they are trying to help him). How much are we not comprehending because of our linear left-brain?

Interesting that Bashar mentions a very large-scale program that will benefit the world immensely. Robert Downey, Jr. on June 4 will release Sweet Tooth, I believe based on the book (available on Amazon), where Gus, a rare new breed of human/animal hybrid children, has been raised in isolation following an inexplicable pandemic that struck a decade earlier.

In this book, Edgar Allan Poe’s quote comes up: “Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?” This is so interesting because if you look at the drawings in Edgar Allan Poe’s books, you would definitely think he may have been an experiencer, having contact with various beings. Also curious is that Rama (aka Rahma) experiencers, who have had contact since the 70s, have relayed that the beings they have contact with (collectively known as The Great White Brotherhood (the white is not to do with race, but because of their use of advanced white ray technology)) stated that we are living in a simulation (a timeline of sorts) which will come to an end and that our reality will merge with theirs (their timeline), creating a new reality. They have said we are in a window of manifestation where we are already creating our future with every thought, feeling and deed.

The book recounts John Mack’s view that we must discovery other ways of knowing. I couldn’t help but think about what former Pentagon intelligence officer, Anjali, said about what the beings she is having contact with relayed re written language. You can find her recent interviews on YouTube on Roderick Martin’s channel (Extraterrestrial Evidence). Roderick has such incredible energy and has a gift for making contactees feel safe in coming forward to relay their experiences. The beings relayed to Anjali that we have the opportunity to evolve but that many will choose not to. They said the wheat will be separated from the chaff.

Whitley Strieber met an Ancient One, whose skin was more yellowish, who showed him the hybridization they were doing. Could it be that their hybridization pushed those beings to the brink of extinction and thus they have been traveling back to our time to take DNA that they feel could re-energize their people? Should we be trying to help them? Are the encounters people are having a voluntary act of rendering assistance and the countless experiencers don’t consciously remember? Or is it something far more complex? In Preston Dennett’s excellent book, Onboard UFO Encounters, a being from Zeta Reticuli told an experiencer that they loved her and that they had been looking at our DNA since the time of David. This would point to an interest in the lineage of Jesus. One of the things the beings Peruvian Ricardo Gonzalez is having contact with said is that there was a type of cosmic stagnation and that when they went to the ultra-terrestrials to inquire as to why that was (the beings had become very intellectualized with very advanced technologies but could not seem to proceed further), they were told that more LOVE was needed and that humans were thus created as a kind of Cosmic Drano (my own analogy). I believe the amount of love that humans have, despite the grief that we feel, is also something miraculous that can open galactic doors, and Ricardo Gonzalez was told that Earth had the potential of becoming the Fourteenth Door.

In Alan’s book I found out about John Lennon’s #9 Dream. Apparently, Lennon was being given chants, which he repeated 12 times, like many Hindu mantras, and this reminds me of what Anjali recently seemed to relay about language – that written language has stunted/severed consciousness flow and cosmic connection. The Book of Knowledge: The Keys of Enoch (the “Keys”) states there are languages on the planet, all pictographic, which are remnants of a parent light language. Enoch imparted names to JJ Hurtak, many of which are chanted 12 times (raising frequency/vibration), and the numbers 7 and 3 show up repeatedly in the Enoch material. Tesla, who clearly had a foot on the other side, was obsessed with the number 3 and would sometimes insert Sanskrit symbols into his drawings. One of the best books I ever read on Tesla was Margaret Cheney’s Tesla: Man Out of Time.

I also want to mention that many years ago I woke up in the middle of the night (or so I thought) and went to turn on the light and it wouldn’t work, and I thought, “That’s weird, is the power out?” And then I felt I wasn’t alone. I looked over and saw this little bright white light and it was buzzing like a bee, and I said, “Oh God, if you are insect, I don’t want to know. What’s up?” And it asked, “Are you ready to be happy?” Then we had dialogue with me relaying how difficult it was to be in this dimension and at some point in the convo I asked, “How many time dimensions are we existing in?” and in this really strange way, the little light conveyed, “Nine.” Later that summer, I came across a book on Amazon by Barbara Hand Clow and Gerry Clow, 2011/2012 Prophecies and Nine Dimensions of Consciousness.

In reading Darryl Anka’s chapter, I absolutely agree that when we think of contact, we may in our current polarized 3D consciousness not be ready for what it entails. Many experiencers report a merging of consciousness/energies that they feel they cannot handle. One experiencer in South America stated that a being that he felt he knew from long ago had to physically keep his hand on this gentleman’s shoulder when he was invited inside one of the abodes of beings that comprise the Great White Brotherhood. He said as long as this being kept his hand on his shoulder to stabilize him, he was fine, but that if he took his hand off, he quickly began to feel discombobulated. The two beings he met with that guided him to this location were extraterrestrials. The beings at the location were intraterrestrials but they are all friends. He also encountered Jesus, which would move the contact into the ultraterrestrial/celestial realms.

Excellent and true quote in Alan’s book: “We are always dreaming, but our conscious mind makes such a loud should that we don’t notice it.” In a recent interview with Anjali, a gentleman attending the gathering asked something to the effect of, “How come they are talking to you and asking you to tell us stuff? Why don’t they just tell us directly?” And as I was hearing his question at home, I yelled out, “Because people aren’t listening.” And then Anjali, who was in communication with the beings during the call uttered the exact same thing! Is this why the beings have told the Rama contactees to go within first? That we must all go within in order to have contact with ourselves first, then each other, then them. But that we can’t skip steps. Even if they do contact you, you still cannot get around going within, following contact.

Something fascinating that Bashar conveys is that his people recognize each other by their distinct energy frequencies. In 2016, the beings that came to Mt. Shasta from their base in the Huascaran in Peru, said that they were going to “work with our friends inside the mountain” to dictate our cosmic names to us and that the cosmic name matches each individual’s frequency/vibration. So it seems to be the concept is very similar. Get in touch with the frequency of who you are. No two people can have the same experience down the rabbit hole because no two people have the exact same frequency!

The other thing that Bashar said about the principle of non-interference is the same thing that the beings who come to Shasta have relayed. The Shasta beings said that they are not allowed to violate the law of free will. They are in essence inviting us to remember our existing relationships with them from prior lives, some of which go as far back as other continents, which were destroyed. It seems history just keeps repeating until we get it right. Bashar gives excellent advice in this book!

The beings at Shasta said humans were created for love. That we are the answer to galactic stagnation. You wouldn’t think so by the way humans are portrayed in the media, but if what the beings are saying is true, humans have the potential to open doors with the love that resides inside of us. I can’t help but think if Pink’s son, “A Million Dreams.” We are the highest frequency of love. Something in the Bashar chapter reminded me of this. Yes, we may be crawling babes but when we become what we are destined to become, we will play a crucial role. Perhaps we are doing it now (entangled particles) and we are not even aware of it.

Something mind-blowing that happened as I was reading Darryl Anka’s chapter was Bashar was saying that one of the life-forms they have encountered can siphon information about the universe from the event horizon of a black hole. I want to now relay that 4 days before reading this, I had shared a post on Facebook showing the eye of a turtle, captured by Phil Waller, who lives in Hawaii, whose Instagram account (thephilwaller) I follow. Images of beings have come out in his photos, if you look closely you will see them. There was one face coming out of a wave! Anyway, the eye of the turtle to me looked like a black hole with an event horizon and I posted that on Facebook. This is evidence of how strange this phenomenon is. I want to add that Enoch lists several areas of protocommunication with the Great White Brotherhood (the white is for their use of advanced white ray technology), and one of them is the Hawaiian Islands (where Phil Waller captures his images!). I can’t help but think he is having contact and the beings use his photos to convey messages via the wild life in Hawaii.

I cannot emphasize enough the messages Darryl Anka shares in this book re preparing for physical contact – another excellent human being and experiencer whose book I highly recommend is Yossi Rosen, who authored One. He vividly describes what it was like to have a close encounter with certain beings. It’s a priceless book with a very important message. Cows, sacred in India and also highly revered in ancient Egypt, show up in Ronen’s experience and in those of Chris Bledsoe and Ryan Bledsoe. What Anka relays about how the more we develop and grow as humans, and increase our frequency, the more we can meet them half way. This is also common in the contact people have reported with the Great White Brotherhood. The extraterrestrials open a Xendra and are able to lower their frequency to meet up with those they invite into the Xendra. However, they always ask experiencers to alter their diet, whenever possible, prior to contact (to alkalinize their bodies and abstain from drugs/alcohol). Some people have reported a compulsion to go dive in a lake prior to contact (the water, which they say is conscious, will cleanse the body prior to contact). They told us that if we take bottled water after contact with them, and join that water with other water where we live, that the waters will communicate with one another. One experiencer in South America reported that after dieting prior to contact, he did not feel the same fear that he did when he first met them when he was in his teens. He asked them why that was and they said it was the diet he had engaged in because when you ingest animals, the pain and fear the animals felt at death remains in your gut and lowers your vibration. In fact, a contactee in August, 2020, at Shasta, received a message from various beings wearing white robes, that every living thing is connected. Ricardo Gonzalez, when he traveled to Altai, was told by the beings that “you will soon cease to see yourselves as visited, because you yourselves will be connected.” They also mentioned something about “the ground under your feet will move first,” perhaps alluding to what Enoch refers to as Earth Crust Displacement, where the outer core of the Earth suddenly spins around the inner core. The being inside Shasta have said that they used to be third dimensional frequency like we are now, but after the great cataclysm that destroyed their continent, they changed to fourth density and after that, fifth (with the help of other beings). It could be we are looking at something similar in our lifetime but they are going to help us. We are not alone. Enoch says in the Keys that the electromagnetic spectrum will be widened and we will see all the other life forms that share our same space (quanta deck). This may be what the beings that Anjali is having contact with meant by the “here that is not here.”

The Anka chapter also says that human behavior seems to point to a culture of denial and mentions the Phoenix Lights (1996). Indeed, I recall that Fife Symington not only joked about the Phoenix Lights but failed to reveal, until much later, that he himself had witnessed a craft and that he knew it wasn’t from this world!

[Steve Wiggins · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I mention in my blog post on this book (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World), I read it because I read a review that suggested it tied the topic of UFOs to religion. Given my background, that makes sense. The book is, however, a set of essays and although published by a mainstream house (St. Martin’s) it is, like all edited collections, quite a mixed bag. Some of the essayists, such as Nick Pope, John Mack, and Drs. J. J. And Desiree Hurtak, have credentials (John Mack, however, is published here posthumously). Others have credibility due to their media presence, such as Linda Moulton Howe, Whitley Strieber, and Henrietta Weekes. Yet others are here as authors of books and/or contactees (Darryl Anka, Grant Cameron, Mary Rodwell, and Caroline Cory). The editor, Alan Steinfeld, also contributes an essay.

I believe it’s important not to approach the unknown with ridicule. In the US, in any case, UFOs have been in the mainstream media lately due to footage released by the US Navy. Since the topic has been a regular laugh-generator among the media for longer than I’ve been alive, this sudden shift makes you wonder what’s going on. This book will provide what seems to be a realistic mix of those who have critical thinking abilities and those who, well, accept things as they appear.

There are some mind-altering essays here. New Age interpretations have their place, but they’re harder for someone with an academic background to accept. Nevertheless, it’s clear that these interpretations are extremely meaningful to the authors. The book probably won’t make you ready for contact, but it will give you a good idea of the landscape, as it stands.

[Snakes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too much speculation and anecdotal story telling without any real evidence. Several of the essays were written by “abductees” and they frequently contradicted one another. The first essay by Nick Pope was really good dealing with government investigations and motives regarding alien contact, but unfortunately it didn’t make the read worth it.

[BookishlyWise · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up, because it's a topic I love reading about. Are aliens real or was it just some kind of a hallucination, or someone made it up? Guess we'll never know for sure.

[Eric Wojciechowski · Rating 1 out of 5]

In the Introduction, the author, Alan Steinfeld, quotes from the novel, The Life of Pi, “Which story do you like better? The one with the tiger or the one being adrift in a vast ocean all alone?” The point of this question is to ask the audience if they prefer the more exciting or more mundane. And Steinfeld answers that he prefers the story with the tiger.

This sets the tone for the entire book; in that, what we get are apologists for a lack of real evidence for contact. What we get in this book are assumptions that they are already here and now we gotta decide how to handle it. In other words, Steinfeld and those contributing chapters to this book speculate what the occupants of UFOs want and why they’re here without first presenting evidence they exist at all. This book is on par with ones that calculate the properties of angels and gods as if angels and gods have been proven to exist and all there is left to do now is figure out their properties. This book is putting the horse before the cart.

On page 27, Steinfeld writes, “Right off I have to say none of this will make any sense until there is a suspension of the logics of linear mechanistic view of reality.” And on page 34, Steinfeld writes, “Other ways of knowing (fact finding outside the physical sciences) demand a suspension of our logical mind. So, while the phenomenon refuses to be known in any comprehensible, rational way, it can be apprehended in a more abstract sense.” What he means is we have to set aside a lot of core and frontier ideas and focus on fringe ideas to make this work. And, most importantly, right off, accepting there is a phenomenon at all is assumed.

In every other field of study (like astronomy, biology, chemistry, etc), we started with mysteries and using the scientific method, we found solutions and slowly ground down to some core ideas. For instance in biology, the Theory of Evolution is a fact and it took decades of accumulating data that everyone could see and touch and examine. There's nothing subjective about it and all biologists are in agreement on it. To break the Theory of Evolution would take huge amounts of data. To break the Germ Theory would be just as difficult. But we’re all working with the same bodies of evidence. Biologists are using the same species, DNA, flesh, etc and circling in on conclusions. We cannot say that about UFOs because, there’s simply no agreed upon standard of data. There are no craft or bodies to work with. To conclude there’s something at all to be in contact with requires a red string on a cork board approach, tying loose claims of craft in the sky, anecdotal stories and the like in order to conclude there’s a non-human entity to communicate with. And that's what we find in this book.

The best chapter is the first, that by Nick Pope, who gives a brief explanation of his time with the Ministry of Defense, working the UFO desk (as he says). Said job was to determine if any UFO reports were a threat to national security. Nick uses his government experience to speculate on the American AATIP program. If you’ve followed Nick’s career in the UFO community and/or have knowledge of AATIP, this is old ground to cover and you could skip it (despite the claim this is the most he’s even divulged about his time with the MOD). It is, however, if Pope is being honest about his career, the only tangible chapter.

The second chapter is by Grant Cameron and his entire essay is telling us that the reason the UFOs do what they do and the occupants do what they do is to “wow” us. No really. The purpose of crop circles is to get our attention to go “wow”. The purpose of fancy lights is for “wow”. The purpose of Travis Walton’s five day disappearance was for “wow”. Picking up cattle, gutting it and dropping it out of the sky into a farmer’s field was, and I’m not kidding, to make us amazed to go “wow”. Cameron argues there is a purpose to all these stunts. He writes, “They are giving us an indirect approach because they want us to think. They want us to reach a level of higher consciousness on our own. They are going at it slowly, attracting our attention with things that make us think deeply in order to blow our minds and our normal way of thinking, thereby altering our beliefs and our notions of reality.” And all I can think of is...dropping gutted cattle out of the sky is the best they can do?

Next up is Dr. J. J. Hurtak and Dr. Desiree Hurtak. They discuss reports of people being beamed up into UFOs and/or moving through walls (people and the aliens). The authors dance around quantum physics and frontier studies on the subject to suggest maybe the aliens are doing something super advanced here. Such reports are taken at face value and “some change of energy” must be occurring so speculative physics is brought into play instead of say, a waking dream or any other interpretation that might fit the facts better. UFOs vanishing and appearing out of thin air, fast travel, etc is assumed to happen and explanations with wormholes and entering other dimensions is discussed. Again, we’ve got the cart before the horse. We can probably speculate this kind of thing if we had any actual evidence of these vehicles or alien bodies. The discussion continues into how aliens communicate with telepathy, remote viewing is examined and all the psychic ways people claim to have communicated with aliens. It’s as if such things have to be in play to explain why direct communication, landing on the White House lawn, if you will, hasn’t happened yet. And finally, a discussion is had of the numerous different kinds of aliens filling this universe, including angel-like beings inhabiting Pluto. So much has to be assumed to conclude any of this is real.

Imagine, if you will, that a new species is reported out of some jungle. And that species is seen by people. That species “communicates” with people as some report hearing its thoughts in their head. Imagine that species is said to move fast or to appear here, disappear then appear there. Let’s imagine reports are that this species moves through rock and trees. Do biologists take it seriously? Should we? If we do, we have to make up new laws of physics or bet on fringe elements being true in order to conclude this new species exists. That’s what this book is doing for UFOs and its occupants. (Incidentally, the study of Bigfoot is moving in the same direction with speculations he’s an inter dimensional being or something).

Next chapter is written by Linda Moulton Howe. I truly cannot believe the opening back story she tells about her experience with the moon. You gotta read this because she says this is the first time she’s writing about her “moon revelation”. Which makes me stop for a minute to note that even Nick Pope noted in his essay it was more than he previously revealed. Which reminds me that in UFOlogy, it’s extremely common for people in this business to constantly have to come up with something new in order to remain relevant and sell conference tickets and books. But back to Howe. She recounts various meetings with government officials, meeting in secret to reveal such things as alien underground bases, harvesting and mining of minerals and human bodies. Manipulation of human history and so on. Which makes me stop again for a minute and want to throw a word of caution to anyone getting into this. If you find yourself influential (as Howe has), you’re going to attract people wanting to pull one over on you. Howe doesn’t mention what credentials she accepted to determine a person’s identity who told her such things. For all we know, these were people having a row with her. At any rate, the stories are anecdotal and worthless. My personal favorite was quoting William Mills Tompkins who said, “World War II was an extraterrestrial war fought through human bodies.” Okie doke.

Next up is an essay from the late John E. Mack, the late Harvard Psychiatrist who embraced the alien abduction phenomenon as something real and not just a creation of the human mind. Mack’s essay begins by noting what scientists do, which is observe the material world, but have dismissed what Mack calls the “subtle realm”. He lumps in not only alien abduction but telepathy, other dimensions, spirit and near death experiences. What he’s really saying is if it doesn’t fit into scientific core ideas, it’s not necessarily a worthless pursuit. I’d agree. But we must also be very careful not to engage in special pleading because we really, really want this subtle realm to be real. The ideas of Mack’s subtle realm are seriously lacking in any kind of proof. That’s why the scientific community dismisses them. Not because the scientific community is stuffy prudes. Mack writes, “Why do we cling so tightly to a worldview in general and the materialist paradigm in particular?” The answer is easy: Because we have zero proof of anything else. All claims of “spirit”, “energies” or whatever term one wants to use have been left wanting.

Whitley Strieber’s contribution is next which is more of the same (if you’re famiiar with his stories of personal encounters). His tales are more like encounters with ghosts and apparitions, including fears and being blown on to get one’s attention and concerns for life after death. A lot of encounters are said to have taken place in and around sleep suggesting waking dreams being the cause. There’s nothing new here for readers of UFOlogy or those familiar with Strieber.

Next up is a return for Alan Steinfeld who we met in chapter one (and the author, or rather, compiler and editor of this book). This chapter is Steinfeld’s personal story of discovering he’s an abductee and experiencer and how he found a community for support. It’s an interesting chapter; in that, it’s a look into how one has an experience (in this case contact with some other) then reflects on past experiences and then interprets them based on that encounter. In Steinfeld’s case, some prior family and personal history gets reinterpreted as alien contact experiences.

And this moves us into the remaining chapters that can be summarized as personal experiences chalked up to alien contact, alien abduction, channeling of an ET named “Bashar”, contactees discussing human and alien hybrids and what it all means. It’s just too much to put under a magnifying glass but really more of the same we’ve heard in books and presentations before.

A book like this would be justified if we had clear video and other scientific evidence of undoubted non-human flying machines, or alien bodies or anything at all that verified there was a non-human intelligence in our airspace. But we don’t. What we’re being asked to do is accept anecdotal reports and bizarre breaches of core ideas through special pleadings. I’m afraid we need much, much more evidence there is a phenomenon at all before a book like MAKING CONTACT is taken seriously.

[Dollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to thank Sara Eslami, St. Martin’s Essentials and Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC free for an honest review. This book of essays from a variety of people who have a history of researching close encounters and people who say they have made contact with non-terrestrial beings was very comprehensive and thought-provoking. I found the essays to be interesting and learned a few things from reading it. It was good to be able to read some current information on UFO phenomena. Many of these people are obviously on a totally different spiritual or vibrational level than I am, but I don’t doubt their abilities. I have had a hand full of experiences that were unexplainable, so I have no reason to doubt their realities. The more I read about encounters the more I get the sense that these people have been manipulated and used (by their visitors). I had never read about how humans may just be an experiment and how our DNA was manipulated by aliens. Like I said, some of these essays were eye-opening and thought-provoking.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is this the new Religion?

It’s so amazing how UFO speculation (I call it UFOology) correlates with many basic religious assertions that have been promulgated by human civilizations since ancient times. In particular, there are four basic spiritual ideas promoted in UFOology that seem mere extensions of historical religious thought: (1) the idea of being controlled by beings from above, (2) the expectation of being suddenly raptured or abducted from the earth, (3) the necessity for becoming spiritually awakened or saved, and (4) attributing seemingly synchronistic events to mysterious celestial interference. These four components, which have long been part of our traditional religious heritage, are not the least bit absent in the new religion of UFOology. This collection of essays promotes all four of these ideas with great enthusiasm.

This book of UFOology reads much like a substitution of a new mythology for the old. The postulations in this book are extremely similar to historical assertions promulgated by ancient earthly religions and include the purported existence of myriad spiritual beings or apparitions, some helpful, others malevolent. This sort of dualism has been the mainstay of most every religion the earth has ever known; and it is especially prominent in UFOology, particularly when we are informed there are helpful and harmful aliens at war with one another, with the helpless human race stuck in the middle. Such postulations are nothing new in human history and the essays in this book simply uncloak traditional religious mystique and dress it up again in new UFO apparel.

Existential Angst

Religion is something that evolves within us as a natural reaction to the ignorance of our origins. Like an adopted child seeking fervently to find its original parents, we constantly struggle and speculate in trying to ascertain our origins. And as we persistently fail to find out where we came from as a species, we begin to set upon a certain speculative idea; and this idea eventually becomes a surrogate to placate our ignorance. Such ideas are manifest in a wide variety of religions and philosophies that have historically dominated human world views. Some have even embraced nihilism, finding more comfort in the conclusion that we came from nothing, than in an admission of ignorance.

Atheism and existentialism are similar reactions to the void of ignorance that inevitably haunts us all. And of course, lately, as traditional religious explanations grow obsolete, so many now seem to be clinging to the idea that we somehow sprung forth from aliens. People desperately long for an explanation, be it aliens, Jesus, Godzilla or whatever. Anything to relieve the haunting void of unknowing.

The Harvest

It’s especially hypocritical how people shudder in terror at the thought of being “harvested” by aliens while we’re doing the same thing every day to cows, chickens, and other life forms here on earth. The mysterious cattle mutilations seem so horrifying to us; but we don’t think twice about our own slaughterhouses or the horrible lives we inflict upon hatchlings in poultry houses.

A rarely reported statistic is that about 600,000 people go missing every year in the United States alone and more than ten percent of these are never found, dead or alive. But isn’t the very foundation of the Christian religion based upon the premise that the religious pilgrim will ultimately be harvested from the earth? Does one want to be raptured or not? The Bible is full of references to “the harvest”, and one of the most prominent is contained in Revelation 14:15.

“Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” -Rev 14:15

Some other religious parallels I noted in these essays are listed below:

• Suggesting the aliens may be demonic.

• That abductees receive a mark or implant, like “the mark of the beast” or the stigmata.

• That aliens are just waiting for more of us to have conversion experiences before they reveal themselves.

• That one must believe or choose to become a “UFO experiencer”, in the same way one must simply believe to be saved in Christianity.

• That telepathic communications from aliens are received instead of God speaking through prayer and the conscience.

• The Bible of Christianity portrays our physical body much as a seed, within which is a growing spirit capable of flowering but also capable of being destroyed by evil entities. Energy is harbored in matter and, as “beings of matter”, humans are able to preserve energy. We can use this energy personally, bequeath it to others, waste it, or have it stolen away from us. Non-physical beings wish to feed upon this energy and actually get amplifications of energy from us when we exhibit fear. The Bible tells us repetitively to “fear not”.

• Much of the discussion of alien abduction in this book is described essentially the same as many religions depict demonic possession. Both Carl Jung and C.S. Lewis warned us explicitly about going too far with these entities, which Jung referred to as archetypes. C.S. Lewis said there were two great errors that people made with regard to demons: (1) not recognizing their existence at all or (2) taking too much interest in them. Jung warned that psychosis could result from spending too much time with the archetypes.

• The idea that aliens need us for reproduction puts them in a category with viruses, which are not really living things but rather mechanical constructs that invade us solely for reproduction and in the process promote mutations. From this perspective, we may categorize aliens as anti-human and therefore, perhaps, anti-Christ.

• Revelation contains descriptions of multi-eyed creatures and strange beings that are described like compilations of different creatures. There is nothing in the Bible that would categorically deny the existence of aliens and much that would imply their existence.

Conclusion

In the end, what seems to count for us is experience. Experience in this life, wherein we grow spiritually, within the container of our bodies. We are all in a process of “becoming” and what we become relates to the extent that we will be able to manifest spiritually once our container wears out. Caroline Cory puts it best in the last essay in this book:

“We’re talking about expanding conscious awareness, like when a new experience is added to an original experience. The more experience you have, the more you expand and this way the more the mass consciousness expands. In an expanded consciousness, more becomes available for you to achieve. Every time you go through an experience, you gain a greater capacity to create, because you have acquired additional streams of knowledge and information.” -Caroline Cory

Listen, let me end here with giving one parting piece of advice. “Being yourself” is not about “being possessed” and “gaining awareness” does not necessitate “being possessed”. Possession involves relinquishment of your personal experiential capabilities to another entity. It is much like spiritual suicide because it is an acquiescence to non-existence, even if temporarily.

It is possible to be “aware” without forfeiting yourself to possession. It is possible to communicate via prayer and the conscience without opening yourself to waves of downloads that will overwrite your personality. Many before us, including Carl Jung and M. Scott Peck , have persistently warned of the sort of psychosis that can result from plunging so far into the unconsciousness that the lifelines become severed. Instead, use your energy to conjure Goodness.

Thanks to McMillan Publishers of New York for providing me with an advance copy of this book and an opportunity to review it in this forum.

-End-

[Join the Penguin Resistance! · Rating 5 out of 5]

MAKING CONTACT is an enlightening and inspiring collection of essays by experts in the field of Anomalous Phenomena, including UFO's and potential alien encounters. Open your minds, allow for unlimited potentialities, awaken to possibilities.

I was particularly pleased to find the inclusion of a previously unpublished essay by the late Harvard professor John Mack, whose foundational work ABDUCTION: HUMAN ENCOUNTERS WITH ALIENS has always powerfully resonated with this reader, as well as his untimely early demise.

[Liza Zanoni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Making Contact

Brilliantly done and insightful,whatever your beliefs the thrust of the book urges in essence that we humans develop humanity on the inside so as to achieve peace and greater spiritual development as a collective,understanding our place in a cosmic not mere anthrpocentric position, in summary- contact is not ‘out there’ but ‘in here’

[Hayley Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truthfully love it very compelling and informative.

I can relate to everything in this book .so can everyone enjoy this book. It' feels like it has been wrote from the heart and soul .

[Margo · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an interesting read, very interesting stories, loved it.

[Rhyk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Made me think

Made me think about the subject in some unexpected ways. Very thoughtful contributors and well written. Not consistently great but done good proposals in there.

[Michael Mangold · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've enjoyed all manner of things related to high strangeness since I was a kid in the '70s watching Leonard Nimoy's "In Search Of" series. Today, I enjoy listening to paranormal-themed Internet radio and watching Linda Moulten Howe’s Wednesday night YouTube broadcasts. She has a certain charm that can make the most outrageous claims seem sincere, even if not quite plausible.

There's something rather different about the written medium, however. There is a weightiness about the written word that brings with it greater import and a higher expectation of veracity. My expectations for Making * Contact were not met. While I did expect some tall tales, what I was really hoping for was new information regarding the alien presence on earth and the nature of our relationship(s) with them. What I did not expect was the repeated attacks on reason and the denials of objective reality (Nick Pope’s chapter aside).

This quote illustrates my concern:

"Other ways of knowing demand a suspension of our logical mind."

Absolutely, positively, NO! As humans, our capacity to reason is our primary means of survival, and our only means of knowledge. For humans to abandon reason is akin to birds abandoning wings, vipers abandoning fangs or big cats abandoning claws. Without our logical mind we are less than human, and the whole point of contact is to become more than human!

Most especially, when subjected to arguments intended to persuade me of some greater truth, I view any attempt at evasion of the truth as a red flag. And this book is chock full of them:

"The problem is that we are educated, trained, and conditioned to believe that only the logical science of a linear explicit reality is valid."

Logical science isn't a problem, it's a tool for filtering falsehoods.

"According to Grant Cameron, ETs use the dream state to visit us, because they are not part of our third-dimensional existence, because our reality is held in place by our rational mind. Since they are not of this world, to interact with us they have to bypass our logical mental concepts of the world. This is why they come to us in our dreams or in dreamlike states."

In other words you are asking me to believe that dreams are real? No!

"'making conscious contact' requires an aptitude of cognition to orient ourselves to the vibrational domains of ETs and their craft. This can only happen when we shift to higher frequencies beyond the navigation of an ego-based reality identification."

Again, NO! Denying our capacity to reason actively undermines our ability to distinguish fact from fiction.

"One person’s experience is their truth. It is up to you to feel and see if their truth resonates with you. It will either feel truthful to you, or not. But it might be beyond your belief system."

Complete subjectivism, which is to deny the objective nature of reality. Why bother trying to convince anyone of anything at this point?

It doesn't take long to suspect (realize?) that these attempts at undermining the reader's BS detector is a substitute for evidence, for scientific knowledge, for anything *objective* about the ET presence on earth. And objective, scientifically peer-reviewed evidence is *exactly* what we need if we are to move the ball forward with regard to this phenomenon. The ET presence on earth is a topic that demands seriousness, scientific scrutiny and a reasoned mind. This book lacks all of these.

[Richard West · Rating 3 out of 5]

Since I never win anything in any of the drawings on here, I was quite excited when St. Martin's contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in reviewing this book. Well, of course I was since it concerned alien abductions and extraterrestrial life - topics I've been interested in since I was a kid 'way back when.

I was looking forward to reading about the experiences of those who had been abducted, much like you used to get in books written by the late Budd Hopkins. Once I started reading though, the excitement of learning about their experiences faded quickly. It started off with an essay by Nick Pope (whom you're familiar with if you've ever watched "Ancient Aliens" on The History Channel), and from there it kind of went downhill.

I was hoping for some answers and speculation about ET and the abductees and possibly reading some speculation on what the acknowledgement of these beings by the government would mean to our society. For example, what would it do to the world's religions which teach there is only life on this planet? Would it throw things into an upheaval the likes of which no one ever imagined? What would be the sociological implications? So many question, so few answers.

In a collection of essays, we get a ton of New Age stuff - and I really thought that had gone out with the 8-track tape, but it seems there's still a lot of it around. Instead of getting answers to the questions in my mind, or abductees sharing their experiences, we get essays from people claiming to channel aliens telepathically (seriously!), people who have interacted with aliens who have been their spirit guides and on and on. Because of the New Age stuff, reading this is tedious and it really does read like poor science fiction. Oh, and let's not forget that according to the beings some of these folks - and I suppose they actually believe this - are told the younger generation is a hybrid generation of "light beings" who are superior in their intelligence to the rest of us. I teach at a university and I can guarantee you, after 22 years, I've yet to have any of these superior light and crystalline beings in any of my classes!!

Normally, I could read a book of this length in about 2 days, 3 if I'm busy with other things. It took the better part of a week because I'm just not into that New Age stuff. And after reading this, if there are aliens, there's a good reason why they haven't contacted us - there is no intelligent life on this planet as they think of intelligent life - we're the science experiment that failed.

If you're interested in the subject of alien life/abductions etc., and you aren't into the New Age stuff, pick up a copy of one of Budd Hopkins' books - assuming they're still in print - and they will give you much more and better insight into the subject. If you're a fan of all the New Age stuff, you'll love this book. Sadly, I was very disappointed.

[Ashley Robichaud · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don’t think I’ve ever given a book I finished one star but this was tough to get through. I think I’m pretty open to new ideas about extraterrestrials and maybe even other dimensions, and they lost me at some points just through the writing and style. Definitely not what I expected from reading the back of the book.

Summary, not a fan, would not recommend even if you’re interested.

Reading things like “even if this extraterrestrial first contact specialist that speaks through me isn’t real, the information realized through channeling sessions has improved thousands of lives” with no life changing information shared or any examples of positive impact is kind of wild.

Also kind of wild is something like “if we accept the reality that (insert something kind of out there) then it’s only logical that this (other out there statement) is also a fact.”

I was interested in hearing how governments keep secrets in early chapters.

In the middle of the book there’s a random chapter with flowery poetry-like language, out of left field.

They lost me with explanations of quantum physics and entanglement and how other dimensions would work, so I skimmed a bit, then the last few chapters about how humans are genetic experiments by twelve non-human intelligences and this is fact and we’re being genetically modified/encouraged to open our consciousness to making contact possible and using all of our DNA and children being born today are reincarnated extraterrestrial souls. It was a lot to just present as a textbook fact with just “these experiencers said so” as support.

But I think I can forgive a lot of things. I can accept that people accept these statements as fact and probably have more details than they went into here and can respect their findings and think it’s all interesting to consider as a thought process.

The very formatting drives me bonkers. Quotation marks were used for quotes and important phrases but also combinations of italics, bolding, and wide margins, but with no real pattern. There were pages of a single bolded quotes, while shorter quotes were just italicized or wide-margined, paragraphs spanned pages, some sections were only a page. Within one chapter the same long quote is used (sloppy) but formatted two different ways and I thought I was losing my mind. I’m glad this was in the last few chapters or I might have given up but I don’t give up on books.

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

My copy of this book was a publisher's advance copy made available through Goodreads via contact from a publisher's representative. Thank you, St. Martin's, for allowing me the privilege of being one of the first to review the book on Goodreads.

Reading this book was like returning to a familiar place that I had not been in some time and the details of which I'd largely forgotten. For the better part of two years, I traveled down the UFO/paranormal rabbit hole, so much of this information is familiar although not fresh in my mind.

I was initially drawn into the UFO scene by the government secrecy aspect, which I still find intriguing but not intriguing enough to occupy all of my time. That dimension of the UFO question is present in this book, but it's a bit part. The vast majority of the book revolves around the spiritual dimensions of UFOs and ETs, a dimension that I have been and remain highly suspicious of. I am suspicious for several reasons, the most important one being my own religious beliefs and training. However, that suspicion is bolstered by the fact that almost all of the people pushing this aspect of the UFO phenomenon have something they want to sell to you--meditation lessons, spiritual coaching, or tickets to the theater where they're going to channel a non-human intelligence in order to reveal the secrets of the coming great awakening (and if you can't make the live show, that's okay, because you can buy it later on DVD or digital download!). That is how I feel about most of the material in this book. My own subjective perspective is that it's too heavy on the New Age stuff. Honestly, I can't believe that folks are still writing about (and taking seriously) the Age of Aquarius type stuff. But that's just me.

That's not to say that there are not valuable parts. Nick Pope and Whitley Streiber--both of whom contributed chapters--are authors whose work I enjoy and appreciate. They're also the most capable writers within the anthology. The chapter drawn from Dr. John Mack is also well done and valuable, and it highlights the tragedy of his untimely death. As for the remainder of the book, my feeling is, meh.

Maybe I would've appreciated the total package more years ago when I was heavy into the UFO and conspiracy genre. But now, not so much.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

If there's one thing this collection of essays convinced me about firmly, it is that consciousness indeed invents much of our reality: if you live your life obsessed with aliens and UFO's, chances are you will experience them, and maybe even be abducted by them.

Like the editor and essayist Alan Steinfeld stated in his epilogue: "Making contact is an inside job." Indeed it is. Steinfeld has been obsessed with science fiction, UFO's, UFO Conventions, aliens, crystals, and Harmonic Convergence his entire life. On at least one occasion, he filmed a dancer as she choreographed her alien abduction. No surprise then, that while under hypnosis in 2019, he experienced repressed memories of an alien abduction that occurred in 1987.

Henrietta Weekes took psychedelics before she was contacted by aliens, which certainly makes her receptive to other realities. But it doesn't make her the ideal conduit for aliens. Why did they chose her? Why didn't they just go with Oprah?

Well, I seem to be misconstruing what "making * contact" is really all about. Contact is not just about being somewhere coincidentally and seeing something. Contact these days is all about telepathy. And remote viewing. Contact is about opening oneself up to higher dimensions, higher vibrations, higher frequencies, higher levels of Consciousness. For some it's a process that unfolds across multiple lifetimes, multiple selves. Indeed, it's an inside job.

Grant Cameron addresses an important question: if aliens are real, why don't they just land on the White House lawn? Very good question. Cameron believes that aliens employ strange, varied, seemingly random tactics just to make us go Wow! It's all part of their big PR plan. First, get people talking, wondering, going Wow! Then, once the buzz has reached critical mass, fully Disclose! But aren't there many alien civilizations visiting earth? What are the odds they'd all have the same cosmic publicist? And aren't they getting kind of sick of it by now? They've been teasing us since like the 40's.

Anyway, I really want aliens to be true, and I enjoyed reading the perspectives of the essayists in this collection. But for me, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Sheer entertainment, however, does not!

[Alex Gruenenfelder · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was given a complimentary copy of this book by Sara at St. Martin's Press, but it has taken me a long time to make a dent in it. I regretfully write the rare Goodreads review where I did not complete the book, as it just wasn't my cup of tea. Too heavily into disjointed conspiracy theories, this book failed to measure up to its promise for me, but it could be a good pick for the audience that voraciously consumes UFO books already.

There is unity in one factor among the proponents within this book: pseudoscience. The book in its introduction refers to an ideology it calls "scientism," with "belief of science, not the facts". It's moments like these that clearly indicate an embrace of what most would call pseudoscience. There is not even a coherent ideology, with UFO devotees ranging in perspective from the secular to the ultra-religious. One of the essayists in the book writes, "If someone sees a UFO it is not by chance; every sighting and contact experience is intentionally planned." While I am intrigued to explore new evidence, I find it hard to get into a work whose basic purpose is to get me to subscribe to a new religious movement, albeit one from a variety of disjointed essayists.

I appreciate the publisher for sharing this work with me, and I think that fans of conspiracy theories might really enjoy this one. Those who wish to suspend their idea of reality, as one essayist explicitly tells the reader to do, can have fun with the unique possibilities that it provides. But if you're just a regular person who wants to believe, it's hard to see if you'll get far enough into the book to begin to.

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was..................something.

Making Contact is not for a person just diving into the alien theories. This book will casually mention something like "the military can control time" as an off-handed comment and never really address it.

One thing that really bothered me was the book never really discusses why. Why are the aliens only visiting certain people? Why would the government hide aliens from the general public? Why are the aliens making lightshows in the sky as the way to introduce themselves to us? These questions are somewhat addressed, but only very quickly and acts like it is obvious.

Another issue I had is Making Contact will take blame off of humans and put them on aliens. One chapter explicitly says World War 2 was caused by aliens. First off, ........huh? Secondly, saying the Nazis were simply racist aliens ignores the prejudices that humans have ingrained into our psyches. The "Nazis=Aliens" theory is similar to what the Nazis did to Jewish people, as in treating them as non-human and inherently different from us which simply isn't the case. This mindset is dangerous and lets these actions repeat as it takes the blame off the people who commit them.

I did like the 1st 3 chapters of this book, as they have a more scientific technology ideas in them, rather than blatantly ignoring science like some other chapters do.

[Alex Shrugged · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book about UFO encounters with a smattering of science here and there, but not so you'd notice.

Essay 1 about government reactions to UFOs was reasonably good, but the second essay one some sort of WOW factor was just silly. Essay three started out OK talking about non-locality (spooky action at a distance), but quickly oversold what non-locality can do. I stopped listening to this audiobook when the essayists started talking about a woman who gave birth to child from a Nordic alien from Alpha Centauri. Apparently he kept the child and sent her back to Earth.

The audiobook narration was uneven with a change of narrators with each essay. The introduction was strange and unbearable. I listened for over an hour to the nerdy editor's voice explaining what each essay had to offer. The editor quoted a lot of important and smart people as if to suggest that what the editor was saying was also important and smart.

I get suspicious when an author/editor spends so much time telling me how wonderful and important a book is. I generally think that the book should speak for itself.

I stopped reading a little over 10% into the book. I recommend skipping the long introduction, reading the first essay and then getting out while you still can!

I doubt I will read this book again, but stranger things have happened.

[Lisa Cobb Sabatini · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won an Advance Reader Copy of Making Contact: Preparing for the New Realities of Extraterrestrial Existence by Alan Steinfeld from Goodreads.

Each chapter of Making Contact: Preparing for the New Realities of Extraterrestrial Existence by Alan Steinfeld is written by a different author, each making a serious presentation of information that they believe will benefit the reader. Some of these writings are not as accessible to the reader inexperienced in the UFO phenomenon as others. These authors include psychiatrists, journalists, writers, a former Civilian Employee of the British Ministry of Defense, researchers of the UFO phenomenon, and individuals who claim to have made contact with aliens. Readers learn about a variety of theories concerning other realms and alien visitations and intentions. Readers seeking hard evidence may be disappointed. Those readers who do not believe that Earth is visited by extraterrestrial intelligent beings may develop an understanding of why others do firmly believe. Making Contact is an excellent resource for discussions concerning the human place in the universe, our responsibility for our world, and planning for the "what ifs" of a future that could include aliens among us.

[❄Elsa Frost❄ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the chapters seamlessly wove together to produce a cohesive narrative. A lot of the book relies on speculation over anything else. Still a worthwhile read, albeit not convincing enough to truly lure a reader to the possibilities of alien life forms.

Some chapters weren’t as great. For example, Howe’s chapter jumped way too fast to conclusions and was so unbelievable that it’s just a big no-no. Cameron’s chapter was on a theory so superficial and flimsy, it is much less likely to convince a reader of the possibilities of life forms, especially for being placed right at the start.

I found Anka’s theory to be very interesting and, in fact, makes much more sense than its counterpart: religions and their more outdated thinking of possession. Of course, the chapter has more to do with more spiritual and psychological aspects, so these are much harder to discuss and debate as the experiences are far more personal. Regardless, it was still a very interesting read.

While this book didn’t convince me of aliens in the slightest, it’s still an interesting book and can be read to expand one’s mind to more speculation and wonder about this strange universe we all live in.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

My thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an advanced copy of this book.

Making Contact by Alan Steinfeld tries to address the concept of first contact with an alien race from another world, but runs into the problems that somehow always seem to overshadow even the most serious of these kinds of books, the fringe that seems to cheapen all scientific methods and thoughts. Both are given equal time, and that tends to drag this book down, even while some of the essays tend to be sober and worthy of discussion.

Nick Pope's essay covering his history in the British bureaucracy and how and why a government might respond to alien contact is interesting. Other essays seem like the usual suspects peddling there same old tales without adding anything new or different. If the reader has in interest in this subject matter, or is new to this world, this is a good start as it covers the field quite well. But unfortunately there is not too much new information, or even ideas for experienced readers in the field.