This book was fun. There are a lot of times where the writing feels rushed and clumped together, and where some of the stories don't necessarily need to be told; but entertaining nonetheless, especially if you're into alien lore in general.
2.5/5 Although a little repetitive when reading about repeated extra-terrestrial encounters and sightings, this book was an entertaining and interesting read. This makes me want to read, watch, and listen to even more encounters from people. Aliens are real, folks.
Entertaining if you like the subject. Nothing new here and no actual evidence or conclusions. Just stories, many of which have been collected and told before. No mention of the Travis Walton abduction or of the Lakenheath-Bentwaters incident. A fun read, but there are better books on the topic.
It’s a nice book but it’s nothing we all haven’t read before. It had a few spelling errors and the constant photo shopped pictures from shutter stock were jarring.
The author employs Hynek's schematological distinction between 'close encounters' of the first through fifth kinds in structuring his overview of the phenomena and his concluding chapter is a fair summary of the prevailing hypotheses of explanation. The book as a whole, however, does not evince intelligent editing. Most egregiously, author Matthews recounts events involving the navy of Paraguay. The island named is actually off the coast of Mexico and Paraguay, a land-locked state, has no navy. This error is repeated in the index provided.
I very good read in my opinion. Not a book making a case that aliens from another planet, or dimension or anything really exist, just facts given from reports. It gives the idea, that this could be a possibility, but not a fact, and offers other possible explanations as well. The only reason I gave it a 3 instead of 4 was because I wish they could have kept it more chronological, instead of bouncing back and forth between years and decades.
This was a very exciting read, almost like having an alien encounter by yourself: the UFOs arrive, encounter casebooks 1 to 10, out of this world, the UFOs land, the aliens emerge, alien encounters, alien contacts, alien abductions, what is out there?. The author underlines each chapter with numerous photos and illustrations. Reading this book makes you ready for your personal alien encounter. Couldn't put this one down and can highly recommend it!
This book was absolutely amazing. As someone who believes in UFOs and aliens, this book was right up my alley and a must-read for me. The book starts off by talking about what the definition of a UFO is is why they us to this day. The book is then mostly casebook files of encounters that people have had with either UFOs, aliens, or both. In one chapter, it discusses the different types of encounters(close encounters of the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd kinds are the most relevant with debates after the 3rd). In another chapter, it breaks down the several different types of aliens people have encountered over the years since the 40s. I didn't know there were so many different types and described with great detail from numerous reports.
I loved reading about all the encounters as well as the different types and some stories and accounts are a bit farfetched to believe but are told so well that you can't help but hope there's even the slightest bit of truth in it. There are a lot of cases that most people don't know about in this book but then there's your famous cases like Air Force pilot Kenneth Arnold seeing the first reported UFO in 1947, The Roswell case, The disappearance of Fredrick Valentich, and of course Betty and Barney Hill. I was fascinated by the accounts that people gave of the aliens and I asked at one point is this why we think aliens look the way they look and the answer is yes. Most of our depictions of aliens today in movies and TV shows as well as anything else are known as the Greys. These types are what most people who claimed to see aliens in the 80s and 90s saw which is why they are the most commonly known.
When it got to the alien abductions it was really the first time where I was highly skeptical, or at least more than I was at any other point in the book. Some of the abduction stories sound fabricated and beyond made up but again some had subtlety to them which made them somewhat convincing. I won't spoil it but the book ends with a great last story the author recounts that happened to NASA in the 80s. Overall, this book was an extraordinary read and it really helped me learn more about UFOs and aliens and appreciate a topic that many are either totally into or not at all. It also helped me want to become a ufologist all the more. If you are into UFOs, aliens, and you question whether or not we are alone in this universe than this is definitely a book you must read. 5 Flying Saucers!
My boyfriend got me this book because I love space, and I love aliens. I usually sit on the more fictional side of things, movies and shows that depict aliens and the vast range of space, rather than indulging in the conspiracy theories on whether aliens are actually real. I don't think they're not real, they absolutely could be, and if they were, I'd love to say hi to them at some point in my life. This was a silly book, I don't know why, but I wish that there was maybe a bit more commentary than just the endless list of ufo/alien encounters. It almost made the book a drag to read, but hey I read it and that's something I guess I should be proud of! I don't think any of the cases really made me truly believe that aliens are real, but it really makes you ask several questions about aliens in general! Like all these people couldn't be lying, that's just cruel and I honestly refuse to believe that. Either way, really loved it!
This book may have been "rigorously researched," but it utterly failed to cite its sources, even when particular phrasings or spellings made it clear that the author was either directly quoting or closely paraphrasing the words of the people whose stories were being told. It was also sprinkled with typos and grammatical errors, and the segways between anecdotes were anything but graceful.
It was, however, exactly what I expected it to be, and I only paid 4 dollars at a bargain store for the privilege. I was particularly enamored by the story of the man who reported a loss of taste as a symptom of an alien abduction... in September of 2020. Pretty sure COVID was the reason you couldn't taste your coffee or peanut butter that morning, my friend.
This book started off quite promisjng but the majority of the stories of experiences were the same. I know this isnt Rupert Matthews fault as he can only work with what is recorded but abit more background knowledge on what has been covered up, by who, where and why. This was touched on a few times but I feel it would of made the book alot more interesting.
It's okay, I guess you could treat it as short stories. This book is mostly a compilation of short alien stories of different kinds. Very few of them are actually worth reading. If the book was shorter I would find it a lot more entertaining than what it currently is but I could say most of it is just filler stories.
A lot of reports I had not seen before. Intelligently written and a relatively easy read although the editors could have insisted on a few (actually, a lot more) line spaces between the stories!