Mr. Premise said:
I finished the Book last week. In the second half he does mention Keel and speculates some on non-nuts and bolts hypotheses. Overall I think it's a really good book that serves as a good one volume introduction to the subject.
I agree. The first 10-11 chapters are overall pretty great. Not much NEW in there, but it's up-to-date, easy to follow, well argued, and well structured. Like a summary of his previous two volumes of UFOs&NSS, plus a preview of volume three, bringing it to the present. I agree with most of the positions he takes on specific cases and overall trends. A few rambling comments/summaries:
In the Intro, he has a good summary of the problems of proof and science, i.e., how can we 'prove' something if the thing we're trying to prove is intelligent and doesn't submit to our 'scientific' controls? We can't. But that doesn't mean the phenomenon isn't true. Good discussions on the corruption of science, first mention of the 'interdimensional hypothesis' on p. 23, discussions of various societal implications of the cover-up.
Chapter 2 is on "Ancient Aliens". He pretty much writes that most of it is nonsense (e.g., Sitchin, von Daniken, etc.), gives some examples of the poor research. But still, at the very least there are things that suggest it's possible (e.g., cave art), maybe even likely. Same goes for an ancient advanced civilization (e.g. pyramids, gobekli tepe) -- some interesting data, some nonsense 'alternative' writings. He writes that "for this thesis to work, better arguments need to come from elsewhere." (p. 61) Introduces Fort at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 3: good overview of the pre-1947 UFO history: airships, foo fighters (cites Littleton's 2500 Strand, re: Battle of LA), ghost rockets, etc. Argues against Nazi tech as an explanation for all of them, but is open to the idea that they probably have had some interesting technology (re: Farrell's research, among others). "Then again, there remains the possibility that they see humanity as their property, as livestock to be managed." (p. 116)
Chapter 4: Early fight against UFO secrecy (Blue Book, Robertson panel, 1952 sightings, Keyhoe, Hynek, McDonald, Condon, etc.) Standard stuff, but well summarized.
Chapter 5: develops the idea of a breakaway civilization in response to crashed UFOs (Roswell and others). Focus on Stringfield, Sarbacher-Walker, Area 51.
Chapter 6: 70s and 80s
Chapter 7: 90s to present (overviews of major sightings/cases/developments)
Chapter 8: on contactees and abductees. Good overview of history/development of the phenomenon. Re: Jacobs's books: "By now, his research pointed to decidedly psychopathic personalities held by many of these hybrids." Interesting initial test results from analysis of some of the 'implants' removed by Leir (nanofibers, odd nickel rations, unusual salt shapes/configuration). Pretty good criticism of the new age crowd (Blavatsky, Crowley, Adamski). Three options: deluded, hoaxers, and legitimate contacts. Impossible to prove sources in cases of telepathy. On the New Age: "insofar as it has become a force in our world, [it] has never been a force for fighting real injustice, has never worked for political change, and has arguably only caused people to spin their wheels in a self-indulgent yet ultimately fruitless path toward 'enlightenment." (p. 324) His criticisms are on the whole valid. There's way too much credulity in this niche of the "ufology" community.
Chapter 9: history of ufology (NICAP, APRO, CUFOS, MUFON, FOIA, etc.), intelligence involvement and interference, Keel and Vallee discussed here, critical (kind of) view on Project Camelot (" Some of them [sic] interviews are fascinating and provide valuable information. Some have claimed to be insiders with sensitive information that has proven difficult or impossible to prove. Others have been roundly criticized as disinformation.")
Chapter 10: Discusses Grays, Reptilians, other 'races'. Very good summary of what the data suggests (keeping in mind that the phenomenon is inherently tricky, re: implanted memories). Could have used more info on possible human sources, re: mind control research. Channeled beings: "there may be something to it ... Whatever they are doing, it is not hoaxing. They are tapping into something, whether an actual entity or a deep part of their subconscious mind." (pp. 393-4) "Moreover, the track record of channelers fails to inspire confidence." (ibid) Yup (in reference to all the 2012'ers). This section is pretty critical of channelers, but no more so than his review of High Strangeness, where he shares similar thoughts. And most channeling IS garbage. No mention of Laura and the Cs, though.
Chapter 11: On the science: Paul Hill (field propulsion), electrogravitics, free energy (and why any possible advances there are classified).
Around here the book gets kind of sketchy. Even though he doesn't fully endorse it, he's got string theory in there. Good thing is that he makes the connection with psi phenomena/paranormal (Radin, Sheldrake).
Weakest chapter is the last: "into the future, into ourselves", on disclosure. His writing on this might work as a thought experiment, i.e., what are the implications, what would happen, etc. (religion, geopolitics, energy, economics, etc.). But the very things he discusses as fallout from a disclosure (whether limited or not) argue, in my mind, for the idea that the authorities would thus avoid disclosure at ALL costs, no matter what pressures are put to them. Perhaps disclosure would be a sure thing (whether soon or 100 years in the future), IF our society were to last that long, what with the growth of the internet, leaks, advances in technology, etc. But he's overly optimistic in that regard, IMO, even if he's open to the possibility of a totalitarian dystopia, not considering the idea that civilization could collapse. Disclosure wouldn't even be an issue or possibility in that case.
Scattered about are a few things he has heard from 'insiders'. They don't alter the arguments he presents at all, and he gives his opinion on them one way or the other, e.g., the idea that there is some form of communication between the black-budget world and 'them', that 'their' technology is 'eons and eons' ahead of ours, the idea that they are a 'threat' is pretty widespread, etc.
There are a couple eyebrow-raisers. One is a couple brief mentions of chemtrails in lists of things that "require our attention" (in the intro and last chapter). No other commentary, but the mention of the word without caveat suggests Dolan thinks there's something to chemtrails. (Of course, there is, but it has nothing to do with 'chem' and everything to do with atmospheric changes, which DO require our attention.)
Overall, it's probably the best intro to the UFO topic. It covers most of the bases, sticks primarily to documented stuff, offers some good speculation where appropriate, and has references to plenty of other good literature on the topic (with just a few omissions). Dolan has a pretty balanced approach, but I think his ideas about the future are weak. Time will tell!
