Richard Dolan

I'm 40% of the way through. Overall it's a really good book on the subject. Dolan is a professional historian, so it has those virtues, such as being critical of the sources and, what I liked especially, he gives the historical context of the different periods of UFO sightings. He is especially good on the late WW2, immediate postwar period and the early Cold War and how that interacted with the pheonomenon. Unlike his two monographs on UFO's and the National Security State this one is much more accessible to the general reader, so it makes a great introduction to the topic. He sticks closest to the nuts and bolts hypothesis, though, and as yet, I've seen no mention of Keel or High Strangeness. But unlike his previous work, he does spend time at the beginning looking at UFO-like phenomena throughout history going back to ancient times.
 
What do you all think about this passage...I could be making something out of nothing - as in - it is a generalization, but it struck me when I read this that it might not be quite that general. I quoted the whole page for context.

(FYI There is a section on channeling (Marciniak) and new age ideas, but no mention of Cass or LKJ. Dolan wafts between "ya gotta be kidding" and some balance of "maybe/could be but hard to prove.")

Conclusion (page 470)

When assessing the full range of the UFO subject, one is struck by the richness, depth, profundity that is nothing short of astonishing. Whether we examine it as detectives, philosophers, historians, political analysts, psychologists, intelligence experts, aviation geeks, biologists, astronomers, physicists, cynics, or utopians, we find that the subject simply gets deeper and deeper the further along we go. Two decades ago, I thought I would be able to satisfy my curiosity and “figure things out” after two or three months of checking into it. The next thing I knew, I was pulled in to the most fascinating subject I have ever encountered in my life.

Fascinating but also frustrating. The field can attract unseemly characters. Some of these are troubled souls, whether from a genuinely anomalous experience or simply the random hauntings of their mind. Others are attention-seekers. Still others are self-appointed referees whose mission appears to be to stand at the sidelines and criticize every researcher who doesn’t subscribe to a certain pet theory or fit an idealized vision of what a researcher should be. Yet others are narcissists claiming some amazing gift (meeting with Andromedans, channeling Pleiadians, traveling through time, being a genius, being a super soldier, being an astral ambassador, being chosen by black budget insiders to reveal the truth, ad infinitum) who are essentially trying to establish themselves at the head of their own church. It takes a strong stomach to deal with them.

More to the point, however, is the bare fact that so many of our questions cannot be answered easily, or at all. It is due to the inherent difficulty of the topic combined with the obfuscation surrounding it. In other words, the subject of UFOs by itself is hard, and the secrecy doesn’t help any.
 
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.

Mr. Premise said:
I'm 40% of the way through. Overall it's a really good book on the subject. Dolan is a professional historian, so it has those virtues, such as being critical of the sources and, what I liked especially, he gives the historical context of the different periods of UFO sightings. He is especially good on the late WW2, immediate postwar period and the early Cold War and how that interacted with the pheonomenon. Unlike his two monographs on UFO's and the National Security State this one is much more accessible to the general reader, so it makes a great introduction to the topic. He sticks closest to the nuts and bolts hypothesis, though, and as yet, I've seen no mention of Keel or High Strangeness. But unlike his previous work, he does spend time at the beginning looking at UFO-like phenomena throughout history going back to ancient times.
 
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!
 
I'm almost done with Dolan's new book and I love it. I agree with the comments above, that it's an excellent introduction to the subject for someone who isn't familiar with it. It's also good reinforcement for anyone who is familiar. I've been reading it extra close because I'm compiling a list of small errors and typos for him, which I told him that I would type up and e-mail to him so he can revise it for the second edition. He seemed very grateful for that. :)

I love Dolan. He's one of my personal heroes, and we've interacted quite a bit online. I love that he takes the time out of his busy schedule to interact with people on Facebook and to answer e-mails. He's also expressed interest in helping me edit my book and possibly publishing it (see my introduction on the newbies page for some details on the book).

I definitely feel he could have given more time to discussing people like Keel, Vallee, and Karla Turner, the "hyperdimensional" hypothesis, and that he should have written about LKJ and her research. Regardless, he's still an excellent researcher and I agree with most of what he says. I love listening to his radio show every week. SOTT-Talk and the Richard Dolan Show are my two favorite internet radio shows.
 
Well after seeing Laura sing his praises I checked out a number of Dolan's lectures..

I like him, he's a great speaker.

But I think he's totally suspect.

Just another proponent of Coast to Coast AM's disinformation campaign.
 
The only suspect thing about Dolan is his belief in some sort of disclosure. It does in fact look like we are being prepared for some sort of very limited and fake "disclosure" lately, but I don't think that he is in any way involved in that OP.

Other than that, Dolan is pretty much the best UFO historian. He does not go much into the hyperdimensional or paranormal aspects of it - unlike John Keel or Jacques Vallee - but otherwise he is very level-headed and neither a believer nor a knee-jerk sceptic.

For example, he is against relying too much on the testimony of whistleblowers which cannot be verified in any way, while others have jumped on that bandwagon recently, eg. exopolitics website, the Corey Goode "Blue Avians" disinfo campaign, and so on.
 
axj said:
The only suspect thing about Dolan is his belief in some sort of disclosure. It does in fact look like we are being prepared for some sort of very limited and fake "disclosure" lately, but I don't think that he is in any way involved in that OP.

Other than that, Dolan is pretty much the best UFO historian. He does not go much into the hyperdimensional or paranormal aspects of it - unlike John Keel or Jacques Vallee - but otherwise he is very level-headed and neither a believer nor a knee-jerk sceptic.

For example, he is against relying too much on the testimony of whistleblowers which cannot be verified in any way, while others have jumped on that bandwagon recently, eg. exopolitics website, the Corey Goode "Blue Avians" disinfo campaign, and so on.

Yes, pretty accurate assessment.
 
Just a quick note to add that Richard has put up 2 new uploads of his radio show. I caught one of these last night, very enjoyable talk, with his usual nuanced understanding of how history unfolds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rifJDyDIsDc&list=FLt81xMkvk8MzcMqqD4-VdIw&index=3&t=1s

In the talk, Richard addresses, in this order:

1: Russia Derangement Syndrome

2: The significance of Stanton Friedman, who has just retired from UFO research

3: The fact that most alternative researchers still fearfully avoid the UFO topic

4: How world news would look if world acknowledgement of the phenomena were real

All in all a very enjoyable 100 minutes of Dolan not pulling his punches, which is always good. :cool2:
 
Richard Dolan Published on Jun 11, 2018 / 1:02:36
Episode Summary:
Ryan first talks a little about his upcoming appearance at AlienCon, taking place on June 15th, 16th, and 17th in Pasadena, CA. Then, he welcomes his premiere guest back to the show; Richard Dolan. Fresh off the plane from Contact in the Desert in Indian Wells, California, Dolan runs listeners through the intensive three-day lecture series he presented over the weekend. They talk all about false flags, new age derailment in UFO studies, and the global UFO secrecy surrounding the recent Pentagon UFO program, BASS, and the work currently being done by Tom Delonge, Luis Elizondo, and To the Stars Academy. It was a jam-packed discussion with one of the most well-respected historians and UFO researchers in the field today.
 
Just a quick note to add that Richard has put up 2 new uploads of his radio show. I caught one of these last night, very enjoyable talk, with his usual nuanced understanding of how history unfolds.
Yes, pretty accurate assessment.

Richard Dolan Published on Jul 3, 2018
Sometimes it's good to bring back an older show. This episode was recorded on 10/23/2017 on Richard's KGRA show. Hope you enjoy it.

Edit:
Published on Jul 3, 2018
UFO Official Trailer (2018) Gillian Anderson, Sci-Fi Alien Movie HD © 2018 - Sony
 
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I know there was a parting of the ways with Rich Dolan here, but I've been thinking about his whole "intelligent disclosure" idea a bit in the last year or so. He is running a very good personal Youtube channel now with his new wife, releasing new content weekly, and it's really good work, up to the rigorous standards of his books.

I used to wonder deeply on the UFO phenomenon. It haunted me back in 2002-04, I was obsessed with the concept back then; indeed, it led me here seeking answers. And boy, did I get them! Those of us who have really read the material know that we're effectively walking in two worlds, it's a paradigm shift in terms of human consciousness.

But it comes back to awareness, knowledge and being, ultimately. The wave is already here, but few actually realise it. I think Dolan's concept of intelligent disclosure is actually operating on a similar dynamic. There will never be an official admission, but I can actually foresee the cat slipping out of the bag in a chaotic future; I don't consider it to be highly likely, but it certainly is possible.

I'm thinking on the fly here, trying to understand what I'm thinking as I write, but I think it links with consensus reality and a critical mass shift in perception, which would be necessary in a global shift in awareness of what is possible. I don't know what the future holds for us as a civilisation but it is sure going to live up to that old proverb "may you live in interesting times".
 
Dolan interviews David Jacobs in this 1hr show. I like Jacobs, he's an affable pessimist like me, though I have no doubt that a deep reading of the C's transcripts would do him a world of good.

I recently had a recapitulation of a long lost memory, where I was abducted at about age 11/12 by large headed faceless white beings. I remember being very disturbed by the experience at the time, but in the hustle and bustle of school life I swiftly filed the memory away and forgot about it. I think I must have blanked out the memory of the faces though. That was the most disturbing part, the fact that they had no facial features whatsoever. I can recall the experience now clear as day. I missed two days from school following the night when it happened. I think aliens/hyperdimensional beings are wilfully weird in their interactions with us, just to up the insane factor a little. It's part of their M.O in my opinion. Mainstream society is utterly unprepared for such a proposition, and they'll be very arrogant in their reasoning against it too. Their loss I say. I've lost a lot of friends over this subject, most people just do not want to "go there".

Sorry for the digression, anyway here's the show.

 
I suspect that Dolan didn't like Jacobs' take on things. I was telling him some things along the same line once years ago and he just kept shaking his head and saying "no, no, no... it can't be that grim!" and words to that effect. He latched onto the idea that there was a "breakaway" group within governments that was going to bring about disclosure, that they were being aided by "good aliens" or something like that, and we were headed for real truth and freedom etc.

I think it is pretty obvious by now that all of that was just a pipe dream or a disinfo program designed to get him (and many others ) off track.
 
He latched onto the idea that there was a "breakaway" group within governments that was going to bring about disclosure, that they were being aided by "good aliens" or something like that, and we were headed for real truth and freedom etc.

I think it is pretty obvious by now that all of that was just a pipe dream or a disinfo program designed to get him (and many others ) off track.

Yes. It couldn't be clearer than that with every day that passes by. There is a program for everyone and if we don't pay attention we will be sucked into it so deeply that we can hardly come out of it again. By now Dolan should have noticed that something is very wrong with the ideas he has bought into.

"But it just feels so nice and true!" Famous last words/feelings...
 
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