Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Few published writers over the past 25 years can claim to be in the same league as UK researcher Timothy Good when it comes to the credible academic study of the UFO subject. From his 1987 best-seller `Above Top Secret' through half a dozen subsequent mainstream/hardcover publications, he has impressed both the idle curious and the committed skeptic to take this subject seriously by his meticulous research methodology, interview transcripts with high-level military/political contacts, and reliance on official published documents attesting to the reality of these phenomena. Good's new 2013 publication is `Earth: an Alien Enterprise', claimed by the author to be the result of several years' work. The book contains an abundance of new material but "goes further than ever before" (the author's words) towards embracing a grand-conspiratorial narrative of international government cover-up of this issue, hinted at and hedged around in this author's previous work but never before laid out so boldly as here. There is much here to like. Good is no re-cycler of old cases from the archives but a genuine researcher of the new & original, traveling to interview his informants/percipients often on repeated occasions, taking photographs, analyzing evidence, seeking out official documents and presenting the subsequent material `warts and all' for the reader in intelligent, fluid and literate prose. This high standard of writing alone makes his books stand apart from perhaps 95% of publications on this subject. The editing from Pegasus Books is exemplary; an object lesson in how to present such information to a thinking and critical readership. Some of this case material is compelling, though the committed debunker is unlikely to be convinced by the extraordinary `Amicizia' case (written up in greater detail in Professor Stefano Breccia's book `Mass Contacts') and the many `contactee' cases personally investigated and reported here. The extraordinary case of persistent phenomena in the Solomon Islands is genuinely spooky with some details revealed here for the first time resembling those from the Belem area of Brazil in the 1980s. Criticisms already leveled at this book are that the author is sometimes too gullible and readily accepting of what he is told, and does not always adhere to the rigorous standards of evidence demanded when dealing with extraordinary claims. Many quoted sources are anonymous or `flaky', and those of a more cynical disposition steeped in UFO lore are unlikely to be impressed by anything associated with Steven Greer, or accept the now-generally discredited claims of the late Philip Corso. Equally John Lear - who maintains the US government perpetrated the 9/11 attacks using holograms of airplanes, has huge submarine bases under the Nevada Desert and is currently engaged in mining operations on the moons of Saturn - will hardly be seen as a credible source of information by most readers. Tim is also unusual in this field in his outspoken conviction of the veracity of the late George Adamski's contactee claims. Many will no doubt feel it unfortunate that such controversial material is allowed to contaminate the more obviously legitimate elements of the narrative; this sorting-signal-from-noise problem will not only dilute the impact of the overall message but hand a truckload of lethal ammunition to the professional debunkers, and the legitimacy of the UFO subject in the public mind is likely to suffer as a consequence. However, those who believe in grand conspiracy theories will find their deepest convictions confirmed by the book's conclusions. Whether persuaded or not by the author's courageous stance on the subject he should be respected for his intelligence and decades-long persistence as a dedicated researcher of these phenomena. In summary: not a flawless book, but a good one. Though unlikely to convince the skeptic, `Earth: An Alien Enterprise' is one of the more literate and professional published works on these phenomena, and a useful summary of this author's position on the subject after 40 years of diligent investigative work. Moreover the book is a beautiful artifact; a fine hardcover publication with 407 pages of text, a 32-page photo section, copious chapter notes and an excellent index.