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Jenny Randies is a British author
of several books on the paranormal. UFOs and How to See Them has
over one hundred illustrations of alleged UFOs, some in color. Of
course some of the photos are now believed to have misidentifications or
hoaxes but there are some genuine photos too.
This short book gives a brief overview of the history of UFOs. An
interesting anecdote is that in 1912 some "mystery airships" were seen
over some naval dockyards in England. Winston Churchill, then head
of the Admiralty issued a statement that the object wasn't British.
Count Zeppelin of Germany stated it wasn't one of their flying craft.
Randies writes that Churchill was "the first politician to admit in
public the existence of unexplained objects in the sky." (page 10).
Another early Twentieth century aerial mystery on February 25, 1942 over
Los Angeles. A strange dark object was seen, anti-aircraft shells were
fired at the object. In this early World War II hysteria the
object was thought to be a Japanese warplane. It wasn't. Was
it a UFO or mass hysteria. Three people on the ground were killed
accidentally by the U.S. shelling. Director Steven Spielberg later
made a film on this incident, the comedy 1941 with John Belushi.
On page 79 Randies tells of UFOs seen over nuclear test sites in various
countries. It's interesting to note that UFOs began to be seen
more often soon after the advent of atomic power. Coincidence?
Since the author is British the mainly English phenomenon of crop
circles is explored. Whether or not crop circles are directly
linked to UFOs is unknown.
UFOs and How to See Them is aimed at the general reader. I
believe it would be a good book for a high school student to read who
wants an introduction to the subject of UFOs. |