Rocky Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 Something a little bit different from Rocky Swamp Gas Times Swamp Gas Times really has a pretty awful front cover, if I saw it in a bookshop it definitely would not have caught my eye; if it did I would have assumed it was some sort of holiday guide for Hawaii. What it is in fact, is a classic example of "don't judge book by its cover", because not only is it nothing to do with holidays, it is actually a very good read. Of course I never saw the cover anyway, I saw it going really cheap as an e-book The author is a long time OMNI journalist covering UFO investigations. This is the first time I have read any work by Patrick Huyghe and what I found was the reporter I'd always wished for but never found until now. In the UFO scene, there are only two types of investigator, a UFO buff, or a UFO debunker, and never the two shall meet. This was always very frustrating to me; whenever I read a UFO book (when I used to read a fair bit on the subject years ago), I found the book was never a balanced affair. It was either a UFO buff obviously reporting what he wanted to hear and not what perhaps actually happened, or it was a skeptic debunking the whole affair by claiming the air balloon size object was in fact Venus rising from the horizon. However, what you get with Patrick Huyghe is someone who is prepared to listen and report on both sides of the equation, leaving the reader to make up his own opinion based on arguments from both sides of the debate. And that in a nutshell was what made this book a great read for me. It's all very well reading a rosy description of a reported event, but usually you are left wondering what a skeptic might have uncovered or suggested during their investigation. With Swamp Gas Times that's exactly what you get, an opportunity to revisit some of the most prominent UFO cases and hear both sides of the debate in each case. For anyone who has read a little on UFO's the book provides a nice compact summary of landmark cases, and long the way mentions many familiar names from past research. There are over 50 Chapters and because each one is compact and doesn't really go into a massive amount of detail - they really cover alot of ground. From abductions to implants, to NSA and CIA involvement, NASA and the military, it's all in here. When I read a book I usually take notes on parts I'd like to do further reading on, or with e-books I highlight the text and add a note to remind me what to Google for. With this book by the time I had finished, there was around 40 notes that I wanted to look into for more detail. When I Googled for the first one, I lost the next hour reading some quality stuff and bookmarking some cool new websites. Swamp Gas Times is an easy book to pick up and read a chapter at a time, although more than likely you'll find it hard to put down and read several chapters in one sitting. If you have ever followed the UFO scene it will be a nice recap of some of the events that drew you to the whole debate in the first place, plus some fascinating new events to mull over. If you have never read anything about UFO's before, this is a superb starting point - 60 years of ufology neatly summerised in easily digestible segments. Two thumbs up from Rocky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalker Posted November 7, 2004 Share Posted November 7, 2004 one thumb up from Stalker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocky Posted December 3, 2004 Author Share Posted December 3, 2004 Review published. Forgot about this one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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