Real-Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal

Rating:
Summary: A Nickell for Your Thoughts
Review: Despite the title, readers looking for a book that proves Mulder right and Scully wrong are going to be disappointed. Nickell agrees that "the truth is out there"--he just thinks that it's a lot more mundane than most people realize.

Nickell investigates 47 "mysteries," including the Turin Shroud, spontaneous human combustion, crop circles, the Oak Island treasure, the Flatwoods UFO monster, the Roswell flying saucer crash and an assortment of hauntings, miracles and lake monsters. True believers be warned: Nickell concludes that each of these events can be explained rationally and without resort to space aliens or the supernatural.

Nickell has an agreeable style, although at times it's a bit academic. He doesn't talk down to his readers--he thinks that each mystery is worth investigating carefully and he is clearly having fun with his work. In his own words, "if we steer between the extremes of gullibility and dismissiveness--in other words, if our minds are neither too open nor too closed--we may learn more about our world and ourselves. We may even have some fun doing it" (p. 135). I'm a card-carrying skeptic, so I love this stuff, but I think that an open-minded "true believer" might enjoy this book as well.

If you like "Real-Life X-Files," I recommend any of Nickell's other books ("Secrets of the Supernatural," "Entities" and "Ambrose Bierce is Missing"), as will as Hogart and Hutchinson's "Bizarre Beliefs." Each tells the skeptic's side of the story, but each is open minded and entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: An excellent read...and I am not a skeptic.
Review: I read Fate and Fortian Times every month so I am definitely not a skeptic and fully expected to hate this book. The typical "skeptical inquirer" is a closed minded snob and ultimately just as silly as the most gullible "believer". However, Nickell is an exception. He approaches his cases open minded and without an attitude.

Most important is that this book is a fun read. The topic rarely attracts such coherent yet enjoyable writing. I had a blast reading it.

Rating:
Summary: Ok, But.....
Review: I would have to agree somewhat with the last reviewer.

I like to read both paranormal/strange occurence books and debunking/skeptical books to get both sides of the story.

Unfortunately for the Nickell, debunking camp, they always seem to be a bit more hysterical in their denials and more willing to bend the evidence to support their beliefs than the people they are trying to discredit.

Some of the mysteries that he investigates he does a pretty good job on and provides reasonable explanations for. Others, where he can't prove any clear fraud or provide a reasonable explanation for, he resorts to the old 'I don't think it could have happened, so it didn't' arguement, or provides explanations that couldn't possibly be true, such as the Doug/Dave claim to have produced hundreds of crop circles, rather than just saying the verdict is still out.

I love mysteries and I love more a good explanation for them. This is about 1/2 way there. There are some good explanations, excellent bibliography (for further studies) and a lot of arrogant, patronising statements which are there, seemingly, just to show Joe Nickells brillance and superiority to the poor benighted fools that might believe differently than him.

All in all, not a bad book, and the bibliographies at the chapter ends are worth the price alone.