Crop Circles: Signs of Contact

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Summary: Mind Opening and Mysterious.
Review: After two decades of research, Colin Andrews, the world's foremost authority on crop circles, has written what may be the most comprehensive book on the subject. Starting with his early years of research Andrews recounts some of his first crop circle encounters. Readers will learn about the characteristics of the phenomenon before complex patterns began to appear in the late 80's.
This is one of the few crop circle books to adequately explore the connection of crop circles with nature and global environmental conditions. Andrews continuously reminds us how crop circles serve to raise our awareness of the planet.
Throughout the book, Andrews clearly wrestles with the reality of human circle-making activity. Coming from someone who previously disregarded the significance of this aspect of crop circles, he still refers to it as "hoaxing," implying a certain degree of recklessness and irresponsiblity on the part of the human circle-makers. He also tacitly recognizes their role in the evolution of the patterns.
Personally, I think it is unfair to call these human-made patterns "counterfeits" given their beauty and genuinely weird effects on our cameras and other equipment. As far as I know, there is no evidence to suggest that any of the complex patterns made since the late 80's in England are created by anyone or anything else than human circle-makers. Nonetheless, Andrew's book bridges many different points of view and leaves us with a mystery rather than a closed case. As a bonus, the book contains a catalogue of every circle to appear in England since the 1980's. It is quite a sight to see all these patterns together. There are also detailed discussions of Project Blackbird and the Oliver's Castle video.
This book is recommended for anyone with a passing or strong interest in crop circles. You may not agree with Andrews on every point but you are certain to come away with a greater appreciation of the phenomenon and the mysteries that surround it.
(Dr. Simeon Hein is the author of Opening Minds: A Journey of Extraordinary Encounters, Crop Circles, and Resonance (2002, Mount Baldy Press, Inc.)

Rating:
Summary: The expert has spoken!
Review: I knew that Colin Andrews was the technical advisor for the movie Signs and had seen him in a variety of Crop Circle documentaries, I think on the Discovery Channel (it seems he's in every doc. every made on crop circles)! Now I know why he's always on them -- This is an excellent book, even (especially) for non-"woo woo" people who really want to know about crop circles. Are they real? Where do they come from? How do we know? Colin Anderes has done a fantastic job. And the four color photo insert is spectacular.