Rating: Summary: Disappointing Review: As a big fan of Whitley Strieber, I was rather disappointed with this book. As the fifth in his series of books that describes his experiences and opinions on UFOs and aliens, it could have done more. The main feature that it lacked was the literary genious Strieber normally uses in describing his personal experiences. Instead, his just relays what others have done and experienced and has lowered himself to that of the average UFO writer/researcher. The fact that he really wasn't before was one of the reasons I had liked him. If you want the average "I was abducted" stories with author's opinion, this is a book for you. If not, don't get it; it's not worth the time to read.
Rating: Summary: Disappointing Review: As a big fan of Whitley Strieber, I was rather disappointed with this book. As the fifth in his series of books that describes his experiences and opinions on UFOs and aliens, it could have done more. The main feature that it lacked was the literary genious Strieber normally uses in describing his personal experiences. Instead, his just relays what others have done and experienced and has lowered himself to that of the average UFO writer/researcher. The fact that he really wasn't before was one of the reasons I had liked him. If you want the average "I was abducted" stories with author's opinion, this is a book for you. If not, don't get it; it's not worth the time to read.
Rating: Summary: Are You a Believer Review: Confirmation has what most other UFO books lack: photographic evidence. Still this book isn't the greatest, as is most UFO "literature."
Rating: Summary: Unidentified Flying Facts. Review: I bought this book for $3.00 at a clearance. (Should have known then). The author includes innumerable cases of "encounters", "abductions", "implants" and "sightings" but at the same time , makes disclaimers about all of them leaving you feel that he is not sincere about what he is writing and wondering why he bothered with the book. I've read that his other books are much better. This must have been one of the "lost time " episodes he describes during an abduction. This is strictly for the Mulders out there who have "I want to believe" posters on there office wall. These are all the typical alien suspicions you have already read and left you laughing.
Rating: Summary: A great book.... Review: I have to say this is truly a great book. While it might be lacking in the dark sort of prose Whitley has written in prior releases on the same subject, it's still a fascinating read. I dont always agree with Whitley's belief's on the "visitors" intent, but the man has to be respected for going out to the edge. I dont think I'd pay too much attention to William Harwood's review, it's little more than his immaturity and ego blown self promotion, that leads him to plug his own book at the end of a review. I dont know whether to laugh or cry at his obvious self importance. I digress, Confirmation is well worth the read, as Mr. Strieber is truthfully to me, the only one out there that can put words to an indescribable set of events that impact so many. If you want a deep personal look into the subject, past the "are they real?" ... littered throughout ufology literature...this is for you. Congratulations Whitley...yet another fabulous read.
Rating: Summary: I'm with Mulder Review: I want to believe...but this book didn't make me. I personally am open-minded on the subject of extraterrestrial life. I believe the possibility exists, but I've never had an encounter or seen any really convincing evidence of intelligent alien life. I bought "Confirmation" because I've heard Whitley Strieber often on the radio, but had never read any of his books. The subtitle is "The Hard Evidence of Aliens Among Us?" and the question mark is definitely the most appropriate part of the subtitle. Strieber offers the usual abduction reports and implant evidence, but more or less discredits all the evidence he presents. If this is the best evidence he could find in all the narratives he has studied, the case for alien life seems shaky indeed. The best case in here is that of Jesse Long. In fact, it almost seems the rest of the book was intended only to lead up to this one chilling, unexplainable case. Despite its failure to convince me, I give "Confirmation" three stars for being entertaining, thought-provoking, and hard to put down.
Rating: Summary: Not bad, but Strieber is out of his element Review: This is one book that shouldn't be judged by its lurid, tabloidesque cover. Strieber's approach is honest and evenhanded, and, unlike the back cover with its screaming red warning that "AFTER YOU READ THIS BOOK YOU *WILL* BELIEVE IN ALIEN LIFE," he never makes any over-the-top claims of conclusive proof. Critical of both debunkers and believers, Strieber argues simply that the UFO and close encounter phenomena are genuine unknowns that deserve serious scientific attention. Nothing more. While it's a decent introduction to the field, though, Confirmation is definitely not Strieber at his best. What Strieber really has to offer is his own close encounter experiences, documented in Communion and its sequels, and the thousands of letters he has received from other close encounter witnesses, many of which are published in The Communion Letters. But when it comes to a general overview of UFO sightings, implants, etc., he has no particular credentials. The result is that Confirmation is mostly a rehash of evidence published elsewhere. Strieber is a storyteller, not a scientist, and is probably better off sticking to fiction and autobiography and leaving the "hard evidence" to professional UFO researchers.
Rating: Summary: Not bad, but Strieber is out of his element Review: This is one book that shouldn't be judged by its lurid, tabloidesque cover. Strieber's approach is honest and evenhanded, and, unlike the back cover with its screaming red warning that "AFTER YOU READ THIS BOOK YOU *WILL* BELIEVE IN ALIEN LIFE," he never makes any over-the-top claims of conclusive proof. Critical of both debunkers and believers, Strieber argues simply that the UFO and close encounter phenomena are genuine unknowns that deserve serious scientific attention. Nothing more. While it's a decent introduction to the field, though, Confirmation is definitely not Strieber at his best. What Strieber really has to offer is his own close encounter experiences, documented in Communion and its sequels, and the thousands of letters he has received from other close encounter witnesses, many of which are published in The Communion Letters. But when it comes to a general overview of UFO sightings, implants, etc., he has no particular credentials. The result is that Confirmation is mostly a rehash of evidence published elsewhere. Strieber is a storyteller, not a scientist, and is probably better off sticking to fiction and autobiography and leaving the "hard evidence" to professional UFO researchers.
Rating: Summary: What Hard Evidence?!! Review: Whitley Strieber continues his series of books about human interaction with the "visitors". This time out, however, he tries to offer up "proof" of visitation by aliens in the form of videos, letters and medical evidence. The result is quite lacking. Let me first state that I thoroughly enjoyed Mr. Strieber's book, Communion. This was an excellent book documenting one man's experience with something real to him. It offered no definitive answer and was more of a quest for the ever elusive truth. With each succesive book about the phenomena that he has experienced, his interepretations get more far out. The other main advantage that Mr. Strieber has over other authors on similar material, such as Budd Hopkins, is that Mr. Strieber is a professional writer and his books are very well-written. Back to Confirmation, the first third of the book discusses video evidence of UFOs. It would have helped if Mr. Strieber had given readers some suggestions as to where they might find copies of the footage he is describing. (I did see one of the videos he was descibing on Larry King, so at least that one should be available somewhere.) He describes the movements that the UFOs make, and how they would be difficult to falsify - not impossible, just difficult. Now without being able to view the footage, it is very difficult to come to your own conclusion about the said footage. It is also very difficult to evaluate video footage from a written description. (try to imagine describing one of your favorite action scenes to someone who has never seen it, but don't tell plot just give descriptions of the movements, their mental image would probably be much different than the actual footage) My other complaint/concern about the first section of the book is that Mr. Strieber is making comments about propulsion and how this particular movement isn't possible, etc. While, I firmly believe that he is a very intelligent man, I've never seen anything to believe that he is a physicist or an expert on propulsion systems. The next section describes close encounter experiences from witnesses across the nation. While very interesting, since these are mostly taken from letters, and don't have corroborating testimony or evidence again there is no hard evidence. The third section of the book is the most interesting, and could have come closest to providing that all elusive "proof". Mr. Strieber conducted a number of tests to try to find implants that people remember having inserted into them during their close encounters. While some very interesting data was recovered, the results were inconclusive to say the least. There is no way of proving that the implants removed from these people were put in during their alleged encounters. The materials are not out of this world, odd, yes but not necessarily from somewhere else. Finally, I do appreciate what Mr. Strieber was trying to do here but it just doesn't work. I think the biggest problem is the title, the book does not live up to it. I hope that Mr. Strieber continues his personal search, but I don't know that I'll continue reading about it.
Rating: Summary: Confirmation confirms nothing. Review: Whitley Strieber describes video tape images, shares the abduction stories of others, and makes a plea that the events he and others have either witnessed or experienced be taken seriously. No one who reads this book will believe after finishing it if they are skeptical of the phenomenon, but those who believe might appreciate it. Mr. Strieber himself has been inconclusive about just what has happened to him (he never comes out and says they are aliens or spirits, just visitors from an unknown country) and he keeps his fence straddling outlook this time out as well, but constantly reading "well this 'could' be a hoax, but if it IS real..." weakens the force of his arguments more than skeptical debunking ever could. Of passable interest to UFO buffs only.
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