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How UFOs Conquered the World: The History of a Modern Myth
Neither a credulous work of conspiracy theory nor a sceptical debunking of belief in 'flying saucers', How UFOs Changed the World explores the origins of UFOs in the build-up to the First World War and how reports of them have changed in tandem with world events, science and culture. The book will also explore the overlaps between UFO belief and religion and superstition.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published May 14, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
February 28, 2023
If you are going to read a book about UFO's then please read this one because it looks at UFOs as a phenomena. The blurb says all you need to know:
'Neither a credulous work of conspiracy theory nor a sceptical debunking of belief in 'flying saucers', (it) explores the origins of UFOs in the build-up to the First World War and how reports of them have changed in tandem with world events, science and culture. The book will also explore the overlaps between UFO belief and religion and superstition.
So if you believe or don't believe in UFOs you can gain much from this book - I am afraid those who believe are probably the least likely to read this book or, if they start it, to finish it. But of course they should - and if you already have your doubts then read this because it will provide you with the most incontrovertible arguments against UFOs that anyone could want.
'Neither a credulous work of conspiracy theory nor a sceptical debunking of belief in 'flying saucers', (it) explores the origins of UFOs in the build-up to the First World War and how reports of them have changed in tandem with world events, science and culture. The book will also explore the overlaps between UFO belief and religion and superstition.
So if you believe or don't believe in UFOs you can gain much from this book - I am afraid those who believe are probably the least likely to read this book or, if they start it, to finish it. But of course they should - and if you already have your doubts then read this because it will provide you with the most incontrovertible arguments against UFOs that anyone could want.
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April 19, 2015Description: Neither a credulous work of conspiracy theory nor a sceptical debunking of belief in 'flying saucers', How UFOs Changed the World explores the origins of UFOs in the build-up to the First World War and how reports of them have changed in tandem with world events, science and culture. The book will also explore the overlaps between UFO belief and religion and superstition.
"Ronald Reagan sits at that desk in the White House, and the button is there that can end the world: BOOM! My father's younger than him and we don't give him the controls for the television!"
- Billy Connolly
What a hoot!
"Ronald Reagan believed aliens would conquer Earth and stunned Mikhail Gorbachev by asking for Soviet help to defeat the invasion, a new book reveals."
Source
"Ronald Reagan sits at that desk in the White House, and the button is there that can end the world: BOOM! My father's younger than him and we don't give him the controls for the television!"
- Billy ConnollyWhat a hoot!
April 30, 2020
Logical, intelligent, thoughtful, outstanding.
I enjoyed every page. What a delight to read an account of UFOs that was critical but kind, reasonable and open-minded. So insightful, I feel like I understand the UFO phenomena better. This will be on my recommendation list as essential reading for those interested in this topic.
I enjoyed every page. What a delight to read an account of UFOs that was critical but kind, reasonable and open-minded. So insightful, I feel like I understand the UFO phenomena better. This will be on my recommendation list as essential reading for those interested in this topic.
May 11, 2015
There are broadly two ways that human beings respond to the question – do you believe in UFOs?
One is to say, yes, cite things like the Spielberg movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or TV shows such as The X Files, and suggest that the universe is a huge place and aliens must be out there. So why could they not come here?
Often that brings an afterthought that involves global conspiracies, Roswell, extra-terrestrial bodies kept hidden from the world for decades and other random references to countless documentaries running on satellite or cable TV.
The second response could not be more different. It says UFOs are, of course, nonsense, as spaceships and little green men patently do not exist within our midst. So these things are just stories or, perhaps, mistakes filed by someone likely on the way home from an evening in the pub.
Well there is a third approach, and, happily, this book takes that direction. It assumes nothing, listens to everything and bases its conclusions upon decades of actual investigation. You may dispute some of its conclusions but you cannot argue with the quality of your guide on this trip through seven decades of human fascination with the UFO mystery.
The fact that David Clarke has been a journalist and is a specialist in folklore who now teaches media law at Hallam University in Sheffield, may hint at the conclusions that he personally leans toward. Even so, he has walked the hard yards in order to reach them.
That he has been the main spokesperson for the UK government over the past decade as it has gradually released all the UFO data collated by the Ministry of Defence since the 1950s has also rather appropriately (and absurdly) allowed some enthusiasts to infer that the author has gone over to the dark side and is now part of their much desired ‘cover up’.
One fact stands firm – though. I have known David since he was a teenage enthusiast who like many of the space age generation of the 60s and 70s was fascinated by this subject as it etched a path through the fabric of our society. He was certainly no government mole. Nor was he unwilling to embrace much more dramatic conclusions. If he had ever come upon evidence that would change the world I am sure that he would have said so. But he simply found something else.
This book is the story of his journey from someone willing to believe to someone who expounds a new way to tackle the undeniably intriguing evidence. He became one of the most skilled investigators in modern UFO research – a man whose case reports were always illuminating – and I saw plenty of them when he worked with me at the British UFO Research Association.
David’s approach was rather unusual in this way out field – though less so in the UK given that his way reflects good old fashioned common sense. He does not presume that a witness is puddled or has just had a meeting with the Venusian high council. He searches hard for explanations as to what a UFO event might really be and why someone might have genuinely concluded that what they saw was a UFO. Precisely what investigation should be all about but all too often isn’t.
David frequently finds answers – though not all of the time – and has been willing to call a UFO a UFO if it remains that way. Provided it is understood (and, trust me, to most of the world it very rarely is) that the acronym UFO is short for unidentified flying object – not for alien spaceship.
The one thing you will quickly discover from this excellent and very easy to follow book is that there is no straight choice between the way of idiocy and the extraordinary. There is a third stance. UFO sightings are human events that tantalise the imagination and ripple through the fabric of our global consciousness. There are many kinds of reported experience and literally hundreds of causes for them that we now know with reasonable certainty. Importantly you also often cannot reach a satisfactory conclusion without considering the witness and their social context.
Ironically, whilst most people equate UFOs with outer space, as David eloquently reveals any grounded researcher discovers that they are more often in part a product of inner space spawned much closer to home and yet no less intriguing.
This does not mean just the inner space of the witness – their thoughts, beliefs, and so forth. Equally important is the role played by investigators and some dubious methods – such as regression hypnosis (which happily we at the British UFO research association banned 30 years ago but most UFO groups still pursue). These techniques fuel conviction that investigation unearths a hidden truth of universal significance, when in some cases it is actually creating the nebulous reality in of itself. This reality morphs from witness perception of an event to an international cover up of mega proportions via the investigation process with a helping hand from the nature of modern folklore and often insidious but effective media manipulation. You have to be on the inside to see this process in operation and you also have to be honest and accept that much of what you have long pursued dissipates into an illusion. Happily this author has been able to do that.
Wisely he admits that his book is not intended to be about finding the cause of UFO sightings and that in the context of his discussion such a cause is not necessarily relevant. He thinks most (perhaps all) are soluble events but accepts the possibility that some of those still unexplained might add to our knowledge – though not in the sense that most people will presume.
This book is primarily about the effect that the widespread belief in UFOs has had on our society – because whatever else is, or is not, true then that effect is visibly profound. Since famed psychologist Carl Jung penned a book on the subject in the late 1950s we have been in need of a modern appraisal from someone who knows both the facts and how to read the signs.
The world is awash with UFO books and the net an unregulated morass of web sites and chat forums dedicated to believing in six million impossible things before breakfast. Happily this book is not one of these. It is free of jargon and is a highly intelligent look at a mysterious phenomenon that has insidiously invaded the consciousness of our world. It is one of the most illuminating and interesting books on the subject in years.
After you have read it then you may not find the UFO phenomenon to be quite so mysterious but you could very possibly consider it to be even more fascinating.
Jenny Randles
One is to say, yes, cite things like the Spielberg movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, or TV shows such as The X Files, and suggest that the universe is a huge place and aliens must be out there. So why could they not come here?
Often that brings an afterthought that involves global conspiracies, Roswell, extra-terrestrial bodies kept hidden from the world for decades and other random references to countless documentaries running on satellite or cable TV.
The second response could not be more different. It says UFOs are, of course, nonsense, as spaceships and little green men patently do not exist within our midst. So these things are just stories or, perhaps, mistakes filed by someone likely on the way home from an evening in the pub.
Well there is a third approach, and, happily, this book takes that direction. It assumes nothing, listens to everything and bases its conclusions upon decades of actual investigation. You may dispute some of its conclusions but you cannot argue with the quality of your guide on this trip through seven decades of human fascination with the UFO mystery.
The fact that David Clarke has been a journalist and is a specialist in folklore who now teaches media law at Hallam University in Sheffield, may hint at the conclusions that he personally leans toward. Even so, he has walked the hard yards in order to reach them.
That he has been the main spokesperson for the UK government over the past decade as it has gradually released all the UFO data collated by the Ministry of Defence since the 1950s has also rather appropriately (and absurdly) allowed some enthusiasts to infer that the author has gone over to the dark side and is now part of their much desired ‘cover up’.
One fact stands firm – though. I have known David since he was a teenage enthusiast who like many of the space age generation of the 60s and 70s was fascinated by this subject as it etched a path through the fabric of our society. He was certainly no government mole. Nor was he unwilling to embrace much more dramatic conclusions. If he had ever come upon evidence that would change the world I am sure that he would have said so. But he simply found something else.
This book is the story of his journey from someone willing to believe to someone who expounds a new way to tackle the undeniably intriguing evidence. He became one of the most skilled investigators in modern UFO research – a man whose case reports were always illuminating – and I saw plenty of them when he worked with me at the British UFO Research Association.
David’s approach was rather unusual in this way out field – though less so in the UK given that his way reflects good old fashioned common sense. He does not presume that a witness is puddled or has just had a meeting with the Venusian high council. He searches hard for explanations as to what a UFO event might really be and why someone might have genuinely concluded that what they saw was a UFO. Precisely what investigation should be all about but all too often isn’t.
David frequently finds answers – though not all of the time – and has been willing to call a UFO a UFO if it remains that way. Provided it is understood (and, trust me, to most of the world it very rarely is) that the acronym UFO is short for unidentified flying object – not for alien spaceship.
The one thing you will quickly discover from this excellent and very easy to follow book is that there is no straight choice between the way of idiocy and the extraordinary. There is a third stance. UFO sightings are human events that tantalise the imagination and ripple through the fabric of our global consciousness. There are many kinds of reported experience and literally hundreds of causes for them that we now know with reasonable certainty. Importantly you also often cannot reach a satisfactory conclusion without considering the witness and their social context.
Ironically, whilst most people equate UFOs with outer space, as David eloquently reveals any grounded researcher discovers that they are more often in part a product of inner space spawned much closer to home and yet no less intriguing.
This does not mean just the inner space of the witness – their thoughts, beliefs, and so forth. Equally important is the role played by investigators and some dubious methods – such as regression hypnosis (which happily we at the British UFO research association banned 30 years ago but most UFO groups still pursue). These techniques fuel conviction that investigation unearths a hidden truth of universal significance, when in some cases it is actually creating the nebulous reality in of itself. This reality morphs from witness perception of an event to an international cover up of mega proportions via the investigation process with a helping hand from the nature of modern folklore and often insidious but effective media manipulation. You have to be on the inside to see this process in operation and you also have to be honest and accept that much of what you have long pursued dissipates into an illusion. Happily this author has been able to do that.
Wisely he admits that his book is not intended to be about finding the cause of UFO sightings and that in the context of his discussion such a cause is not necessarily relevant. He thinks most (perhaps all) are soluble events but accepts the possibility that some of those still unexplained might add to our knowledge – though not in the sense that most people will presume.
This book is primarily about the effect that the widespread belief in UFOs has had on our society – because whatever else is, or is not, true then that effect is visibly profound. Since famed psychologist Carl Jung penned a book on the subject in the late 1950s we have been in need of a modern appraisal from someone who knows both the facts and how to read the signs.
The world is awash with UFO books and the net an unregulated morass of web sites and chat forums dedicated to believing in six million impossible things before breakfast. Happily this book is not one of these. It is free of jargon and is a highly intelligent look at a mysterious phenomenon that has insidiously invaded the consciousness of our world. It is one of the most illuminating and interesting books on the subject in years.
After you have read it then you may not find the UFO phenomenon to be quite so mysterious but you could very possibly consider it to be even more fascinating.
Jenny Randles
July 31, 2015
A very clear and detailed investigation as to how individuals mistake what they see, whether as the result of cognitive dissonance or just misperception, etc. Even trained personnel can mistake speed, size, etc. Clarke points out that humans tend to see pictures and fit data into a picture. Specialists on the evolution of the human mind point out that humans tend to see pictures in colorations; for example, think of the Virgin Mary appearing on a piece of toasted bread. People WANT to believe in UFOs for various reasons and this desire lies behind the phenomenon of UFOs = flying saucers (or whatever new shape they take) from outer space. It IS fun, or was, when I was a pre-teen. The book is an excellent corrective for those that want some information to counter all the "conspiracty" theorists.
September 19, 2015
Concentrates on the people - UFO believers, truthers, conspiracy theorists and the scientists that study them, rather than the actual experiences themselves. I found it a fascinating read that bordered on confirmation bias due to how closely it matched my own experience of ardent believers.
The principles involved can easily be recognised in other kinds of paranormal or conspiracy obsessives and also can be applied to religion too. A great book on the way many humans find comfort in and defend their own interpretations of whatever they have experienced.
The principles involved can easily be recognised in other kinds of paranormal or conspiracy obsessives and also can be applied to religion too. A great book on the way many humans find comfort in and defend their own interpretations of whatever they have experienced.
February 20, 2022
If the title suggests a pulp scifi story, the subtitle "The History of a Modern Myth" gives the game away. This is a comprehensive debunking of the UFO phenomena by a one-time believer who is now a sceptical investigative journalist with a PhD in folklore. He shows that 95% of UFO stories can be explained as observations of birds, Venus, and car headlights, some are outright hoaxes, and the most outlandish such as alien abductions may be explained by waking dreams and sleep paralysis. Most of the details are derived from folklore, myth or science fiction stories. The 5% that are not yet explained are not distinguishable from the 95% that already have been. UFO stories are believed by those who want to believe them and are not susceptible to scientific analysis for the simple reason that UFOlogists don't accept scientific methods such as the application of Ockham's razor.
This is a well-written and very comprehensive book. It delves into folklore, the post-war days of flying saucers with the classic 'sightings', and the Roswell incident, the links between ufology and new age religion and the founding of the Aetherius society, the links between the descriptions of 'saucers' and aliens and science fiction, the belief that governments have evidence which they are hushing up and the 'Men in Black'. and alien abduction and sleep paralysis
But in the end it concludes that believers believe because they want to believe. In ufology “the scientific method is nearly always sacrificed to wish-fulfilment.” (254) and that ufology is not qualitatively different from any other religion: “If we laugh at people who believe in cosmic masters or sinister greys ... than where should that laughter stop? Is it only antiquity and strength in numbers that insulate the major faiths of the modern world from the same joke?” (Ch 7)
A sympathetic debunker of a modern myth.
This is a well-written and very comprehensive book. It delves into folklore, the post-war days of flying saucers with the classic 'sightings', and the Roswell incident, the links between ufology and new age religion and the founding of the Aetherius society, the links between the descriptions of 'saucers' and aliens and science fiction, the belief that governments have evidence which they are hushing up and the 'Men in Black'. and alien abduction and sleep paralysis
But in the end it concludes that believers believe because they want to believe. In ufology “the scientific method is nearly always sacrificed to wish-fulfilment.” (254) and that ufology is not qualitatively different from any other religion: “If we laugh at people who believe in cosmic masters or sinister greys ... than where should that laughter stop? Is it only antiquity and strength in numbers that insulate the major faiths of the modern world from the same joke?” (Ch 7)
A sympathetic debunker of a modern myth.
October 31, 2020
Clarke grew up a UFO believer, but now writes to debunk. And does a great job of explaining that no, even carefully trained professionals — cops, pilots, scientists — can misread what they're seeing. Also that the government doesn't seem at all to be covering things up.
My primary interest in the book was the history of UFO belief; while stories about strange craft in the sky go back a long way, the focus of the book starts post WW II when a pilot witnessed some flying discs skimming across the sky like a saucer thrown over the water. The flying saucer was born.
Clarke details how much what people think they see has been influenced by pulp SF, TV, X-Files and CE3K — greys weren't really a standard alien until after CE3K, for instance.
A very good job.
My primary interest in the book was the history of UFO belief; while stories about strange craft in the sky go back a long way, the focus of the book starts post WW II when a pilot witnessed some flying discs skimming across the sky like a saucer thrown over the water. The flying saucer was born.
Clarke details how much what people think they see has been influenced by pulp SF, TV, X-Files and CE3K — greys weren't really a standard alien until after CE3K, for instance.
A very good job.
September 4, 2024
I'm not sure why but the first half where Clarke explains and discredits several UFO sightings and hoaxes just could not keep my attention. I also kept looking up images of what he was describing only to find out when I finished that all of the pictures were at the end of the book. It definitely would have been better to place them in the text or at least have footnotes that link to them (I read the eBook version, not sure if this is different in the printed version).
August 9, 2023
I enjoyed the style of writing as much as the content. It was refreshing to read about a topic as sensationalist as UFOs in a grounded tone, offering various perspectives, point of views. I recommend the book highly because it is insightful, fun, funny, well-written and worth the time.
December 31, 2024
Without doubt this is the best (skeptical of course) book I have read about UFO’s. It focuses mostly on Britain, but the stories and arguments are applicable anywhere. I have learned a lot about what the author calls the UFO syndrome.
August 16, 2017
review TBA
March 14, 2018
A well-reasoned skeptical view of the UFO phenomenon and the people who believe in UFOs and extraterrestrials. Surprisingly also a fun, fairly light read.
February 23, 2017
Well written, fascinating read. I thoroughly enjoyed it! If you are interested in ufology and it's history, you will too.
June 16, 2015
Clarke is at his best when he untangles the various threads from (popular) culture ti the UFO phenomena (which he, by the way, claims does not exist) and makes a strong case for PSH to explain the core of the mystery...
July 24, 2015
An excellent history of things seen in the sky. And the people who see them.
January 29, 2016
Thorough dismantling. of the extraterrestrial hypothesis.
April 10, 2017
Clarke’s comprehensive review, in this book, of the human dimension to the ‘UFO syndrome’ is both full of challenging interest for the reader and provides a welcome counterbalance to the usual, all-too-tiresome—and artificial—polarisation of the subject of UFOs into the two opposed camps of ‘believers’ and ‘skeptics’/‘debunkers’. This work sets out to put UFOs squarely into a social/psychological context that is often left out of consideration behind the expected cognitive biases on both sides. Clarke achieves this with competence, and the journey towards this third perspective—the Psycho-Social Hypothesis (PSH)—is softened for the reader by the parallel first-person account of the author’s own passage from a young and eager ‘want-to-believer’ to a rational investigator willing to focus on the ‘experiencer’ behind the ‘experience’.
PSH is far from new, as long-time readers of Magonia will be aware. Here, however, Clarke gives it new life, to the degree that this important study should be capable of being avidly read by both believers and skeptics alike. Whatever the ‘truth’ of the UFO phenomena—and Clarke, quite rightly, does not come out for either side in the debate—this ‘truth’ cannot be separated from those who seek it, nor the cultural back-drop against which it is sought.
Unlike Clarke, I have never been deeply drawn into the subject of UFOs, with my interest having very much strayed around the edges of the subject for many decades. At times when I had been drawn to look a little deeper, I had always left again feeling deflated by the over-focus of ufologists on the mere testimony of so-called witnesses to these strange events. With a personal bias for scientific thinking, I had always seen this testimony as little more than the telling of stories, whether having a basis in truth or not. What Clarke has achieved for me through this excellent book, however, is that he has kindled within me a new, and probably lasting, fascination with ‘stories’ as having valid social and cultural function, and this no less so of stories of things seen in the sky.
It has been a long time since I have read a book in a single day. I am confident, too, that I will be re-reading it again, and very soon.
PSH is far from new, as long-time readers of Magonia will be aware. Here, however, Clarke gives it new life, to the degree that this important study should be capable of being avidly read by both believers and skeptics alike. Whatever the ‘truth’ of the UFO phenomena—and Clarke, quite rightly, does not come out for either side in the debate—this ‘truth’ cannot be separated from those who seek it, nor the cultural back-drop against which it is sought.
Unlike Clarke, I have never been deeply drawn into the subject of UFOs, with my interest having very much strayed around the edges of the subject for many decades. At times when I had been drawn to look a little deeper, I had always left again feeling deflated by the over-focus of ufologists on the mere testimony of so-called witnesses to these strange events. With a personal bias for scientific thinking, I had always seen this testimony as little more than the telling of stories, whether having a basis in truth or not. What Clarke has achieved for me through this excellent book, however, is that he has kindled within me a new, and probably lasting, fascination with ‘stories’ as having valid social and cultural function, and this no less so of stories of things seen in the sky.
It has been a long time since I have read a book in a single day. I am confident, too, that I will be re-reading it again, and very soon.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews