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World of the Odd and the Awesome
From the author of The Bermuda Triangle comes a collection of baffling, bizarre, and unbelievable phenomena that no scientist or skeptic can explain away.
- GenresNonfictionParanormal
272 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
About the author
Charles Berlitz
98 books72 followersBorn in NYC, Berlitz was the grandson of Maximilien Berlitz, who founded the Berlitz Language Schools. As a child, Charles was raised in a household in which (by father's orders) every relative & servant spoke to Charles in a different language. He reached adolescence speaking eight languages fluently. In adulthood, he recalled having had the delusion that every human spoke a different language, & wondering why he didn't have his own like everyone else. His father spoke to him in German, his grandfather in Russian, his nanny in Spanish.
He began working for the family's Berlitz School of Languages, during college breaks. The publishing house, of which he was vice president, sold, among other things, tourist phrase books & pocket dictionaries, several of which he authored. He also played a key role in developing record & tape language courses. He left the company in the late 1960s, not long after he sold the company to publishing firm Crowell, Collier & Macmillan. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale Univ.
Berlitz was a writer on anomalous phenomena. He wrote a number of books on Atlantis. In his book The Mystery of Atlantis, he used evidence from geophysics, psychic studies, classical literature, tribal lore, archeology & mysteries & concluded that Atlantis was real. Berlitz also attempted to link the Bermuda Triangle to Atlantis. He claimed to have located Atlantis undersea in the area of the Bermuda Triangle. He was also an ancient astronaut proponent who believed that extraterrestrials had visited earth.
Berlitz spent 13 years on active duty in the US Army, mostly in intelligence. In 1950, he married Valerie Seary, with whom he had a daughter, Lynn. He died in 2003 at the age of 89 at University Hospital in Tamarac, FL.
He began working for the family's Berlitz School of Languages, during college breaks. The publishing house, of which he was vice president, sold, among other things, tourist phrase books & pocket dictionaries, several of which he authored. He also played a key role in developing record & tape language courses. He left the company in the late 1960s, not long after he sold the company to publishing firm Crowell, Collier & Macmillan. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale Univ.
Berlitz was a writer on anomalous phenomena. He wrote a number of books on Atlantis. In his book The Mystery of Atlantis, he used evidence from geophysics, psychic studies, classical literature, tribal lore, archeology & mysteries & concluded that Atlantis was real. Berlitz also attempted to link the Bermuda Triangle to Atlantis. He claimed to have located Atlantis undersea in the area of the Bermuda Triangle. He was also an ancient astronaut proponent who believed that extraterrestrials had visited earth.
Berlitz spent 13 years on active duty in the US Army, mostly in intelligence. In 1950, he married Valerie Seary, with whom he had a daughter, Lynn. He died in 2003 at the age of 89 at University Hospital in Tamarac, FL.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 25, 2020
Elusive cryptids, spontaneous combustion, prophetic dreams of tragedies and redemption, psychic detectives, archaeological incongruities - these and more populate this wondrous exploration of unexplained phenomena. And would a collection of forteana ever be complete without those ubiquitous flying saucers and the extraterrestrials who drive them?
It's not all fanciful stuff though. There are some topics that are far from paranormal, like the Pharos of Alexandria or El Greco's trial before the Spanish Inquisition. Human interest stories also abound like the dog that saved another canine from a premature burial and girls gifted with psychokinesis. There are also some scientific oddities like the possible use of electricity in ancient Egypt, or the successful modern replications of Archimedean solar warfare from ancient Greece and pre-Columbian hot air balloons in the Nazca valley. My personal favorite is the recounting of the chilling prophecies made by the French poet Cazotte during the twilight of the ancien régime. Heady stuff.
There are accounts with rather sketchy scholarship. For example: if a "death star" does drag comets around the Earth's vicinity every 28 million years causing massive global extinction events, how did dinosaurs manage to survive for 140 million years, as the article itself states? Many here don't offer any explanation at all but really, due to their brevity that's simply the nature of this beast.
Oh yes: the pieces here are all bite-sized, each numbering a page or two at most. It's quite easy to pop one or two (or a dozen, really) in one sitting. There are no illustrations, although I fail to see how that would be a con. Leave that to Ripley's - I prefer the fuller text here anyways. I did notice some typographical errors in the e-book version. Not enough to be annoying, but it still should have been proofread more carefully.
Overall it's quite good, even if it sometimes requires spoonsful of salt to swallow. After all, it's the fascination, the awe, the wonder at all the hidden things that may possibly exist under this sun that is the point. And on this count, it largely succeeds.
6/10; 3 stars.
It's not all fanciful stuff though. There are some topics that are far from paranormal, like the Pharos of Alexandria or El Greco's trial before the Spanish Inquisition. Human interest stories also abound like the dog that saved another canine from a premature burial and girls gifted with psychokinesis. There are also some scientific oddities like the possible use of electricity in ancient Egypt, or the successful modern replications of Archimedean solar warfare from ancient Greece and pre-Columbian hot air balloons in the Nazca valley. My personal favorite is the recounting of the chilling prophecies made by the French poet Cazotte during the twilight of the ancien régime. Heady stuff.
There are accounts with rather sketchy scholarship. For example: if a "death star" does drag comets around the Earth's vicinity every 28 million years causing massive global extinction events, how did dinosaurs manage to survive for 140 million years, as the article itself states? Many here don't offer any explanation at all but really, due to their brevity that's simply the nature of this beast.
Oh yes: the pieces here are all bite-sized, each numbering a page or two at most. It's quite easy to pop one or two (or a dozen, really) in one sitting. There are no illustrations, although I fail to see how that would be a con. Leave that to Ripley's - I prefer the fuller text here anyways. I did notice some typographical errors in the e-book version. Not enough to be annoying, but it still should have been proofread more carefully.
Overall it's quite good, even if it sometimes requires spoonsful of salt to swallow. After all, it's the fascination, the awe, the wonder at all the hidden things that may possibly exist under this sun that is the point. And on this count, it largely succeeds.
6/10; 3 stars.
May 27, 2017
Great read suitable for all
Loved this book so m saga ny.
Many different stories. Impossible to be bored. When're a ding this very interesting book
Loved this book so m saga ny.
Many different stories. Impossible to be bored. When're a ding this very interesting book
September 7, 2019
Very interesting book
I really did enjoy reading this book. All of the stories included are short and to the point. Good book for all ages.
I really did enjoy reading this book. All of the stories included are short and to the point. Good book for all ages.
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April 15, 2026Heb mijn boekenkast herordent en voeg wat boeken toe die ik wel heb gelezen maar nooit had aangeduid als gelezen op goodreads 😛
June 28, 2014
I guess I always liked these kind of books.
My dad gave it to me when I was like 12!
I absolutely fell in love with it. The short stories of all things supernatural. It was all just so fun and mysterious!
I'm pretty sure that all of us have this little voice inside our heads every once and a while, asking us these same question.
Is it all possible? Is there something more!
Well... while reading this, you're going to want to believe it.
My dad gave it to me when I was like 12!
I absolutely fell in love with it. The short stories of all things supernatural. It was all just so fun and mysterious!
I'm pretty sure that all of us have this little voice inside our heads every once and a while, asking us these same question.
Is it all possible? Is there something more!
Well... while reading this, you're going to want to believe it.
August 3, 2007
Buku yang menarik bagi kalian yang ingin tau cerita mengenai fenomena alam maupun supernatural. Very light reading. 1 halaman bisa 2 ataupun 3 cerita. Yah seperti kumpulan short story 'Believe it or Not'.
Cocok untuk dibaca kalo lagi bengong dan ngga ada kerjaan. Entertaining.
Cocok untuk dibaca kalo lagi bengong dan ngga ada kerjaan. Entertaining.
February 6, 2019
It amazes me how this author continues to find so many intriguing glimpses of accounts that rarely have any known answers. All of them are on record. Some have more information than others, but all of them with spine-tingling fascination. I love his books
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews