The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters: A Definitive, Illustrated A-Z Guide to All Things Alien
Ronald Story

From the first-ever recorded incidents of close encounters to the latest, most up-to-date information on worldwide UFOria, this comprehensive A-Z encyclopedic source book features contributions by such leading experts in the field as: Isaac Asimov, Whitley Streiber, Carl Sagan, Erich Von Daniken, Stanton Freedman, ...and many other renowned authorities whose theories and speculations move toward answering the universal question... Are we alone?

Book Description

From the first-ever recorded incidents of close encounters to the latest, most up-to-date information on worldwide UFOria, this comprehensive A-Z encyclopedic source book features contributions by such leading experts in the field as:

* Isaac Asimov
* Whitley Streiber
* Carl Sagan
* Marvin Kottmeyer
* Walter Andrus
* Ann Druffel
* Raymond Fowler
* Brad Steiger
* Kevin Randle
* Erich Von D niken
* Stanton Freedman

...and many other renowned authorities whose theories and speculations move toward answering the universal question...
Are we alone?

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A superior UFO reference book...
Reviewer: A reader from USA

Although I would not agree that Ronald Story's "Encyclopedia of the Extraterrestrial" is the best reference book on UFO's, I would agree that it certainly comes close. Written in an "A-to-Z" format, this book covers just about every topic which can conceivably relate to the UFO phenomenon - from "Alien Abductions" to the "Bermuda Triangle" to "Crop Circles", and so on. It also has brief descriptions of virtually every major UFO incident in America since the summer of 1947, and it has the advantage of featuring the most recent important UFO cases, such as the famed "Phoenix Lights" sightings in 1997. However, for me the most impressive part of the book is that it also features detailed biographies of practically every major ufologist and skeptic/debunker in the field. At the end of each biography is a "position statement" in which the ufologist or skeptic gives his or her personal beliefs about UFO's, or what they might be. Not surprisingly, the skeptic/debunker's "position statements" are all relatively similar - they argue that UFO's don't really exist, but are simply hoaxes or misidentifications of "normal" phenomena such as stars, birds, balloons, ball lightning, etc. The "position statements" of the ufologists does vary, however, with some ufologists believing that UFOs are spacecraft from another planet, while others believe that UFOs are "energy beings" from a parallel universe, and so on. This book does have one major drawback - most of the articles and essays in the book were not written by Mr. Story, but rather by a hodgepodge of ufologists and debunkers. As a result both the quality and reliability of the essays and articles varies considerably - some are excellent while others are mediocre or skimpy at best. Also, the articles written by debunkers (such as Philip Klass's essay on "Alien Abductions") are highly critical and negative of the topic being discussed, while other articles written by ufologists are just as "pro-UFO" and "pro-alien", which can get confusing at times. Overall, though, this is still an excellent and detailed one-volume reference book that should answer almost any question about UFOs that you may have. In my opinion, only Jerome Clark's massive two-volume "UFO Encyclopedia" is superior to this book. Recommended!