One has to agree that “suggested” stuff on Amazon has its advantages when it comes to spending your hard earned moolah on things you just have to own. And that’s how I’ve came to own this nice book about, well, weird science and bizarre beliefs! No kidding, the title says it all and it’s correct.
I, for one, am still a big fan of conspiracy theories, cryptozoology, UFO stuff and the like. Not too deep, though, so I don’t do New Age energy amulets or psychic readings, but I like to read some of the stuff. Why not, some of it it’s quite challenging and even the totally WTF stuff at least makes me laugh (or scratch my head in awe).
Dr. Reece is a sceptic and he explores the stuff with a good dose of scepticism, although, and that’s bringing good points to him, he’s not harshly critical or putting people down for what they believe or claim. Of course, that being said, a lot of people in these circles are full of shit (either for boosting their egos or – and that’s more like it – to make money out of the naive and gullible) or totally out of their mind, there’s no doubt about that.
So, what you can find in this book? I’d say, one can view it as a short intro to the field of the weird, and not badly written. Part I deals with the cryptozoology and particularly with the Bigfoot (or Sasquatch, if you prefer) and I have to say, because it’s not that much of an interest to me, I’ve skipped over some parts. Don’t get me wrong, I like to read about the cryptids, just don’t find Sasquatch/Bigfoot that fascinating to dedicate quite a large part of the book to this subject, talking about Bigfoot, Sasquatch, The Abominable Snowman and the related stuff. But there surely are people who are on the opposite side of it and love to read about it, so don’t take it as a criticism. You just can’t make all people happy, right?
Still, well written stuff, and although nothing extra revealing (if you are familiar with the cryptozoology stuff, you already know a lot of what Reece writes about, be it Chupacabras, Skinwalkers etc.), but as I’ve said, if one views it as a nice intro to the field of the bizarre, then no one can actually complain.
Part 2 is still my favourite. Lost Worlds and the Hollow Earth? Where do I sign, please? Again, there are books dealing with some of it in more detail (for example, David Standish’s book on the Hollow Earth), but Reece does a great job here presenting all you need to know about the subject without going too deep into details and getting boring. I liked that part, for some reason I never get tired of reading about Atlantis, Lemuria or Mu and if you haven’t read anything else on the subject, you will get acquainted with Koreshanity, Symmes, Edmund Halley and others. Although, I have to say, I pretty much doubt Hitler was a fan of the Hollow Earth, but hey, what do I know, right?
Part 3 deals with Ancient Wonders and Tesla Technology. And what’s there not to like? Although one can think, whatever he/she wants about various ancient descriptions, pyramids and the like, Nikola Tesla is still not so distant in the future and his stuff is fascinating to this very day. And because this book was published in 2009, Reece also mentions the Mayan calendar and 2012 date, and because we’re here in 2019, you know it was pretty much a hogwash (hello, Graham Hancock!).
The book itself is easy to read (another plus) and the author doesn’t appear as the almighty-I-know-it-all and that’s another plus for him.
Most valuable part of the book for me? 6 pages of the Bibliography sources. That’s a treasure I just couldn’t stop perusing. If you are a fan of this kind of stuff, there’s no reason not to read it, even if it might bring only a few things not so common. And if you don’t like bizarre and weird stuff, give it a try. At least, it’s informative and interesting.
For anyone interested, you can find it on Amazon.
