Yep, while PARD the laptop is being cloned, it's another conglomeration of covers about fascinating mysteries which might divert your questing brain from thinking that existence is boring.
Corliss's books are big on actual citations of publications that report weird things, from old articles in professional journals referring to things transiting the sun, (back when there were no manmade flyers), to OOPARTs (look it up) reported in newspapers.
Cohen has written a few books examining reports of saucers and critters. Very straight newspaper-like reporting, with a side of speculation on what mundanity might have inspired the witness to interpret a cloud as a UFO (for example). Lots of his books are written at what was once called high-school reading level, nowadays his prose might tax the so-called instructors.
This one holds a warm place in my heart because it, and Frank Edwards' tomes, were some of the first I read in descriptions of the downright weird. Godwin writes about blindfolded cyclists, Kaspar Hauser, moving coffins, the abominable snowman, and others.
I think the appeal of books like these to adolescents is severalfold:
- They stretch the imagination
- They help stimulate analytical thinking by comparing hypotheses and/or explanations
- They show us that "rational" explanations which don't solve the problem aren't worth entertaining
- They prove that the grown-ups don't know everything.
I know I gobbled these books up as a youth. Why don't you search one out? Until next Thursday, fellow thunkers!
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