We first got into UFOs partly due to a fascination with the people studying or affected by it–sort of the “sociology of ufology.” So we are intrigued by Eric Ouellet’s book Illuminations: The UFO Experience as a Parapsychological Event, which proposes a dramatic and challenging theory about how human events and fears may influence the creation of UFO “waves”. Reviewer David Halperin considers the book “one of the most fascinating UFO books I’ve read in a long time–a vital contribution to the understanding of the UFO as a social and psychological phenomenon.” Halperin makes these strong statements even though he deems strained some of Ouellet’s attempts to find Jungian linkages between times of human crises and waves of mysterious objects that appear in the sky. As an example of the human reaction to “somethings” out there, try Lights, Camera, Aliens! Hollywood Filmmakers and Their UFO Obsessions. This is a fun article about how some major filmmakers exploited the public’s, and their own, interest in UFOs. Embedded in the piece is a promo for its author’s book Silver Screen Saucers, which explores the wider question of the complicated relationship between UFOs and Hollywood. Going more psychological than sociological, Special Cases — The Long Island File (9): A Letter to Jerome Clark continues the compelling look we’ve been getting into John Keel’s work and life. Keel’s Spring 1967 letter ruminates on the weakness of the scientific method in dealing with things paranormal, claims a definite correlation between 1966 “ghost stories” and UFO activity, and sees sales of paperbacks by Adamski and Menger as “comforting” while finding a lecture given by Trevor James to be pretty much that of a crazy person. And there’s much more. (WM)

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