Well, it was hard to believe

I am trying to forget an event that happened to me: I predicted my mother breaking her arm. I read it all through, thinkin I'd find something else to prove myself wrong, but with all I have read about 'why girls have ESP', etc, this only made me believe more. I now respect myself for it, though.

dark, original vampire tale

Sara Reinke starts with the good tenant for an author: write about what you know. Thus her setting Dark Thirst in Kentucky is a solid move. The Kentucky writer opens this highly original vampire tale, with a clan of vampires, originally made up of four families. They own a huge, isolated track of land; called"The Brethren", people give them a wide birth. Reinke demonstrate a strong world building in creating the hellish, throwback existence of The Brethren. The only people permitted near their compound are migrant illegals (a problem in Kentucky, actually). These poor unsuspecting souls are often used as servants, but more generally end up as din din, killed without a concern. <br /><br />Like all vamps, they have long lives. They are strong, heal fast, and are damn hard to kill. Very throwback, with the men being the chest-thumping protectors of the clan; the females are relegated to being the `little woman', caring for their homes and their men. Marriages are set up with no cares to the woman's wishes, very archaic, seeing young teenagers married to older (much older men). Women are permitted no say in the marriages, no say in just about anything. The males eat first; the women only are permitted to eat after the males have finished (intriguingly reflecting old"hills" turn-of-the-century mentality of Kentucky and the South). The members of The Brethren never leave the compound; they especially never leave the clan.<br /><br />But naturally, a writer lays down rules only to break them. Brandon Noble is the grandson of the head of the Brethren, Augustus, (ala Brando in The Godfather, only he makes Brando appear a choirboy by measure!). Brandon has run afoul of the strict rules set forth by the secluded clan and it may cost his life. When he was younger, he accidentally came upon a robbery in progress. The robbers attacked Brandon, and nearly killed him, which left him deaf and unable to speak. Worse even still, he shuns the blood rituals of The Brethren. A big no no in their world. When he finally manages to leave, he knows he will be own the run for his life.<br /><br />Brandon attempts to leave the compound, and now once more he is on the run. He goes to his only friend, but the friend isn't there. He meets Lina Jones, the friend's sister, and she wants to help him, but they have a world of problems to over come, despite their growing attraction.<br /><br />Reinke creates a vivid world, mixing the vampire clan with old country codes, gives you a hero that is white, a heroine black, basically saying she is not going to follow the patterns of all the writers before her. With this impressive novel, the author boldly cuts a vivid debut (mass-market debut, as Reinke has other books out with smaller presses). To check the measure of this author's talent read her The Unexpected Engagement, a Regency romance. <br /><br />I am eager to see what the author will do with the next book in the series.

Solid fare

This book is a very good springboard for a newcomer to the subject. It is essentially an amalgam of two oldish books, and this is reflected in the fact that few of the incidents cited date from after 1982. Don't let that put you off: although lot can happen in 20 years, you could argue that nothing really advances in this field: more sightings, more elusive clues, more samples of yeti fur that seem to have been mislaid, more camera shutters jamming- maybe Fort was right to maintain an attitude of amused detachment. One of the best things about this book is that references are given to many other good books, so you can explore each subject in greater depth. The content is a good balance between depth and breadth: teleportation; talking animals; woodwoses (ah, bet you didn't know about those- England's own 'wild men') almas and yetis; and children brought up by animals were sections I particularly enjoyed. It seems, remarkably, that children brought up by wolves can develop glowing eyes, just like their adopted family. I never knew that. Best of all are the manifold sightings of Noah's Ark...where is it? Why, still on top of Mt. Ararat where they left it, of course. You don't have to be a believer to read this book- it is a fascinating read anyway.

Essential reading!

Richard Morris' biography of Harry Price was definitely not the book I was expecting to read. If you're looking for yet another book delving into Borley, then you won't find that in great detail here. But this is a good thing, because Morris' book is the first true warts-and-all look at the life of this fascinating and enigmatic man. <br /><br />Harry Price was arguably the original popularizer of ghost-hunting in the United Kingdom. He had P.T. Barnum's flair for showmanship, coupled with the keen instincts of the consummate self-promoter. Where Morris' work breaks startling new ground is in covering the less savory aspects of Price's life. <br /><br />Price is shown in a new light (particularly when one considers the former biographical material available on him) that shows him to be fairly unpleasant. Bickering and squabbling with others in the field of psychic research, performing intellectual U-turns when it suits his purpose (and outright backstabbing on occasion), and exhibiting an incredible degree of small-mindedness and blatant hypocrisy, this is an unseen and dark aspect of Harry Price that has never before been explored in any depth.<br /><br />Morris makes no bones about the fact that Price may have personally stolen some of his own personal antiquities from a church, and (most damning of all) faked"paranormal phenomena" for his own personal gain. The casual reader will probably be aware of Price via his association with the Borley Rectory case, and the author shatters Price's credibility (and thereby much of Borley's claim as"The Most Haunted House in England", which was Harry Price's own contention) on the matter once and for all. Price's assessment of various purported mediums, his friendship and subsequent falling-out with Harry Houdini, plus a wealth of other personal and professional material are covered in great depth.<br /><br />This book belongs on the shelf of any serious paranormal investigator, and will serve a great reading for anybody who is interested in the life of this enigmatic and colorful character. Harry Price's tale is ultimately sad, intriguing, sordid, and sometimes chilling. Richard Morris has written a biography that educates and entertains in equal measure, and an important contribution to the literature of paranormal research.

Superficial

It must be easy to write a book like this. Simply gather a bunch of - for the most part - well known Urban Legends, and retell them in a superficial way. <br /><br />The trouble with this book is that very few of the legends are actually debunked. We are led to believe that some of the stories may actually be true. But which ones? If you want to know, you won't find out here. <br />Jack has obviously done no real research. You could write a book like this by using an internet search for Urban Legends. Where he has debunked them, it has been in the most cursory fashion. <br /><br />Incidentally, the Hook Legend. The most obvious debunk to me is to ask the obvious question: what mental asylum would allow a one handed psychopath to keep his hook? I suppose the Mad Axe Man gets to keep his axe, does he?

Downright Spine-chilling!

This book is memorable for the downright chilling tales of actual hauntings the author (and her husband, in many cases) encountered. The author's aim in each case was to free the spirit haunting the area and, apparently, she was successful in each case. Each tale includes the legend of the haunted area and its resident ghost, the author's encounters with the ghost, and how she was able to release the spirit from the area.

I enjoyed it very much!!

avid reader

This is a fantastic,humourous book about shape shifters who fall in love.Although this is a standalone book combination,the problem with the Hyeneas is mentioned in her previous book"Here Kitty,Kitty".I thoroughly enjoyed this book,and when i kept laughing my children wanted to know why!The basic outline for each story is as the previous reviewer said.<br />This is a must read for anyone who enjoys this type of genre,i can't wait for the next of her books which i know are coming soon.

rubbish- humans did not co-exist with dinosaurs!

Tosh and not even well written tosh. Read Chariot of the Gods if you want the good pseudo archeology. This is just silly and would not, unlike his other stuff, even make a good novel. Poor waste of money. Insulting to the painstaking work of biologists and historians. Utter foolishness.

We are not alone!

At 8 P.M. on the evening of the 6th February, 1995, Dr. Lynne Kitei had just settled into a bath when her relaxation was suddenly brought to a halt by her husband, Frank, calling from the bedroom. Dr. Lynne, knowing her husband, a family physician, was not easily alarmed, wrapped a towel around herself and rushed to his side to find him standing transfixed at the bedroom window, overlooking the distant skyline of the city of Phoenix, Arizona.
Frank's frantic calls were well justified for, less that a hundred yards from the window, three sphere-shaped objects hovered approximately 50 to 75 feet above ground level. Each of these"spheres" emanated a soft, inner light and it was obvious that they were not resultant of some laser beam or light show.
Realising instinctively that something very special was happening, Dr. Lynne grabbed her 35m.m. camera and managed to capture evidence of the strange objects on film. Little could she have known that this would prove to be the first of a whole series of events that would unfold over the coming months and years, peaking but not culminating on the evening of March 13th, 1997 when a number of craft and orbs, all unidentified, would cross the Arizona skies, an incident which became known as"The Phoenix Lights".
The phenomenon of The Phoenix Lights commenced at approximately 7-50p.m., when a"V-shaped" formation of bright yellow-orange orbs was observed leaving the Las Vegas area (Nevada) and flying at speed over the border into Arizona. The object was observed to travel over the Phoenix area and then on to Tucson, via a 300 mile corridor. The"V-shaped" formation was observed by thousands of people - from lorry drivers to physicians and children to lawyers. A whole cross section of society witnessed the object as it made its way across the Arizona skies and as the formation passed over Phoenix, the city stood still and traffic on the freeway stopped whilst the vehicles' occupants stared in awe.

However, Dr. Lynne was prepared. After two years of capturing the"spheres" on 35m.m. film and on video tape, she was ready with cameras at hand and succeeded in obtaining photographic and video evidence that would be broadcast locally, nationally and eventually across the World. Whilst avoiding all personal publicity and acknowledgement, Dr. Lynne fed her evidence gradually and anonymously to the excited media.
Despite the magnitude of The Phoenix Lights incident, the eyewitnesses to the events became increasingly concerned over the lack of explanation or even proper response from the authorities, whose attitude, at times, was one of derision. The authorities, however, did not appreciate the determination and expertise of the members of the public who were committed to seeking an explanation for the events which had occurred on the evening of March 13th.
Dr. Lynne's contributions to this"search for the truth" were of critical value. With expert scientific analysis of the photographic and video evidence by Jim Dilettoso and Mike Tanner, the unique optical properties of the"Lights" proved without doubt that the"military flares theory" had as much substance as flares themselves, expiring very quickly when subjected to proper scrutiny. Also, the contributions made by Ufologists Bill Hamilton and Peter Davenport and Councillor Francis Barwood as well as the other eyewitnesses who provided vital evidence and testimony should be acknowledged.
To describe The Phoenix Lights as an important incident would be an understatement and this applies to Dr. Lynne's book, which is also truly unique. For the first time a series of current, major UFO events has been captured on film and video by someone who readily admits to initially being a skeptic. Let us not forget that Dr. Lynne had little knowledge of or interest in UFOs prior to the evening in early February, 1995, when she first saw the mysterious pyramid-formation of spheres in the skies over Phoenix. Perhaps in that fact there lays the incredible value of this book.
For in her book, The Phoenix Lights, Dr. Lynne describes a personal journey, a journey which involved not just a change of opinion but a change of belief; a journey that resulted not just in a change of attitude but a spiritual change as well.
Dr. Lynne's book provides a detailed account of a momentous incident which will not only be of inestimable value to Ufologists but also provide comfort to those who have had a convincing UFO sighting themselves and have questions they need to answer. This is not just a book for"UFO buffs" though, being authored with such clarity of thought and expression, it is a book that should be a fascinating read for everyone. In fact, it probably should be read by everyone!

The Vanishings

Joel Levy's"Lost Histories" is an interesting survey of a whole range of ancient and historical mysteries. The mysteries involve people or treasures or cities that went missing, but Levy is pretty skeptical in his approach. If you buy the book expecting that the mysteries will be solved by appeals to supernatural or extraterrestrial forces, you'll be disappointed. On the other hand, if you are looking for a book that nicely recaps the mysteries and summarizes modern thinking about them (as I was), you'll really enjoy"Lost Histories". <br /><br />Levy covers many topics in fairly short chapters--some of the stories will be familiar to those who enjoy tales of historical mysteries, but others (like the lost army of Cambyses, the lost Persian Fleet, the fate of King John's crown jewels and the tragic loss of the White Ship) seem fresh, at least to me. The book is divided into several sections, each of which includes several chapters. The section on"Lost Places" discusses Atlantis, The Temple of Solomon, The Library at Alexandria, Camelot and El Dorado; the section on"Lost Artefacts, Works and Relics" covers the Ark of the Covenant, the lost dialogues of Artistole, the Holy Grail (whatever it was), and Shakepeare's"lost" plays;"Lost Treasures" deals with the Dead Sea scrolls, King John's jewels, treasures of the Knights Templar, Montezuma's treasure, the buried pirate treasure of Captain Kidd, and the Oak Island Money Pit;"Lost People" explores the lost Persian army of Cambyses (swallowed up by the Egyptian desert), the location of Boudicca's grave, The Lost Colony of Roanoke, and, of course, the disappearance of Amelia Earhart; finally, the section on"Lost Wrecks" seeks the location of the Persian invasion fleets lost during the wars with Greece, the White Ship, Spanish treasure galleons and Lord Franklin's ill fated expedition to find the Northwest Passage. <br /><br />I found Levy's book to be quite readable, although the number of topics covered means that he doesn't get into any of them in great detail. Each chapter comes with a list of references, which will help the reader who wants to dive more deeply into the topics that Levy surveys. <br /><br />All in all, this is a fun, entertaining little book, and one of the better expositions of historical mysteries that I've encountered. Based on my experience with this volume, I ordered up Levy's"Secret History" and"The Doomsday Book" and look forward to some more enjoyable reading.

An entertaining read, even if you're a complete sceptic

I picked this book up on impulse whilst looking for something a little different to read. I wasn't expecting much, I was just curious, but I found it a highly entertaining read.<br /><br />I'm not going to claim it's the ultimate in English literature, because it isn't (and even the author admits that fact). It's just a book about what one particular person does for a living. What makes it so interesting is that he does such an interesting job and this fact is still true even if you don't believe in anything he claims to deal with.<br /><br />You know those (all too infrequent) times you've been in a pub or some other location and have got talking to someone who just seems to have had a fascinating life? You spend 3 hours listening to their anecdotes and come out feeling entirely entertained? This book is like that!

More confusion about who wrote what.

I am totally confused by this book's title. Ordinarily, one might expect a book called"Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World" to have been written by Arthur C. Clarke!, but on this occasion there are another two names on the book's cover which are shown separately from Clarke's. Some years ago, Clarke hosted two successful British television series' entitled Mysterious World and World of Strange Powers. This work appears to be the best-selling book which accompanied the former series.

My problem with this book, however, is Clarke's attitude towards the world's mysteries and I get the firm impression that he thinks"Daddy knows best." Put another way, Clarke is a most distinguished scientist and engineer. For him, therefore, all paranormal events have a perfectly reasonable and rational explanation - even if he does not yet have all the answers to hand.

Take the many sightings of various Apemen around the world - Yeti, Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Almas and Yowie - to name but some. People from different countries and even different continents have reported seeing similar creatures over hundreds of years. To me this suggests there really"is" something out there or the reports would have petered out a long time ago. Clarke, however, draws the opposite conclusion stating;"Personally, I would take reports of contemporary apemen more seriously if there were not so many of them." Wrong!

In short, it is because Clarke is a scientist that his mind appears to be totally closed to the possibility of any true mystery. For that reason, I would suggest his suitability for a book on this subject is questionable. His downbeat comments certainly spoil the enjoyment of the read.

NM

Technical essence of Sauberger's inventions

This book is full of sketches, drawings and graphs related to Sauberger's inventions. A very patient reader will be able to reconstruct working principles of Sauberger's machines. Only problem is Sauberger himself, because he mixed his phylosophy with his engineering, so it is extremelly difficult to follow text to an practical conclusion. His understanding of nature was intuitive and included some forces we actually do not have a knowledge off. Although I believe that his machines work, those forces he mentions might be only his interpretation, but not something that actually exists. Anyway, book is a brilliant example of engineering romanticism.

It makes you think and listen carefully to what others tell

I read every book that I could on the Bermuda Triangle in the 1970's. Mr. Kusche's was refreshingly different. Mr. Kusche gave me the idea to use interlibrary loan to do research and obtain books, which is how he did his research. Also, his book made me wonder about other cases that he had not examined. I decided to investigate one and with nothing more than one letter found out that was described as a mysterious plane disappearence was nothing more than a tragic crash in the mountains of South America (stretching the boundary of the Triangle to the south). In his earliest edition Mr. Kusche did not do justice to the Flight 19 disappearence. However, his sequeal, The Disappearence of Flight 19, restored my confidence. Hopefully this latest edition made improvements in his coverage of the topic.