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Secret Life: Firsthand
Accounts of by David M. Jacobs Simon & Schuster, N.Y. 1992 336 pages |
| David Jacobs is a
Professor of History at Temple University in Pennsylvania. Previously,
he had written the 1975 book The UFO Controversy in America now
considered a classic. Secret Life is based on research with dozens of
individuals who claim to have been abducted by strange beings. As Prof.
Jacobs knows, these abductees are no different from you or me. They are
not publicity seekers; they are not fantasy-prone individuals; and they
are not mentally ill. The abduction phenomenon seems to be on the
increase. When this phenomenon began is unknown. Jacobs speculates is
began last century. He disagrees with experts such as Dr. Jacques Vallee
who feel that folklore legends of fairies abducting people and causing
missing time are ancient cases of abductions. John Mack, a doctor of
psychiatry in the foreward, notes that throughout history there have
been accounts of humans interacting with intelligent beings from some
other place, be it another dimension, another time, or another planet.
Accounts of angels, devils, fairies, elemental spirits, and other beings
were taken seriously by our ancestors. It is only the rational Western
civilization that stresses materialism over spirituality that has
rejected or ignored these extraordinary tales of encounters with other
beings. This is the best book I've read on abductions. Much of it is disturbing and as Prof. Jacobs himself states, he would weep with joy if he found out the abduction phenomenon was merely a psychological phenomenon and not something physically real. Jacobs makes educated guesses as to why people are being abducted and what is the goal of the aliens doing the abducting. My only criticism is that Jacobs seems to be in the ET camp and gives little attention to those theories that speculate the abductions may be by beings from another dimension, another time, or maybe metaphysical. |