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WORK TITLE: UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens
WORK NOTES: with Donald R. Prothero
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Timothy D. Callahan was trained as an artist and worked for more than 20 years in the animation industry. Throughout his life he has also had an active interest in the sciences and the study of mythology and religious belief. He is the religion editor for Skeptic Magazine. * https://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/ufos-chemtrails-and-aliens/
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Male.
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Writer, editor, and former animation artist. Skeptic Magazine, religion editor. Worked in animation industry for over twenty years.
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Timothy D. Callahan is a writer, editor, and former animation artist. He spent over two decades working in the animation industry. Callahan has maintained an lifelong interest in religion and mythology and has served as the religion editor for Skeptic Magazine.
Callahan collaborated with Donald R. Prothero to write UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens: What Science Says. The volume was released in 2017. Callahan and Prothero begin the book by discussing what it is about conspiracy theories and the idea of life on other planets that draws such interest in humans. They suggest that the way our brains are constructed makes us particularly susceptible to creating patterns in order to explain events that may not initially make sense. This creating of patterns helps humans feel more in control. Callahan and Prothero note that the theories humans develop to explain things that confound them are often far more complicated than what is actually happening. They also discuss the draw of charismatic figures spouting conspiracy theories. Callahan and Prothero highlight influential con artists, including Erich von Daniken and L. Ron Hubbard. The authors suggest that the power of these people lies in their ability to identify and speak to the insecurities and fears that many people share. Hubbard, Daniken, and others like them have asserted that they have come in contact with extraterrestrials and have described them in detail. Over time, the classic image of the alien with a small stature and large bug-like eyes emerged. Extraterrestrial enthusiasts have also developed the idea of a so-called Nordic alien with heightened mental faculties and the ability to know humans’ thoughts. Callahan and Prothero go on to highlight specific conspiracy theories. They discuss the landing of the alien craft near Roswell, New Mexico, the use of airplane exhaust to disseminate chemicals to control human minds, the suggestion that autism is caused by vaccines, and the paranormal power of crystal skulls found in Central America. Callahan and Prothero analyze the facts in each case using the scientific method, sharing their conclusions.
Reviewers offered favorable assessments of UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens. Rachel Jagareski, critic on the Foreword Reviews website, suggested: “While this book is entertaining, it may also result in frustration and melancholy on the part of science lovers when they note just how many people ardently believe in wildly unfounded theories.” A Publishers Weekly writer commented: “Prothero and Callahan offer entertainment as well as wisdom for everyone who’s ever wondered what’s behind so many conspiracy theories.”
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PERIODICALS
Publishers Weekly, June 5, 2017, review of UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens: What Science Says, p. 46.
ONLINE
Foreword Reviews Online, https://www.forewordreviews.com/ (March 21, 2018), Rachel Jagareski, review of UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens.
Timothy D. Callahan was trained as an artist and worked for more than 20 years in the animation industry. Throughout his life he has also had an active interest in the sciences and the study of mythology and religious belief. He is the religion editor for Skeptic Magazine.
QUOTED: "Prothero and Callahan offer entertainment as well as wisdom for everyone who's ever wondered what's behind so many conspiracy theories."
UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens: What Science Says
Publishers Weekly. 264.23 (June 5, 2017): p46+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
* UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens: What Science Says
Donald Prothero and Timothy Callahan.
Indiana Univ., $28 (448p) ISBN 978-0-253-02692-7
Prothero (Rhinoceros Giants), a geologist and paleontologist, and Callahan, religion editor for Skeptic Magazine, explore popular paranormal notions and conspiracy theories while explaining the best ways to evaluate them. The first step, the authors advise, is a healthy dose of skepticism: take a close look at the evidence. Humans' "believing" brains work overtime to fashion random events into patterns, such as finding false data correlations between vaccination and autism or seeing the Virgin Mary on a grilled cheese sandwich. Combine that pattern-making survival skill with a need to have control over a threatening world and the result is often the kind of conspiratorial thinking that proliferates across the internet. Prothero and Callahan explore the modern myths of UFO sightings and alien encounters and the evidence for them that never quite adds up. They look into the reality--or lack thereof--of New World Order efforts to maintain a docile population, rapacious reptilian aliens disguised as humans, extraterrestrial-based religions premised on aliens seeding Earth with human life, and a crystal skull that is supposedly an ancient microchip for storing alien wisdom. With their book's brisk pace and energetic writing, Prothero and Callahan offer entertainment as well as wisdom for everyone who's ever wondered what's behind so many conspiracy theories and paranormal phenomena. (Aug.)
Caption: A model of aliens exiting a flying saucer at the International UFO Museum in Roswell, N. Mex., pictured in Prothero and Callahan's UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens (reviewed on p. 46).
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens: What Science Says." Publishers Weekly, 5 June 2017, p. 46+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A495538369/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=713b32bc. Accessed 21 Mar. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A495538369
QUOTED: "While this book is entertaining, it may also result in frustration and melancholy on the part of science lovers when they note just how many people ardently believe in wildly unfounded theories."
UFOS, CHEMTRAILS, AND ALIENS
WHAT SCIENCE SAYS
Donald R. Prothero
Timothy D. Callahan
Indiana University Press (Aug 10, 2017)
Hardcover $28.00 (448pp)
978-0-253-02692-7
2017 INDIES Finalist
Finalist, Popular Culture (Adult Nonfiction)
This entertaining study reveals a public fascinated with the unverifiable.
Even for those who don’t believe the hokum, aliens and UFOs are a source of fascination—explored through speculative fiction, sci-fi flicks, and television “documentaries” about alien autopsies and ancient astronauts. Science professor Donald R. Prothero and illustrator/editor Timothy D. Callahan analyze why we are so alien-obsessed, in UFOs, Chemtrails, and Aliens: What Science Says.
The authors analyze flying-saucer sightings, alien abductions, UFO-based cults, and a passel of other conspiracy and scientifically unfounded theories. They first tackle the psychological underpinnings of human preoccupation with alien life, in an insightful chapter that describes how human brains are hardwired to find patterns in random, meaningless events in order to quell anxiety about things that are beyond our control.
They cogently and patiently explain impulses to seek complicated answers for life’s unknowns, even when simpler, more mundane explanations exist. It is eye-opening to learn the methods used by media hucksters and con artists, from L. Ron Hubbard to Erich von Daniken, that capitalize on these fears and insecurities, reinforcing the public’s shared mind-set of reptilian, bug-eyed little gray men, or omniscient “Nordic” type aliens.
The book covers a lot of ground: there are narratives of alien probings, Roswell, New Mexico’s flying-saucer “cover-up,” alien and crystal skulls, crop circles, and discussions of the chemtrails that are imagined to poison us or control our minds.
Each chapter starts with detailed accounts of the prevailing standard theories, which often seem quite convincing; then comes the patient, scientific analysis of the “facts,” which evanesce under rational scrutiny, based as they inevitably are on a pyramid of hearsay, inconsistencies, anonymous witnesses, flawed memories, and conveniently mislaid or lost hard evidence. The authors end each chapter with an elegant recap of how each bizarre theory crumbles upon application of the scientific method.
While this book is entertaining, it may also result in frustration and melancholy on the part of science lovers when they note just how many people ardently believe in wildly unfounded theories, even after confronting piles of evidence that refutes their notions. That is a trend that seems destined to mushroom in the Internet’s “giant echo chamber for weird ideas, with no peer review, fact-checking, or quality control.”
Reviewed by Rachel Jagareski
University Press 2017