Wonders in the Sky: Unexplained Aerial Objects from Antiquity to Modern Times by Jacques Vallee
Jacques Vallee . Unknown Year . English
One of the most ambitious works of paranormal investigation of our time, here is an unprecedented compendium of pre-twentieth-century UFO accounts, written with rigor and color by two of today's leading investigators of unexplained phenomena. In the past century, individuals, newspapers, and military agencies have recorded thousands of UFO incidents, giving rise to much speculation about flying saucers, visitors from other planets, and alien abductions. Yet the extraterrestrial phenomenon did not begin in the present era. Far from it. The authors of Wonders in the Sky reveal a thread of vividly rendered-and sometimes strikingly similar- reports of mysterious aerial phenomena from antiquity through the modern age. These accounts often share definite physical features- such as the heat felt and described by witnesses-that have not changed much over the centuries. Indeed, such similarities between ancient and modern sightings are the rule rather than the exception. In Wonders in the Sky, respected researchers Jacques Vallee and Chris Aubeck examine more than 500 selected reports of sightings from biblical-age antiquity through the year 1879-the point at which the Industrial Revolution deeply changed the nature of human society, and the skies began to open to airplanes, dirigibles, rockets, and other opportunities for misinterpretation represented by military prototypes. Using vivid and engaging case studies, and more than seventy-five illustrations, they reveal that unidentified flying objects have had a major impact not only on popular culture but on our history, on our religion, and on the models of the world humanity has formed from deepest antiquity. Sure to become a classic among UFO enthusiasts and other followers of unexplained phenomena, Wonders in the Sky is the most ambitious, broad-reaching, and intelligent analysis ever written on premodern aerial mysteries.
Categories: Religion
About the Author
Dr. Jacques F. Vallee has long been regarded as the most respected and senior scientific investigator of unidentified aerial phenomena. He was the inspiration for the French UFO researcher in Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. He has investigated reports of UFOs all over the world and has worked on related U.S. and French government projects. He is currently working on a project to analyze UFO materials in a Silicon Valley lab. Vallee studied mathematics at the Sorbonne and received an MS in astrophysics at Lille University, then began his professional life as an astronomer for the French Space Committee, working at Paris Observatory. In 1962 he began working as an astronomer at the University of Texas at Austin, where he co-developed the first computer-based detailed map of Mars for NASA. He then moved to Northwestern University where he earned a PhD in artificial intelligence and served as a close associate of Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the U.S. Air Force’s top scientific consultant on UFOs under Project Blue Book. He went on to work for Hynek and Project Blue Book to create the first interactive computer data base of UFO observations. In the late 60’s, Vallee began exploring the commonalities between UFOs, the paranormal, and folklore. His observations were detailed in his book, Passport to Magonia: From Folklore to Flying Saucers, in which he suggested a multidimensional hypothesis. In the 70’s, Vallee served as one of the Principal investigators of DARPA and led the team which built the world's first software collaboration system, running on Arpanet, the prototype for the Internet. Joining Stanford Research Institute and the Institute for the Future in Silicon Valley, Vallee formed friendships with Hal Puthoff, Russell Targ, and Kit Green and consulted on SRI’s classified remote viewing programs (including the Stargate Project), which were supported by several government agencies. In 1978, Vallee was part of a panel of experts (which included NASA Astronaut Gordon Cooper, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, military and government officials) that presented a plan for UFO research at the United Nations. In the early 2000’s, Vallee co-founded a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. He also worked as a member of the scientific advisory board of Bigelow Aerospace and conducted private research for Bigelow and its partners, including the Pentagon’s now de-classified UFO program known as AATIP. Vallee has written two dozen books, including Passport to Magonia, Wonders in the Sky, Dimensions, Forbidden Science, and The Invisible College.
