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The UFO Experience Reconsidered: Science and Speculation

Robert L. Mason
Schooner Moon Press (2008)
ISBN 9780615190457
Reviewed by Kam Aures for RebeccasReads (4/08)

The inspiration for “The UFO Experience Reconsidered: Science and Speculation” came from a book published in the early seventies called “The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry” by Dr. J. Allen Hynek.  At that time Hynek’s book was considered to be the authority on UFO’s but there have been a lot of developments in the past 30+ years and Robert Mason’s “The UFO Experience Reconsidered: Science and Speculation” seeks to explore those new findings. 

There is no question that UFO’s exist.  Any object that is not identifiable is considered, by default, a UFO or Unidentified Flying Object.  “The key question is whether there is an extraterrestrial intelligence behind any of them, and that is where the confusion starts.”  (p.1)

Mason mainly focuses on explaining the presence of UFO’s through three main areas.  The first of these areas explores natural causes such as swamp gas and particle accelerators.  The second of his possible explanations centers on domestic technology and experimental aircraft.  The third group of speculation focuses on actual alien technology and looks into areas such as quantum physics, active and passive sensing systems, and teleportation.  Throughout the book these speculations are explored and applied to certain scenarios and cases to try to explain the UFO presence. 

“The UFO Experience Reconsidered: Science and Speculation” as the title implies focuses a lot on scientific fact.  Mason does a wonderful job at simplifying and exemplifying most of the scientific processes of which he writes.  As a layperson I had a clear understanding of exactly what active and passive sensing systems were once I read his explanation.  He uses examples that we can clearly relate to.   For instance, he writes, “The human eye is an example of a passive sensing system.  It gathers ambient light and transmits it as data to the brain.  Hearing is also a passive sensing system.  Radar and sonar are examples of active sensing systems.  A signal is sent out and that portion that bounces back to the receiver is sensed.” (p. 42)  Simple explanations such as these are extremely helpful in forming the groundwork for when he presents his more advanced ideas.

Mason looks at the presence of UFO’s from a number of different angles and his book really makes you think.  He brings forth many valid perspectives for speculation.  Although I enjoyed the focus on the actual UFO’s themselves my favorite chapters were the ones on Humanoid Speculation and Motive Speculation.  I found the different scenarios to be very interesting and ones that I thought about even after I finished the book.

“The UFO Experience Reconsidered: Science and Speculation” is a unique book in the sense that the focus is mainly on explaining the existence of UFO’s through science.  I think anyone interested in the topic will find this book to be thought-provoking as it will present you with some new avenues to explore in looking at the UFO phenomenon. 

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