Forbidden Science - Volume One

Forgive me if I gush, but Jacques Vallee is my all time favorite "ufologist." His book REVELATIONS helped to see that there was a real mystery to the phenomenon and that there were those like himself who deplored the abuse of hypnosis in the service of "abduction research" and the fascination with "crashed saucer" tales and government conspiracies.This book takes us to his beginnings. Starting in the late 1950s, just before the ascendancy of De Gaulle and the establishment of the Fifth Republic, when he is an astronomy student and aspiring Science Fiction writer and ends in the immediate aftermath of the publication of PASSPORT TO MAGONIA. Along the way we have a first hand account of the "ufo controversy in america" and elsewhere. Additionally, there are reflections on a convention-bound France, where Vallee has to struggle against senior astronomers serene indifference to computers. Reflection on the US: like de Tocqueville, young Vallee looks upon this country with a mixture of admiration and horror. Here and there, there are insights into the looming computer revolution that would explode in the 1970's and 1980's. Vallee is in France in 1968 and records his take on the student uprising of May and June.And then of course, there are the accounts of love. Like the entry where Vallee writes that he and his lover have just torn the bed and now he lies in the full flush of "jouissance" thinking "why do i need a vow, when I can still taste in on my lips" (DAMN! Those french know how to live!) Yes there's a lot to get out of this book than just UFO's. But that is the main topic. We see the defining moment for Vallee when he tracks an anomalous object only to have the senior astronomer summarily tear up the print out. We see Vallee's burgeoning fascination with the subject and his passion that science find an explanation, first corresponding with Aime Michel, then making contact with J.Allen Hynek, Project Blue Book's consultant and at the time still a "skeptic."The insight into Hynek is probably the most important part of the book. We see the role that Vallee plays in encouraging Hynek to admit that there are unexplained cases. Vallee is there when Hynek gets new of the "Soccoro landing" and sees Hynek in the aftermath of the "marsh gas" fiasco. Vallee's admiration for Hynek is obviousk, but there are also other detail. Hynek's love of the limelight and his pride at having little fringe benefits from the air force like his own jeep and driver. We find out that Hynek was an Anthroposophist (a disciple of Rudolf Steiner) and we see him at his most gullible when he brings back "film proof" of psychic surgery (Vallee & Co. are less than impressed).Besides Hynek, there is correspondence with John Keel in the full grip of paranoia while dealing with strange happenings in the Ohio River Valley, a brief in encounter with Al Bielek (he of future "montauk project" fame) trying to pass himself off as a government spook, an account of origin, trouble history,

What picture of the author emerges? I find that the qualities that come through most clearly are Vallee's love of people, his intense curiosity, and his willingness to march to his own drum... Vallee's book will be a valuable resource in providing first-hand insight into the early development of the UFO controversy.

This dazzling diary offers a glimpse into the mind of a scientist who seems to challenge every preconception and established piety... Replete with profoundly insightful, often devastating observations. Publishers Weekly, 6 July 1992

A most impressive book. Jacques Vallee outdoes himself again in this collection of 12 years of journals starting from when he was age 19. What makes this book most interesting is that one can see firsthand the innards of a scientist's mind. And those innards are something that set Dr. Vallee apart from other researchers: he wishes to study UFOs *scientifically* and not emotionally, unlike other researchers. The time period of this book sets everything at the beginning of the computer revolution and he wishes to use his beloved machines to help him sort out the facts in the UFO phenomenon. Unfortunately, he is often blocked from doing so because of colleagues who think with their hearts instead of their heads. All in all, this is an excellent book. If you've read Vallee before, get this. It puts all of his other works into perspective.