The Rough Guide to Unexplained Phenomena: Mysteries and Curiosities of Science, Folklore and Superstition (A Rough Guide Special) Paperback – October 23, 2000

Fortean Times has been a great read since the first issues way back in the 1970's. It brings humor, a playful wit, and INTELLIGENCE to a subject that usually attracts writers lacking in one or more of these virtues. This volume was culled from the pages of the Times and is jam-packed with jaw-dropping pictures, and text that takes one out of oneself long enough to contemplate the "reality" of time slips and poltergeists and levitation and Kaspar Hauser--all in the spirited spirit of the American literary phenomenon who went by the name of Charles Fort.The only criticism I have of the book is that, contrary to Fort who heavily documents his work--some of the most interesting material goes undocumented. For instance, I for one would like to know where that fossilized sandal-print (the one that appears to be stepping on a trilobite) is located.Outside of this minor moan, the book is a gem worth collecting.

I've searched for new age and metaphysical books for 8 years now, and this book blows away everything, in terms of having real photos, exact dates, locations, names of people, and evidence to support the claims. I almost couldn't believe I was looking at real photos of real supernatural occurrences, but they are here, in this book, with the original citations to the original articles, photos, stories and documents to support everything with real evidence. This is a must have book for any person who enjoys seeing interesting things, like a man who can light up a light bulb just by holding it in his hand, or creatures and rocks that simply fall from the sky, or things floating in the room, or people levitating, it's all here.

Whether you are a first time explorer into things that may or not be, or an avid follower of such subjects, then you will find this book to be somewhat in a class by itself. It is a highly objective analysis of unexplained phenomena and bizarre anomalies, divided into various categories, and which sets forth the reports and claims of same in a straight-forward fashion without passing judgment. While some possible explanations for some of the events or claims are provided (ie., public hysteria, folklore, teleportation, etc.), the authors leave it up to the reader to draw any final conclusions. While some treatises in the same vein are somewhat predictable as to their content (ie., bigfoot, nessie, ufos, etc.), this work draws on subjects that haven't been the usual subject of such works, such as man-eating trees, strange falls from the sky, incorruptible bodies of saints, human levitation, moving statues, rat-kings, talking dogs and cats, and other seldom discussed controversies. Whatever your point of reference or view on such subjects, they are contained in the various histories of the world, and constitute part of what credible people have attested to be true. My own peculiar fascination with this subject is not as an unconditional believer or a hardened skeptic, but is the fact that if even some of these incidents and events are true, then the world is certainly a more wondrous place than whatever description your particular ideology would want to characterize such claims as. Dare to be astounded, this work is lavishly illustrated by some intriguing photographs and drawings. First time readers into this neck of the dark forest would be enthralled by other more focused works in this vein, including "Unexplained!" by Jerome Clark (but warning, beware the Lizard Man!)and "The Unexplained" by noted cryptozoologist Karl P.N. Shuker. Keep an open mind and the night light on ...

I've had this book for a few days now, and with much anticipation flipped through it and scanned it at first. There was certainly a lot of cases, and a good amount of pictures/drawings, but I was a bit disappointed in the lack of details for most cases. Most of the text spoke of interesting occurences, and was mainly "this person claimed they saw X...but then it never appeared again" descriptions. I was looking for more details, explanations, charts, drawings, and photos.Enjoyed: Stories about the "dinosaur" cuaght by Japanese fisherman (with photo, determined later to be a basking shark); phantom ship stories (most notably the Flying Dutchman); and the lost animal stories--finding their way home over great distances.Disappointed by: Excessive stories of alleged levitations and psychic movement of objects (complete with obviously staged photos); too many stories of alleged stigmata--again with photos that are easily spotted as fakes; and missing stories that should have been included (Oak Island treasure, missing colony of Roanoke Island, etc.).For a basic reference it was quite good, albeit lacking detail in most instances. It makes for a good bathroom reader...

This book was just fun to read. Lots and lots of stories and even stories about things I was not particularly interested in, turned out fun and informative. Good writing which moves fast.

I love Fortean books and constantly adding them to my library. I was googling Charles Fort and coincidences and one of the links was for this book. I ordered it as soon as I could and love it! It discusses many Fortean topics and I enjoy having so much information in one book.

A great compendium of paranormal phenomena.

Excellent detailed analysis of phenomena and does its best to show that they are not necessarily religious although, interestingly, does keep an open mind.

I purchased this book because I enjoyed other similar books, and wanted something like it that covered wider phenomena as a springboard to help me find other topics that I might be interested in reading up on, or other books\authors on new subjects.On the whole books is "OK" as a reference guide. It contains a little information about a lot of things, and it does cite its sources which is always good, but I found it to be too lightweight even for a rough guide, it's also not a book that you'd read form cover to cover in a couple of sittings as it's quite thick (Lots of pages, and small type) and the writing style is very dry.Perhaps my biggest problem with this books it that it intermixes all kinds of topics without much context. Topics that are not supported by the wider scientific community, but which have large followings among Ufologists (for example) are sat next to ideas that are considered to be "lunatic fringe" topics by people who believe in alien hybrids and the New World Order, without the author making any realistic effort to differentiate them.You'd normally expect a rough guide to at least say that a topic that it spends a whole page on represents an extreme fringe view, but the author often doesn't. They also often dedicate several paragraphs to obscure or unknown people or books\topics that you've never heard of while giving one or two sentences to well know figures, or topics that have the backing of noted scientists.Other topics are skimmed over with barely an acknowledgement of their importance or cultural relevance, or are included alongside the views of people criticizing them without acknowledgment of those supporting them, or vice-versa.Over all, it's a little difficult to see who this book is intended for. It doesn't have sufficient details for anybody to form an opinion on anything. Skeptics won't find their skepticism challenged, and believers won't find their beliefs challenged. Neither will they find much to reinforce their existing opinions. People who are sitting on the fence will just come away confused, and people wanting an informed view will struggle to unpick the noteworthy content from the obscure dross.I give it three stars due to the sheer amount of text that the book contains, and the total number of topics that it covers. Which is impressive, even if I find the actual text lacking.There is a UFO on the cover, but the book does cover many different areas, including cryptids, superstitions, hoaxes, natural mysteries and religion.