23 February 2012

FIRST READ ...

Tomorrow I shall post the first in an occasional series in which our chief book reviewer Peter Rogerson revisits some of the titles which helped to form his interest in the kind of topics we cover in Magonia. In the first article he reviews Aimé Michel's Truth About Flying Saucers the book which started him off on a lifetime's interest in UFOs. In later pieces he will revisit titles - some classics, some now almost forgotten -which introduced him to ghosts and hauntings and the wider world of the paranormal and psychic research.

I think we all have particular books which have opened up new avenues of interest, or have even changed the way we look on the world. In my case the book which changed my viewpoint had nothing to do with Magonian topics, so I will not be reviewing it here, but in case you're interested it was The Death and Life of Great American Cities, by Jane Jacobs. By coincidence that was first published fifty years ago.

If you have a title that was particularly important in influencing the way you began to think about ufology, the paranormal, psychical research, etc., and would like to write about it we would be pleased to hear from you. Use the ‘Comments’ link at the foot of this posting to contact us. -- J.R.

4 comments:

Phil said...

If you're planning on broadening it out that logo may be unfortunate - I hadn't learnt to read 50 years ago, or to talk for that matter.

Terry the Censor said...

This is a good idea. I've been reading some older UFO books and see how the rhetoric and logical dodges of the present have always been with us. But the gee-whiz aspect of these older reports is refreshing; they don't yet have complex preconceived notions of what's going on (unless they take a religious view). It's a little more raw. And it's a nice change to read about UFOs before anyone heard of Whitley Strieber or men in black.

Magonia said...

You're right about the older books, but you'll have to go a long way back before anyone had heard of Men in Black - have a look at Gareth Medway's catalogue on our linked page.

Magonia said...

The 'fifty years' logo is specifically for Peter Rogerson's contributions (unless some equally aging paranormalists should choose to take part) and I will have to come up with another ingenious device for any younger writers. Trust me, I'm a graphic designer!