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8) FIREBALLS, SKYQUAKES AND HUMS, by Antony Milne.
Here we have a promise that no list will be unexamined (according to the blurb) in pursuit of the exploration and investigation of a variety of visual and aural phenomena, from exploding fireballs, to falls of stones, to ghost armies, to weird hums, to ghostly voices recorded on tape. The author clearly and admittedly has a pet theory on the nature of discarnate intelligences being responsible for such phenomena to propose….
But somehow doesn’t. At least the promise of no unexamined lists is, unfortunately, accurate- each chapter is basically “here are some occurences of this chapter’s type, science makes me think this phenomenon could be caused by this interpretation of that science, so here are some more examples of it, and not here’s a separate table list of yet more examples.” Analysis and promulgation of a hypothesis, of any kind? Nah, that seems to have been forgotten. There isn’t even a conclusion(s) chapter; the chapters just end and go to a set of references for the footnotes, and in index. Despite having stated “I’ll show this in chapter whatever” he either forgot or the publishers cut it.
In fact it does kind of feel like Milne pitched a couple of booksand then had to do them all in one, hence the wide range of sometimes unrelated subjects. Or else it’s an attempt to cover all with a grand theory of everything, and then just didn’t. Instead it ends up being a list of odd events possibly useful for SF writers looking for examples to have characters mention, and bugger all else.
As a limited four-part set of Fortean Times articles it’d be great. As a book, it’s a waste of time I skimmed through, flipping to the end early. If I was still writing Dr Who, I’d have UNIT check out a couple of listed events, but I’m not so it’s destined for the charity shop.
Here we have a promise that no list will be unexamined (according to the blurb) in pursuit of the exploration and investigation of a variety of visual and aural phenomena, from exploding fireballs, to falls of stones, to ghost armies, to weird hums, to ghostly voices recorded on tape. The author clearly and admittedly has a pet theory on the nature of discarnate intelligences being responsible for such phenomena to propose….
But somehow doesn’t. At least the promise of no unexamined lists is, unfortunately, accurate- each chapter is basically “here are some occurences of this chapter’s type, science makes me think this phenomenon could be caused by this interpretation of that science, so here are some more examples of it, and not here’s a separate table list of yet more examples.” Analysis and promulgation of a hypothesis, of any kind? Nah, that seems to have been forgotten. There isn’t even a conclusion(s) chapter; the chapters just end and go to a set of references for the footnotes, and in index. Despite having stated “I’ll show this in chapter whatever” he either forgot or the publishers cut it.
In fact it does kind of feel like Milne pitched a couple of booksand then had to do them all in one, hence the wide range of sometimes unrelated subjects. Or else it’s an attempt to cover all with a grand theory of everything, and then just didn’t. Instead it ends up being a list of odd events possibly useful for SF writers looking for examples to have characters mention, and bugger all else.
As a limited four-part set of Fortean Times articles it’d be great. As a book, it’s a waste of time I skimmed through, flipping to the end early. If I was still writing Dr Who, I’d have UNIT check out a couple of listed events, but I’m not so it’s destined for the charity shop.