The best UFO books to bring you up to speed on the subject of UFOs

Why am I passionate about this?

Dr. Michael Brein earned a Ph.D. in social psychology and titles himself a “UFOlogist” as well as “The Travel Psychologist.” For a time, he has been the State Director for Hawaii for the MUFON UFO research organization, the largest investigative group in the U.S. to investigate UFOs (or UAP). He was also appointed Ambassador-at-Large for MUFON. As such, Michael Brein publishes books in two noteworthy series: 1) The Road to Strange (important books on UFOs and the paranormal) and 2) True Travel Tales (books on the psychology of travel emphasizing safety and security).


I wrote...

The Road to Strange: UFOs, Aliens and High Strangeness

By Michael Brein, Rosemary Ellen Guiley,

Book cover of The Road to Strange: UFOs, Aliens and High Strangeness

What is my book about?

Are aliens among us? The Road to Strange takes you straight into the heart of one of humanity's biggest mysteries: the alien presence on Earth. Read 40 compelling eyewitness accounts, many never-before-published, attesting to personal encounters with alien beings and their craft. The stories come from all over the world and from witnesses from all walks of life – people just like you. Every story is followed by an insightful commentary that explores our involvement with alien beings – and why.

Read about: Close encounters with craft that defy explanations; Face-to-face experiences with aliens, including abductions; The hybrid human-alien presence on Earth; Men In Black, missing time, time slips, and crop circles. Co-authors Michael Brein and Rosemary Ellen Guiley combine their expertise to break new ground in extraordinary experiences.

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Flying Saucers Are Real

Michael Brein Why did I love this book?

This book provides an early history of the modern UFO era by a credible U.S. Military Officer. Read this book or another book you can find by Donald E. Keyhoe.

I recommend Major Donald E. Keyhoe’s book on flying saucers because of the personal passion he has exhibited for the subject, especially for the reality and importance of it. I recall viewing in a video showing how he was on TV telling viewers how important the subject of flying saucers was, while at the same time his TV broadcast was right then and there being censored off the air. Someone like Keyhoe… right in the act of being censored, well, I think, it doesn’t get more emotionally moving than that!

Major Kehoe investigated many of the earliest encounters allegedly between U.S. Air Force pilots and UFOs (so-called “flying saucers”). Keyhoe believed the Air Force was actively investigating these close encounters, and also concluded early on that the Earth has been visited by non-human Beings (ETs — extraterrestrials) non-human aliens from outer space.

By Donald Keyhoe,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Flying Saucers Are Real as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.


Book cover of The Hynek UFO Report: The Authoritative Account of the Project Blue Book Cover-Up

Michael Brein Why did I love this book?

Dr. J. Allen Hynek was the official astronomy consultant to the U.S. Air Force’s Project Bluebook, ostensibly a project tasked with the legitimate study of and explanation of the early UFO cases in the modern UFO era (the 1940s onward). However, Dr. Hynek, a well-known scientist with a stellar reputation, became disenchanted with the Air Force’s penchant to explain away possibly legitimate UFO cases almost at any cost to the point of being, on some occasions, patently ludicrous. Fittingly, Dr. Hynek went on to become the "Father of Modern-day UFOlogy.”

From being the consummate eminent scientist who espoused the official Air Force line (and lie) that the flying saucers were all bunk to becoming the future “Father" of modern UFOlogy (flying saucers). Well, I think, you seriously need to stop for a moment and ponder the importance of that! My God! There really must be something to this, if this respected scientist says to you (in so many words), “The buck stops here! No more BS… I am tired of all this subterfuge… ENOUGH! Much of this is true… We have to take this seriously!” I do not think there’s any escaping this conclusion: you have to take this scientist now at his word!

By J. Allen Hynek,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Hynek UFO Report as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The ultimate guide to Project Blue Book by one of the lead astronomers for the US Air Force program to investigate UFO sightings—and featured in History Channel’s Project Blue Book.

Originally released in 1977, this new edition by the world's foremost authority on UFOs distills 12,000 sightings and 140,000 pages of Project Blue Book evidence into a coherent explanation. A US Air Force–sponsored UFO-basher for years, Hynek had completely changed his tune by the late 1960s. Whether you believe in little green men or an official government cover-up policy, The Hynek UFO Report is required reading.

Have UFOs really been…


Book cover of The Interrupted Journey: Two Lost Hours Aboard a UFO: The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill

Michael Brein Why did I love this book?

The first fully documented case of a husband and wife allegedly abducted together from their car at night on a lonely road in rural New Hampshire by extraterrestrial aliens. This is the popular case that ushered in the era of humans possibly being abducted and examined by ETs in flying saucers.

I think you really need to stop to consider that this is a well-respected husband and wife who tell a coherent story of their telling you that they have been abducted by aliens! I think you have to take them at their word. They had absolutely nothing to gain by making up such a preposterous story. I think their story is true. There’s no escaping that fact! They were not crazy. Again, they had nothing to gain whatsoever by making such a story up like that. I think I can only conclude the story is true. And if so, what then? 

By John G. Fuller,

Why should I read it?

2 authors picked The Interrupted Journey as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

TWO LOST HOURS ABOARD A UFO—THE ABDUCTION OF BETTY AND BARNEY HILL • One of the most extraordinary UFO tales of our time—a thrilling, otherworldly, and wildly entertaining adventure that enraptured America and stands as the quintessential extraterrestrial encounter

"True believers will see this as further evidence of the reality of UFOs" —The New York Times
 
On a summer night in 1961, Betty and Barney Hill were driving home through New Hampshire when a bright object appeared in the sky and began following them. When the couple finally pulled over to get a better look, the object vanished before their…


Book cover of Missing Time: A Documented Study of UFO Abductions

Michael Brein Why did I love this book?

A classic study of Budd Hopkin’s thorough investigation using hypnosis as a tool in the study of nearly 2,000 people’s experiences of being subjected to so-called “alien abductions,” allegedly by aliens for hypothetically any of a variety of reasons ranging from medical evaluations of sorts to even possibly harvesting human fetuses! Budd Hopkins has been considered the father of modern alien abduction research. I knew Budd personally and respected him as a smart, thorough, and dedicated researcher.

So, if you believe the Betty and Barney Hill story so that at least their account most likely is true, what then can you conclude if you take the thousands of similar stories of UFO abduction researchers into account—thousands of them! If but one UFO abduction story is true—and there is little escaping the likelihood that Betty and Barney Hill’s story is true— what then must you think of Budd Hopkins’ (and the other UFO abduction researchers’ conclusions as well from their having studied 100s and 100s of similar stories? I don’t think there is any escaping the conclusion that, my goodness, so many of these stories must be true!

By Budd Hopkins,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Missing Time as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Originally published in 1981, this pioneering work by Budd Hopkins was the first focused study of an enigma that would come to captivate the world and challenge our understanding of the universe. The influence of "Missing Time" was such that its title is now deeply embedded into the lexicon of UFO studies—synonymous with that most controversial and troubling of topics: alien abduction.

At the time of its writing, Hopkins could not have predicted the impact of "Missing Time," not only within UFOlogy, but in popular culture worldwide. The facts, stories, and theories presented herein laid the foundation for the first…


Book cover of UFOs: Generals, Pilots and Government Officials Go On the Record

Michael Brein Why did I love this book?

Leslie Kean has been deemed one of the most reputable, competent, and thorough investigative journalists/reporters to interview and report on what a selection of important military, government, and other people have to say about the UFO phenomena. She is considered today to be one of the most thorough and respected investigators in the UFO field.

I firmly believe that Leslie Kean’s book is the straw that has broken the UFO “camel’s back!”

Here you have a world-class talent and supremely qualified journalist grabbing the UFO dilemma by the horns and forcing the subject of flying saucers right upon the public by way of her earthshaking article in the prestigious New York Times, no less, that has suddenly whipped the UFO subject right to the forefront of everyone’s mind that, my God, “UFOs are real… they need to be taken very seriously… and one of America’s most prestigious newspapers says so, too…” And to my way of thinking, Leslie had the proof of it, right from the mouths of untold qualified witnesses. It does not get any better than that.

By Leslie Kean,

Why should I read it?

3 authors picked UFOs as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Impeccably researched, this riveting journalistic investigation separates fact from fiction, and documents the existence of—and government reactions to—actual UFOs. 

“A treasure trove of insightful and eye-opening information.”—Michio Kaku, PH.D., bestselling author of Physics of the Future

Leslie Kean, a veteran investigative reporter who has spent the past ten years studying the still-unexplained UFO phenomenon, reviewed hundreds of government documents, aviation reports, radar data, and case studies with corroborating physical evidence. She interviewed dozens of high-level officials and aviation witnesses from around the world. Among them, five Air Force generals and a host of high-level sources—including…


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American Flygirl

By Susan Tate Ankeny,

Book cover of American Flygirl

Susan Tate Ankeny Author Of The Girl and the Bombardier: A True Story of Resistance and Rescue in Nazi-Occupied France

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Susan Tate Ankeny left a career in teaching to write the story of her father’s escape from Nazi-occupied France. In 2011, after being led on his path through France by the same Resistance fighters who guided him in 1944, she felt inspired to tell the story of these brave French patriots, especially the 17-year-old- girl who risked her own life to save her father’s. Susan is a member of the 8th Air Force Historical Society, the Air Force Escape and Evasion Society, and the Association des Sauveteurs d’Aviateurs Alliés. 

Susan's book list on women during WW2

What is my book about?

The first and only full-length biography of Hazel Ying Lee, an unrecognized pioneer and unsung World War II hero who fought for a country that actively discriminated against her gender, race, and ambition.

This unique hidden figure defied countless stereotypes to become the first Asian American woman in United States history to earn a pilot's license, and the first female Asian American pilot to fly for the military.

Her achievements, passionate drive, and resistance in the face of oppression as a daughter of Chinese immigrants and a female aviator changed the course of history. Now the remarkable story of a fearless underdog finally surfaces to inspire anyone to reach toward the sky.

American Flygirl

By Susan Tate Ankeny,

What is this book about?

One of WWII’s most uniquely hidden figures, Hazel Ying Lee was the first Asian American woman to earn a pilot’s license, join the WASPs, and fly for the United States military amid widespread anti-Asian sentiment and policies.

Her singular story of patriotism, barrier breaking, and fearless sacrifice is told for the first time in full for readers of The Women with Silver Wings by Katherine Sharp Landdeck, A Woman of No Importance by Sonia Purnell, The Last Boat Out of Shanghai by Helen Zia, Facing the Mountain by Daniel James Brown and all Asian American, women’s and WWII history books.…


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