Close Encounters of the 5th Kind | Ep33

This week I am talking to Randall Fitzgerald about his book 'Alien in the Mirror: Extraterrestrial Contact Theories and Evidence'.For independent-minded readers, those who want all of the theories and supporting evidence to make up their own minds, Alien in the Mirror brings refreshing clarity and sanity to a topic long shrouded in smoke and mirror confusion.Encyclopedic in its scope and mind-expandingly rich in its detail, this book is destined to be a classic, written by an investigative reporter, Randall Fitzgerald, who has studied the alien contact phenomenon for over five decades.All aspects of this controversial subject are comprehensively covered—ancient astronaut theories, UFOs and UFO occupants, contactees and abductees, the ideas of skeptics and debunkers, and the SETI science program and its detractors. Each of the five sections open with new findings and stunning revelations from the author’s own thorough investigations.Alien in the Mirror is quite literally a condensation of information from hundreds of books. It represents the most authoritative and complete guide to the realm of extraterrestrial contact, theories and evidence, ever compiled. It presents a fascinating definitive history of the phenomenon, giving readers objective and essential information that challenges us to reexamine what we think we know about our consensus reality.As the legendary theorist and scientist Jacques F. Vallée writes in his Foreword to Alien in the Mirror: “This book will stand as testimony to a well-traveled road of investigation and wonder. We should acknowledge it with gratitude, not only for its neat classification of complex events, but for the hope it gives us of a long-delayed, much welcome re-awakening of the true spirt of science after seventy years of slumber.”BioRandall Fitzgerald’s ten books (and more than 50 books as a ghostwriter) have been pioneering explorations of a wide variety of topics, reflecting his diverse interests and an insatiable curiosity cultivated by 35 years as a newspaper and magazine journalist. For two decades he was a Roving Editor for Reader’s Digest and also wrote investigative feature articles for The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.He began his journalism career at 19, as a general assignment reporter for The Tyler Morning Telegraph, in Tyler, Texas. While in journalism school at the University of Texas at Austin, he worked as a political reporter in the state capitol bureau of The Houston Post and spent a semester as a Congressional Fellow in Washington, D.C., working as press secretary to a U.S. Congressman. In August 1974, the week that Richard Nixon resigned as President, he became an investigative reporter for newspaper syndicated columnist Jack Anderson, in Washington, D.C. He received a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism in 1975 to investigate the Mafia and CIA connections of the publisher of The National Enquirer by going undercover as a reporter for the tabloid. His first book contract came from Pocket Books/Simon & Schuster, based on his Enquirer investigation. His second book appeared in 1979, from Macmillan, The Complete Book of Extraterrestrial Encounters, the cover of which was immortalized in Ron Howard’s extraterrestrial-themed film Cocoon. During 1978-80, he co-edited Second Look magazine, devoted to articles about the search for extraterrestrial life, the nature of consciousness, and the origins of civilization. He edited articles from some of the biggest names in science and science fiction---Isaac Asimov, Stanislaw Lem, Sir Fred Hoyle, Paul Davies, Sir Roger Penrose. In 2003 and 2004, he was a Senior Editor of Phenomena magazine, founded by former Hollywood studio executive Jeff Sagansky.Two of his books, Lucky You! (2004, Citadel/Kensington) and The Hundred Year Lie (2006, Penguin/Dutton) were Amazon.com bestsellers. Lucky...