Science, Skeptics and UFOs - A reluctant scientist explores the world of UFOs
I'm reading this at the moment on Kindle. My initial quick read through suggests this book is well worth getting. There is much that recommends this book. I was impressed enough to order the hardback version of the book - looks like a keeper, which will no doubt get looked at in considerable more detail.
As a fellow physical chemist I admire his approach. He has much to say about the approach of science to the subject. Most of what I have read so far I would agree with. :
Science, Skeptics, and UFOs
A Reluctant Scientist Explores the World of UFO
By B. Timothy Pennington PhD
From B. Timothy Pennington's book:
On a farm in central Mississippi in the 1970s, the author and his family were surprised to find themselves in the middle of a hotbed of UFO activity. In 1977 the author, a scientist, turned to the book UFOs Explained by Philip J. Klass looking for answers, but found the explanations did not really fit. For years he drifted in indecision unable to fully come to grips with what he and his family had experienced. Knowing that UFOs were a taboo subject to most mainstream scientists, he was quite reluctant to come forward on the subject of UFOs during his career. Abandoning his concerns after retirement, the author takes the reader on a journey of full disclosure and discovery. During this journey, the author discovered that his family sightings and a number of well-known Mississippi sightings were clearly related phenomena. Further findings ultimately led the author to explore the wider world of UFOs and to discover some insights never brought to light before. B. Timothy Pennington was born in Jackson, Mississippi on September 2, 1948, the second of three children. He grew up in Polkville and Morton in central Mississippi and attended East Central Community College in Decatur before entering the University of Southern Mississippi where he went on to earn a Ph. D. in chemistry in 1974. He completed two years of postdoctoral research at the USDA Eastern Regional Research Center near Philadelphia, PA as a National Research Council Research Associate and one year as a Robert A. Welsh postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Texas at Arlington before accepting a teaching position at Navarro College in Corsicana, TX. After teaching and writing scripts for chemistry videotapes for two years as part of a National Science Foundation grant, he joined the chemical industry in the Lake Charles, LA area in 1979 and stayed in the industry for 30 years. A member of the American Chemical Society for over 35 years, he has seven publications in refereed scientific journals, two trade industry publications, and 21 US patents as inventor or co-inventor. In 1970, he married the former Esther Kennedy of Forest, MS and has three adult daughters.
Science, Skeptics, and UFOs
A Reluctant Scientist Explores the World of UFO
By B. Timothy Pennington PhD
From B. Timothy Pennington's book:
"I have been saddened as I came to understand the irrational response of the scientific establishment to the UFO phenomena. I have come to understand the scientific establishment's UFO paradigm. The paradigm is belief driven ....""Never have I seen so many fallacies strung together as in the the scientific and skeptical responses to UFOs and other unexplained phenomena. It is the Emperor's New Clothes in reverse."From the publishers:
On a farm in central Mississippi in the 1970s, the author and his family were surprised to find themselves in the middle of a hotbed of UFO activity. In 1977 the author, a scientist, turned to the book UFOs Explained by Philip J. Klass looking for answers, but found the explanations did not really fit. For years he drifted in indecision unable to fully come to grips with what he and his family had experienced. Knowing that UFOs were a taboo subject to most mainstream scientists, he was quite reluctant to come forward on the subject of UFOs during his career. Abandoning his concerns after retirement, the author takes the reader on a journey of full disclosure and discovery. During this journey, the author discovered that his family sightings and a number of well-known Mississippi sightings were clearly related phenomena. Further findings ultimately led the author to explore the wider world of UFOs and to discover some insights never brought to light before. B. Timothy Pennington was born in Jackson, Mississippi on September 2, 1948, the second of three children. He grew up in Polkville and Morton in central Mississippi and attended East Central Community College in Decatur before entering the University of Southern Mississippi where he went on to earn a Ph. D. in chemistry in 1974. He completed two years of postdoctoral research at the USDA Eastern Regional Research Center near Philadelphia, PA as a National Research Council Research Associate and one year as a Robert A. Welsh postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Texas at Arlington before accepting a teaching position at Navarro College in Corsicana, TX. After teaching and writing scripts for chemistry videotapes for two years as part of a National Science Foundation grant, he joined the chemical industry in the Lake Charles, LA area in 1979 and stayed in the industry for 30 years. A member of the American Chemical Society for over 35 years, he has seven publications in refereed scientific journals, two trade industry publications, and 21 US patents as inventor or co-inventor. In 1970, he married the former Esther Kennedy of Forest, MS and has three adult daughters.
posted by Bill Chalker at 4:34 AM
4 Comments:
Thank you for the post on this book, I had not heard of this one. I just ordered a copy. Looks very interesting.
Bill - Thankyou for posting Pennington's book! I too, like Connor, hadn't heard of it until now. I'm going to order it.
~ Susan Brown
The book has an interesting approach. Could have used some spell checking to eliminate some errors like keyhole for keyhoe and Hickson for Hickson, but these should not detract from the worthwhile contributions & perspectives presented. I was surprised by a number of correspondences between Dr. Pennington and myself. Both are chemists, both are caught up in an ongoing UFO flap, his with his family in Mississippi in the 1970s, me with a whole community around Tyringham and Dundurrabin, both small communities. We both seem to have seem to have witnessed ball lightning. I have certainly have been a longtime advocate of the scientific approach, but well aware that science has often been unscientific about its dance with the UFO subject
My own typo. So easy to do, thats why I try to get on with editors :-) Should have read Hikson (or something like that) for Hickson. Don't let the spelling errors put you of get this book. They are minor
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