The Passionate Percipient: Illusions I Have Known And Loved - Selected Writings of John A. Keel Paperback – June 24, 2015

As a fan of John Keel since the late 1960s, I enjoy reading anything and everything he has ever written!

Enjoyable and informative collection of short writings. In addition to the traditional Keel fare, some interesting topics include snakes, as well as the interaction between stage magicians and psychics.

Another collection of articles by John Keel. This one begins with a lengthy excerpt from his early book Jadoo. He was a talented writer, but even here his tendency to stray from the truth is on display. He describes a scene where he is walking with an old lama on the way to Lhasa in Tibet. He turns off on a trail towards Kanchenjunga when his guide stops. What's the matter? Nightshade flowers, whose scent "can be fatal", were present in the "valley of death". That is utter baloney. Deadly nightshade is only potentially deadly if the berries of the plant are eaten. People can't be killed by breathing in pollen.Things improve with the account of Keel's visit to Project Blue Book in 1966, where he met with Lt. Col. Maston Jacks. Keel was offered the opportunity to meet J. Allen Hynek by Jacks, but Keel says he refused because Hynek "had made a public fool of himself in Michigan, and that the general public would no longer accept him as an 'expert'". That seems an opportunity wasted. Anyway, Jacks revealed nothing of interest, according to Keel, as he had to "defend an indefensible position".Next are notes that accompanied his intended UFO article for Playboy magazine. In a previous book in this series, Searching for the String, Keel expresses dismay with Moseley that he isn't taking the subject seriously enough. Yet here he states that Moseley's "files - and his advice and information about other ufologists - have been most useful". So, might it be the case that Keel liked to use people long enough to get as much information as he required, then to discard them? He goes on to say that he dated Carl Sagan's former secretary in the process of gathering information about Sagan's private life and involvement with the Air Force's UFO program, also that he snooped into J. Allen Hynek's private life.Chapter 4 is the unpublished Playboy article on the history of UFOs. This is mostly pretty good and would serve as a decent enough introduction to the subject, except for the inaccuracies. Under the heading, "The Maps and Manuscripts" Keel refers to the Piri Reis maps from 1513. "These maps were incredibly detailed, and as accurate as the latest modern charts." That's not the case. For example, the coast of Antarctica is further away from the coast of Argentina than is depicted on the Piri Reis map. He later goes on to discuss the Thomas Mantell case. Regarding Mantell's last words he reports that "a technician who was present in the tower at the time revealed that Mantell's last words were: 'My God! There are people in it!" He doesn't name the technician. Unsubstantiated hearsay is presented to the reader as being factual. Regarding George Adamski, he says that Adamski "wrote a very successful book about his experiences with the Venusians." That's a contentious statement. It might have been seen as successful among devout believers, e.g. UFO author Timothy Good, but I doubt if people in general would consider Adamski's books successful.Chapter 6 is his article, "The Myth of UFO Censorship". He says that he had been in the newspaper and publishing business since he was 12 and had never met any editor, reporter or publisher who had even heard of a censorship order. In Britain there is the "D-Notice", now called the "DA-Notice", which are reportedly generally complied with by the media, when the government wants to stop the reporting of a matter affecting national security. The situation regarding apparent UFO censorship in the USA was examined in The Missing Times by Terry Hansen.In chapter 7 he discusses cases where people have reportedly encounter beings from Orion and describes a case involving a milkman in Sydney, Australia who reportedly encounter beings in spacesuits. He said a detailed description of this case can be found in The Scoriton Mystery by Eileen Buckle. However, that book only describes the case of Arthur Bryant, an Englishman who said he'd encountered a being from Venus, who might have been a reincarnated George Adamski. Later in this chapter he yet again says that Meade Layne worked out the mystery of UFOs years ago, with a theory of "materialization and dematerialization of extradimensional objects". He then says that Harold T. Wilkins "also worked this out, and published books about it in the early 1950s". That's not the case. Harold Wilkins's books report UFOs as being hostile objects that have attacked people and property and that there appears to be a UFO base on the moon. (The UK title of his Flying Saucers on the Attack was Flying Saucers on the Moon). Further on he discusses Project Blue Book Special Report 14, which he appears to accept at face value. He says the twelve different types of UFO objects described in that report "have rarely been seen since 1955". He concludes: "So there may not be any types at all!" He doesn't state that former Blue Book chief during its investigative years, Edward Ruppelt, was dismissive of Special Report 14. Later in the chapter the Joe Simonton case is discussed (the man who said he met aliens who gave him pancakes). Rather than consider the possibility that the case was a hoax, Keel declares that Simonton "was a bewildered victim of the artifact game". Keel concludes this chapter with the assertion that "we are obliged to forget about the meaningless sightings and concentrate on the claims and experiences of the contactees", as the UFO phenomenon "seems to be largely subjective". It evidently escaped his attention that the claims and experiences of the contactees are also largely subjective.In Chapter 8 he once again discusses Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke. He says that Clarke "visualized the flying saucers as part of the psychic system of our environment, peopled by giant winged beings remarkably similar to the strange Mothman seen by hundreds of people in the Ohio Valley during 1966-67". His point presumably was that UFOs are here to signify the end of the world, as they were in Childhood's End, and the Mothman was a sign that the world is coming to an end. However, in Childhood's End there were no aliens who were "remarkably similar" to the reported Mothman.In Chapter 10 he touches on spiritualism and says that in the last half of the 19th century, "materializations were almost commonplace" and that "the most common type of entity was an Indian-like figure with high cheekbones and Oriental eyes. Often these characters wore some kind of metal headpiece." That's utter baloney. Materializations were reported, but it's pushing it to say they were almost commonplace. From the literature of the period the entities materialized were representations of deceased people known to someone attending the seance. The "metal headpiece" feature appears to be an example of Keel deliberately lying, as I have never read of such a report. As part of his argument linking spiritualism with reported alien encounters in a 1988 article he discusses "ambrosia" and states that Woodrow Derenberger "felt better after he drank a liquid given to him by an alleged ufonaut". By 1988 even Keel should have accepted that Derenberger's account was fraudulent. Also, as in a previous book in this series, he speculates that Calvin Parker acted as a spiritualist medium in the case of the Pascagoula reported abduction. Parker was unconscious at the time and this provided the energy for the UFO encounter, Keel claims. However, Parker later reported that he only said he was unconscious because he didn't want to answer any questions about the incident.Overall, too much repetition from previous books in the series, but worth a look for the unpublished 1966 Playboy article.

Another great compilation of articles, lectures, and curiosities from the vault of John Keel's illustrious career. While it is obviously repetitive for a longtime fan, it does include many valuable things. The best piece is the article "The Problem of Illusion," which really encapsulates his "superspectrum" theory and I guess must have been the first time he made his conclusions public, as it dates from the late sixties. It's fascinating. The somewhat legendary Playboy article (which was rejected, to be then commissioned to J. Allen Hynek, whom I think Keel resented for the rest of his life) is a bit disappointing, as he hadn't reached the maturity of his ideas yet. The article on snakes for High Times is a delight, too, as is his overlook of the very early stages of the media fascination with flying saucers called "Under the Radar: The Roots of Weirdness." I'm sure I read that article before with another title. I don't know what I'm going to do once I read all of these compilation books of Keel artifacts! I just hope Andrew Colvin never tires of squeezing Keel's legacy!