Reviewed by David Ritchey, Ph. D.

This book is a wake-up call to the open-minded and curious lay person. It fills that major gap which exists between the sensationalism of the tabloid press and the less-than-stimulating data of books written for the professional. In some ways, it's like a book of nude photography people will want to check it out not for the words, but for the experience. There's enough variety in it to pique the curiosity of just about anybody who's willing to take the risk. And risk there is, because the lay reader, like it or not, if going to be changed by this book. It doesn't provide any answers-only guestions, and unanswerable questions at that. In order to make sense of the book, the reader has to go inside him) herself and open up to the experience. That opening is going to result in change.

I found myself switching back and forth between a 'nuts and bolts' explanation and an intra-psychic explanation and just couldn't seem to find s solid place on which to stand. It was clearly the editors intention to knock the reader's socks off... and I'm still looking for mine! Zen is sneaky...and so is the editor His sense of humor, his warmth, and his openness seduced me into allowing him to get into my head. After that, there was no turning back. He selected authors who seem, as well, to be open, honest, genuine, and human and I found myself time and again identifying either with their experiences or with their ideas. I've always had a profound mistrust for words (as abstractions), but in most of the articles in this book, the words, for me, engendered an experience ... a vicarious experience, perhaps, but an experience nonetheless.

A few of the pieces struck me as being slightly psychotic, but I guess that's the nature of the beast. Unquestionably, my favorite piece was "Zen ...And the Art of Debunkery" by Daniel Drasin. I was amazed that it could be so outrageously funny and yet so (apparently) accurate at the same time. Steven Greer's article, "Close Encounters of the 5th Kind," really made me sit up and take notice, and Jon Klimo's piece entitled "Reality Creation and the Unified Field in Otherworldly Experience" gave the whole subject some very important grounding and credibility.

Recognizing that "fools rush in ...", after reading the book, I now find myself in the position of anticipating the possibility of having a "close encounter" so as to really be able to have an experience--first-hand. As things currently stand, I have a big question without any answers; after a first-hand experience, I might have an answer... but oh!, so many more
questions. As the song lyrics go: the times... they are a'changing, and I feel that if people are going to keep abreast of the times, they will need to be aware of what's going on in the whole UFO field. Zen in the Art of Close Encounters is a good place to start.