Do I believe in UFOs? Well, of course I do. There are thousands of reported sightings, many of which can’t be explained away. Do I believe they’re extraterrestrial? Ah. Hmm. Maybe, though I wouldn’t put money on it. But do I LIKE to believe they’re extraterrestrial? Sure — it’s fun! And there may be evidence to support that belief. Some of the information in these accounts made my blood run cold!
In his book, “Imminent: Inside the Pentagon’s Hunt for UFOs,” Luis Elizondo, former head of the Department of Defense’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (among several other titles), comes right out and says he has seen proof the government has been lying to us about UFOs (unidentified flying objects, now referred to as UAPs, unidentified anomalous phenomena, a phrase purposely created to make it sound more serious).
Elizondo goes through some of the UFO history from his viewpoint, convinced that extraterrestrials are involved. Oh, yes. He says he KNOWS there are nonhuman tissue samples from alien crash sites stowed somewhere in government vaults. One official has told him that yes, indeed, “Four deceased nonhuman bodies were in fact recovered from the 1947 Roswell crash.”
The author writes, “Unidentified craft with beyond-next-generation technology — including the ability to move in ways that defy our knowledge of physics and to do so within air, water, and space — have been operating with complete impunity all over the world since at least World War II. These craft are not made by humans.” There have been sightings all over the world — not just sightings, but reports of physical contact, “alien” implants and even abductions— and other countries have taken them much more seriously than we have. We’ve been “leaving a very real national security threat unaddressed,” he writes, suggesting that at least we need to investigate in case it’s another country doing all this.
The Star Trek geek in me found it really interesting when one physicist explained how UAPs may be able to move as they do, by “warping space and time.”
“These are crazy times we’re living in, and it only gets crazier. What was once considered science fiction is now science fact,” Elizondo tells us. “I’m not saying it doesn’t sound crazy, I’m saying that it’s real.”

For a fairly comprehensive history of UFO sightings and how the government has handled such reports, check out “UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government’s Search for Alien Life Here — and Out There” by Garrett M. Graff, who also includes the history of programs to search for signs of life on other planets. He describes his large book as intertwining the military work and the scientific research involved. Graff is more neutral in his conclusions than Elizondo. (The two books don’t overlap as much as you’d think.)
First, Graff describes the universe as science knows it, just to get to this idea: It’s logical to think we aren’t alone. But he cites people who point out that the distances are so incredibly vast, it would be nearly impossible for us to have visitors from outside our solar system. As Carl Sagan said, “One of the strongest arguments against Earth being visited by UFOs … was the simple truth that it was unlikely that any alien civilization even knew we existed.”
Unexplained sightings go back in time as far as the Bible, Graff writes. Modern UFO history, of course, starts with 1947 Roswell and the “flying saucer.” He details various government and scientific projects to look into and or explain sightings and the search for intelligent life outside Earth. What would be required for life to exist on other planets? How would they find us? What could they want from us?
He introduces us to UFO authorities George Adamski, Donald Keyhoe, J. Allen Hynek, Jacques Vallée, Donald Menzel, Whitley Strieber, and others. Along with examples of many sightings, his topics also include crop circles, Area 51, men in black, and more.
“It is hard to believe that any technically accomplished race would come here, flaunt its ability in mysterious ways, and then simply go away,” said James Lipp. According to Philip Morrison, “Either we’re alone in the universe or we’re not, and either possibility boggles the mind.”
Graff concludes, “As it turns out, in the end, the story of the hunt for ‘them’ is mostly actually a story about us.”

If you prefer fiction in your space science, “Orbital” by Samantha Harvey is a beautifully written love letter to planet Earth and the winner of the 2024 Booker Prize. The story is set on the international space station, but I wouldn’t call it “science fiction.” It’s just what life may be like if you lived on board.
There really isn’t much of a plot. It’s descriptive of day-to-day life and what the six astronauts see from their perch as they circle Earth 16 times a day. They are from five different countries, and each has assigned research work, with plants, animals, minerals, etc. Because they live together in harmony and see the planet below with no political borders, no separations but water and mountains, they see the ridiculousness of the signs on the bathroom doors: “Because of ongoing political disputes please use your own national toilet.” They ask themselves, “Can humans not find peace with one another?”
Harvey writes, “Rotating about the earth in their spacecraft they are so together, and so alone, that even their thoughts, their internal mythologies, at times convene. Sometimes they dream the same dreams — of fractals and blue spheres and familiar faces engulfed in dark, and of the bright energetic black of space that slams their senses.”
“The universe unfolds in simple eternities.” This is poetic stuff. “The Milky Way is a smoking trail of gunpowder shot through a satin sky. … You feel all the fizzing stars and the moods of the oceans and lurch of the light through your skin.”
It isn’t a long book, and it’s just filled with lovely writing.
Mary Louise Ruehr is a books columnist for The Portager. Her One for the Books column previously appeared in the Record-Courier, where she was an editor.