Anna L. (annalovesbooks) reviewed on
ISBN 0380705354 - I believe in life on other planets. I believe in life outside our galaxy and that there is little - if any - reason to think we are the most intelligent and technologically advanced creatures ever. I also think Whitley Strieber is a really good writer (Warday comes to mind). The problem is, I also think he's a nutjob.
In Transformation, Strieber basically tells the story of what happened while he was working on Communion (if there's another book about what happened while he was working on Transformation, I will not be surprised) as well as now claiming that he and his siblings had encounters of one sort or another throughout their childhoods. Not just them, either, but pretty much every single person who ever came into contact with the guy, and a few people who only came into contact with people who came into contact with him. That alone makes his story wildly suspect, but it isn't the reason for the 2 stars ranking.
Strieber seems to hop all over the place in this book, at times leaving a story half-told. When "predictions" from his visitor contacts don't happen as they were foretold, he bends what DOES happen to fit, much like the gullible do when crystal-ball weilding women bedecked in scarves tell them they will suffer a loss. Who WON'T suffer a loss? And who CAN'T bend reality to conform to a "prediction"? He creates theories that seem to have little basis in reality - even if you accept his visitors as reality. If it weren't laughable, it would be irresponsible. There are so many people who genuinely, and mistakenly, believe they've been abducted that there's no telling where they might run with the fantastic ball of theories laid forth by Strieber.
There are some things in the book that made me wonder... for example, this adult male parent of a young child has a house in the woods that is frequently visited by aliens and his son sleeps a floor away, closer to the entrances to the house than his parents. What? Like Al Gore and his famously stupid internet-creation claims, Strieber states "I realized the seriousness of the ozone crisis long before most others", an "indisputable" fact - and one that I'm pretty sure is easily disproven. In the end, Strieber ends up sounding mildly disturbed and a bit like a guy with an inflated ego. His credibility is irrelevant, since he's usually writing fiction and aware that it IS fiction; the only difference I think there is here is that Transformation is less well-written and he thinks, genuinely believes, it's real.
- AnnaLovesBooks
In Transformation, Strieber basically tells the story of what happened while he was working on Communion (if there's another book about what happened while he was working on Transformation, I will not be surprised) as well as now claiming that he and his siblings had encounters of one sort or another throughout their childhoods. Not just them, either, but pretty much every single person who ever came into contact with the guy, and a few people who only came into contact with people who came into contact with him. That alone makes his story wildly suspect, but it isn't the reason for the 2 stars ranking.
Strieber seems to hop all over the place in this book, at times leaving a story half-told. When "predictions" from his visitor contacts don't happen as they were foretold, he bends what DOES happen to fit, much like the gullible do when crystal-ball weilding women bedecked in scarves tell them they will suffer a loss. Who WON'T suffer a loss? And who CAN'T bend reality to conform to a "prediction"? He creates theories that seem to have little basis in reality - even if you accept his visitors as reality. If it weren't laughable, it would be irresponsible. There are so many people who genuinely, and mistakenly, believe they've been abducted that there's no telling where they might run with the fantastic ball of theories laid forth by Strieber.
There are some things in the book that made me wonder... for example, this adult male parent of a young child has a house in the woods that is frequently visited by aliens and his son sleeps a floor away, closer to the entrances to the house than his parents. What? Like Al Gore and his famously stupid internet-creation claims, Strieber states "I realized the seriousness of the ozone crisis long before most others", an "indisputable" fact - and one that I'm pretty sure is easily disproven. In the end, Strieber ends up sounding mildly disturbed and a bit like a guy with an inflated ego. His credibility is irrelevant, since he's usually writing fiction and aware that it IS fiction; the only difference I think there is here is that Transformation is less well-written and he thinks, genuinely believes, it's real.
- AnnaLovesBooks
