A thoughtful, serious UFO book, and one of the very few that I would recommend to readers unfamiliar with the subject. Alan Watts entitles a key chapter "Grappling with George Adamski," and in many ways this would serve as an appropriate title for the entire book. I won't go into the convoluted, mostly embarrassing saga of California UFO contactee Adamski in this review, but Watts's central thesis is that the famous bell-shaped flying saucers photographed by Adamski during the early 1950s were genuine. Despite the kookier aspects of Adamski's story (telepathic communication with Venusian beings, etc.), Watts concludes that the photos themselves show actual flying craft. He notes that virtually identical craft were photographed in other parts of the world, by witnesses who had no connection to Adamski (like young Stephen Darbishire of Coniston, England in 1954), and offers a wealth of scientific data to support his theory that the bell-shaped UFOs flew by means of an alternating magnetic field. "Because it is the only type of which we have detailed knowledge," the author explains, "we must take Adamski's saucer as our example."

Watts drifts into metaphysical territory here and there, but that doesn't diminish the larger value of UFO Quest. If you're looking for a solid technical overview of how these craft may operate, written in understandable terms, this is the book for you. ( )