A new book has been published (in German) this month featuring my paper ” The Lure of Local SETI: 50 Years of Field Experiments”, a document that I had prepared for the First IAA Symposium on Searching for Life Signatures (UNESCO/Paris – September 2008).

A very interesting book, a short introduction here:

Michael Schetsche, Andreas Anton (Eds.

To date UFOs have remained a mystery. Their appearance usually occurs unexpected and is always unpredictable. Probably this is why they have been hidden from academic sight for so long.

UFOs are a fantastic phenomenon with a broad range of interpretation. It can raise inconvenient questions – it may even appear as a threat to scientific certainty itself. For most observers, it will ultimately stay a rather unreal reality.

Are UFOs more than a cultural neomyth? Is it nothing but hard to explain yet natural phenomena – or is it a portent of extraterrestrial civilizations after all?

UFOs are and remain a challenge to our thinking. After 65 years of helplessness it appears to be time for a new beginning.

The new paradigm of reflexive UFO research claims: The only way to understand this contradictory phenomenon is through the interaction of natural and cultural sciences. This requires openness to theory and empirical willingness to cooperate on both sides.

Only a natural and cultural scientifically informed approach to UFO research will have a chance to find a way into academic science: beyond all previous prohibition of thought.