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The Anomalist Book Awards 2004
& Book List

What are all those great books at the top of the page? These are books that were not considered for the Anomalist Book Awards for this year because of my role as their editor or because they were published by the company I worked for. There will probably be even more such books next year, which is why this is likely to be the last year for these awards. (I will find some other way to tell you about the books I liked best.) Although you will find a number of reprints in the the list below, reprints were not considered for these awards either. Also remember that I have not seen all the books listed below. I am at the mercy of authors and publishers in this regard; naturally, I can only present an award to a book I have seen. Many of my choices for awards this year are rather hard to get (i.e. are not available through Amazon), so I have indicated how you can obtain these titles. Please tell them the Anomalist sent you. As usual, the categories for the winning awards change from year to year. I 'd like to thank Loren Coleman (LC) and Dennis Stacy (DS) for their help in choosing a couple of awards this year. And for the first time this year, we are presenting an award for Multimedia. It's well deserved.--Patrick Huyghe (PH)

Award Winners 2004


BEST
SCIENCE
BOOK




SCIENCE FRONTIERS II: More Anomalies and Curiosities of Nature

Compiled by William Corliss

William Corliss publishes a bimonthly newsletter on anomalies and difficult to explain observations which he has culled almost exclusively from the major science journals and magazines. This volume collects about 1,200 items that appeared in his newsletter from 1994-2004 (The first volume covered 1976-1993.) Corliss not only summarizes each anomaly, sometimes including a brief direct quote from the original source, but provides a informative and sometimes humorous commentary about the mainstream’s inability (or unwillingness) to grasp its significance. In this way, Corliss is the 20th century’s Charles Fort. The items are organized by scientific field -- Archeology, Biology, etc. -- but much of this material you won’t find in the standard science textbooks. Remember, this is material that by definition “doesn’t fit.” So what do you get? Items about “Japanese Mini-Pyramids,” “The Forests of Mars,” “Processionary Sperm,” “Monarch Compasses,” “Giant Sea-Bed Pockmarks,” “Methane Burps,” “The Naga Fireballs,” “Anomalous Geysers,” “Solar Wind and Hallucinations,” “Calculating Prodigies,” and more, much more. If this material doesn’t spark your mind, you’d better check your pulse. Only available directly from The Sourcebook  Project, P.O. Box 107,
Glen Arm, MD 21057. Information about Volume One is available here.
 --PH


BEST
ILLUSTRATED
BOOK




MEET THE SASQUATCH
by Christopher L. Murphy, with John Green and Thomas Steenburg

What happens when an author of several books on Masonic Philately discovers that there are Canadian Sasquatch stamps and becomes interested in the topic enough to begin working with a renowned British Columbia Sasquatch hunter, the late René Dahinden?  Ten years later, this individual, Christopher Murphy, has produced a coffee-table quality book that is an iconographic masterpiece. Murphy's latest work is unbelievably rich in text and illustrations, with more than 480 photographs, mostly in color, in a large-format, 239-page book. The experience is a highly visual one, as every page has from one to six photos or drawings on it. The book is especially successful for those who follow the Bigfoot and Sasquatch drama from a British Columbian point of view. Begun as a monograph for the Vancouver Museum Sasquatch Exhibit, which is scheduled to run from June 2004 to February 2005, it has evolved into this volume from Hancock House, a publisher of many Bigfoot books. The contents encompass Native, historical, and classic material, and Murphy devotes many pages to an analysis of the Patterson-Gimlin footage as well. The best part of the book is Chapter 8, "The Physical Evidence and Its Analysis."  This chapter tries, via photos and text, to make some sense, through a "gallery" and "album," of the confusing hodgepodge of footcasts, handcasts, fakes, and track photos claimed for Sasquatch/Bigfoot. Meet the Sasquatch does have its shortcomings, however, chief among them is the fact that some of Ray Wallace’s fakes are still in the mix here as real tracks. While the analysis is not rigorous, it’s a darn good start. Meet the Sasquatch is clearly a landmark Bigfoot book. --LC


BEST
BIOGRAPHY




IN SEARCH OF P.D. OUSPENSKY: The Genius in the Shadow of Gurdjieff
By Gary Lachman

Does the world really need another book about the Russian mystic G. I. Gurdjieff? After all, the existing literature on Gurdjieff would literally fill a small storage shed. When the book is as entertaining and thought-provoking as Gary Lachman's In Search of P.D. Ouspensky, the answer is a resounding yes. The bare facts of the story are enough to fascinate, involving as they do exotic locales, the enigmatic Easterner who brings an occult teaching to the West, the literary (and other) celebrities who flock to his secretive school, claims of miraculous events -- all set against the background of two World Wars -- and eventually the acrimonious split between master (Gurdjieff) and his major disciple (Ouspensky). Better yet, Lachman's writing rises to the occasion. It's one thing to have a ready-made story, another to lay it out as lucidly and knowledgeably (he himself spent time in the Gurdjieff system) as Lachman does here. By focusing on Ouspensky, he also makes this book a cautionary tale about the relationship between any spiritual teacher and student: Necessary, but beware the potential pitfalls. By both parties. --DS


BEST
JOURNAL





LA GAZETTE FORTÉENNE
Jean-Luc Rivera (ed)

Journals that publish meaty, in-depth articles on Fortean subjects are few and far between. The INFO Journal hasn’t been seen for almost a decade. Fortean Studies was published by the Fortean Times between 1994 and 2001 and lasted 7 issues.  And the print edition of The Anomalist itself was published between 1994 and 2002 and lasted 10 issues. Today only one such journal survives, and if you can read French, it is an absolute must buy. Edited by Jean Luc Rivera, La Gazette Fortéenne is a beautifully produced 400-page book of anomalies that has been published annually since 2002. Some articles are translated from their first appearance in English, but many are originals written by authors from around the world. Among them, you’ll find Pablo Picasso’s "Patagonian Monsters (1850-1922)," Marc Hallet's "UFOs and Marian Visions," Paolo Toselli’s "Phantom Hitchhikers," and Michel Granger and John Brown’s "Martian Mysteries." You’ll even find articles from American authors that have never appeared in English before, like Robert Durant’s piece on how he learned remote viewing. Order here. Don’t miss it.--PH


BEST 
MULTIMEDIA




FADED DISCS
by Wendy Conners

Faded Disc is the name of Wendy Conners’ delightful “Audio Archive of UFO History.” Conners has done an absolutely amazing job of tracking down old tapes and rare recordings of  “flying saucer” personalities, eyewitnesses, and researchers and has made them available as mp3 files on CDs that are playable on your computer and on the newer CD players. She has produced more than a handful of compilations this year alone, including “Flying Saucers & Four Guys Named George (Adamski, Van Tassel, Wiliamson and King),” “Project Magnet: Wilbert B. Smith,” “CE IV: An Audio History of Alien Abduction & Animal Mutilation 1957-1976,” and two of my favorites “ETH: Dr. James E. McDonald,” and “High Strangeness: Men in Black, Mothman, Flatwoods Monster & Hairy Bi-Peds in UFOs.”  It’s one thing to read the words of James McDonald, for instance, but it’s quite another to hear the passion in his voice when you listen to the man himself.  And there’s nothing like hearing someone recount an absolutely bizarre encounter. You might even be able to spot the BS--or not, in which case you’ll feel those chills down your spine. Her most recent titles include “Cops and Saucers,” and “The First Ufologist: Donald E. Keyhoe.” If you have a soft spot for the Golden Age of Flying Saucers, you’ll want pick up some of these titles for your edification and enjoyment. And by doing so, you’ll be supporting Wendy Connors’ future retrieval efforts in UFO history.--PH

Book List 2004

Anomalies, Forteana, and General Mysteries


Science Frontiers II: More Anomalies and Curiosities of Nature
William Corliss (Compiled by)

The Dictionary of the Esoteric: Over 3,000 Entries on the Mystical and Occult Traditions
 by Nevill Drury

The Hidden Messages in Water
 by Masaru Emoto

The Book of the Damned
 by  Charles Fort

Lo!
 by Charles Fort

New Lands
 by Charles Fort

Wild Talents
 by Charles Fort

Occult Investigator: Real Cases From The Files Of X-Investigations
 by Bob Johnson

Gonzo Science: Anomalies, Heresies, and Conspiracies
 by Jim and Allen Richardson

The Weird 100: A Collection of the Strange and the Unexplained
 by Stephen J. Spignesi

How to Photograph the Paranormal
 by Leonore Sweet

The Force Is with Us: The Conspiracy Against the Supernatural, Spiritual, and Paranormal
 by Dr Thomas Walker

Crop Circles

Crop Circles, Gods and Their Secrets: History of Mankind, Written in the Grain
 by Robert Boerman

Alchemy of Nine Dimensions: Decoding the Vertical Axis, Crop Circles, and the Mayan Calendar
 by Barbara Hand Clow

Hypnotizing Crop Circle Shapes
 by Bert Janssen

Cryptozoology (with Maverick Anthropology)

Raincoast Sasquatch: Bigfoot, Sasquatch Evidence from Indian Lore
by Robert

Cryptozoology: Science & Speculation
 by Chad Arment

A Dictionary of Cryptozoology
 by Ronan Coghlan

Bigfoot Exposed: An Anthropologist Examines America's Enduring Legend
 by David J. Daegling

No Turning Back: The Life and Death of Animal Species
 by Richard Ellis

The Best of Sasquatch/Bigfoot
 by John Green

The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Monsters
 by Rosemary Ellen Guiley

Fairy Magic: All About Fairies And How To Bring Their Magic Into Your Life
 by Rosemary Ellen Guiley


 Thunderbirds: America's Living Legends of Giant Birds
 by Mark A. Hall

The Race to Save the Lord God Bird
 by Phillip Hoose

In Search of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
 by Jerome A. Jackson

Bigfoot Lives: Deal with it!
 Chester Moore, Jr.

Meet the Sasquatch
 by Chris Murphy, John Green, Thomas Steenburg

The Maryland Bigfoot Digest
 by Mark Opsasnick

Tasmanian Tiger: The Tragic Tale of How the World Lost Its Most Mysterious Predator
 by David Owen

Three Men Seeking Monsters : Six Weeks in Pursuit of Werewolves, Lake Monsters, Giant Cats, Ghostly Devil Dogs, and Ape-Men
 by Nick Redfern


History (Alternative)

The Holy Grail: A Study in Imagination and Belief
 by Richard W. Barber

The Great Pretenders: The True Stories behind Famous Historical Mysteries
 by Jan Bondeson

The Canopus Revelation: Stargate of the Gods and the Ark of Osiris
 by Philip Coppens

Watermark: The Disaster That Changed the World and Humanity 12,000 Years Ago
 by Joseph Christy-Vitale

Lost Worlds and Underground Mysteries of the Far East
 by M. Paul Dare and Timothy Green Beckley

The Book of Ancient Revelations
 by Hugh Fox

The Sabbatean Prophets
 by Matt Goldish

The Cydonia Codex: Reflections from Mars (CD-ROM)
 by George J. Haas and William R. Saunders

Survivors Of Atlantis: Their Impact on the World
 by Frank Joseph

Amelia Earhart's Shoes: Is The Mystery Solved?
 by Thomas F. King, Randall Jacobson, Karen Ramey Burns

13: The Story of the World's Most Popular Superstition
 by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer

The Knights Templar in the New World: How Henry Sinclair Brought the Grail to Acadia
 by William F. Mann

The Unending Mystery: A Journey Through Labyrinths and Mazes
 by David W. McCullough

The Moundbuilders: Ancient Peoples of Eastern North America
 by George R. Milner

Strange Histories: The Trial Of The Pig, The Walking Dead, And Other Matters Of Fact From The Medieval And Renaissance Worlds
 by  Darren Oldridge

Dig Here!: Lost Mines & Buried Treasure of the Southwest
 by Thomas Penfield and David Childress Hatcher

The Templars and the Ark of the Covenant: The Discovery of the Treasure of Solomon
 by Graham Phillips

Maps, Myths, and Men: The Story of the Vinland Map
 by Kirsten A. Seaver

The Earth Chronicles Expeditions: Journeys to the Mythical Past
 by Zecharia Sitchin

The Lost Colony Of The Templars: Verrazano's Secret Mission To America
 by Steven Sora

The Merovingian Mythos and the Mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau
 by Tracy R. Twyman

From Atlantis to the Sphinx: Recovering the Lost Wisdom of the Ancient World
 by Colin Wilson
 

Strange Talents

The God Code: The Secret of Our Past, the Promise of Our Future
 by Gregg Braden

The Deja Vu Experience
 by Alan S. Brown

Strange Case of the Walking Corpse: A Chronicle of Medical Mysteries, Curious Remedies, and Bizarre but True Healing Folklore
 by Nancy Butcher

The Seven Purposes: An Experience in Psychic Phenomena
 by Margaret Cameron

The Outer Limits of Edgar Cayce's Power
 by Edgar Evans Cayce and Hugh Lynn Cayce
 
Wrestling With Ghosts: A Personal And Scientific Account Of Sleep Paralysis
 by Jorge Conesa

The Other Within: The Genius of Deformity in Myth, Culture, & Pscyhe
 by Daniel Deardorff

Magic and Witchcraft: From Shamanism to the Technopagans
 by Nevill Drury

The Body of Frankenstein's Monster: Essays in Myth and Medicine
 by Cecil Helman

Megatherion: The Magickal World of Aleister Crowley
 by Francis King
 
In Search of P.D. Ouspensky: The Genius in the Shadow of Gurdjieff
 by Gary Lachman

World of the Paranormal: The Next Frontier
 by Lawrence Leshan

The Mystic Mind: The Science Behind the Supernatural
 by Crystal Love

Unleashed: Of Poltergeists and Murder: The Curious Story of Tina Resch
 by William Roll and Valerie Storey

Evolution's Rainbow: Diversity, Gender, and Sexuality in Nature and People
 by Joan Roughgarden

Nostradamus: The Final Prophecies: A Revolutionary New Interpretation for Today's World
 by Luciano Sampietro

The Sense of Being Stared At: And Other Unexplained Powers of the Human Mind
 by Rupert Sheldrake

The Miracle Detective: An Investigation of Holy Visions
 by Randall Sullivan

Limitless Mind: A Guide to Remote Viewing and Transformation of Consciousness
 by Russell Targ

In Darkness and Secrecy: The Anthropology of Assault Sorcery and Witchcraft in Amazonia
 by Neil L. Whitehead and Robin Wright (eds)

Thoughts Through Space: A Remarkable Adventure in the Realm of Mind
 by George H. Wilkins  and Harold M. Sherman

Yoga of Time Travel: How the Mind Can Defeat Time
 by Fred Alan Wolf

Psychic Living: A Complete Guide to Enhancing Your Life
 by  Stacey Wolf

Skeptics

Debunked! ESP, Telekinesis, and Other Pseudoscience
 by Georges Charpak

Weighing the Soul: Scientific Discovery from the Brilliant to the Bizarre
 by Len Fisher

Ghost Ship: The Mysterious True Story of the Mary Celeste and Her Missing Crew
 by Brian Hicks

From Shaman to Scientist: Essays on Humanity's Search for Spirits
 by James Houran

The Mystery Chronicles: More Real-Life X-Files
 by Joe Nickell


Otherwise Unorthodox

The Secret Teachings Of Plants: The Intelligence Of The Heart In The Direct Perception Of Nature
 by Stephen Harrod Buhner

I Am Alive and You Are Dead: The Strange Life and Times of Philip K. Dick
by Emmanuel Carrere


Cursed in New England: Stories of Damned Yankees
 by Joseph A. Citro

The Copycat Effect: How the Media and Popular Culture Trigger the Mayhem in Tomorrow's Headlines
 by Loren Coleman

Brain Trust: The Hidden Connection Between Mad Cow and Misdiagnosed Alzheimer's Disease
 by Colm A. Kelleher

Genesis of the Cosmos: The Ancient Science of Continuous Creation
 by Paul A. LaViolette

Science And The Akashic Field: An Integral Theory Of Everything
 by Ervin Laszlo

Visions of the Virgin Mary: An Astrological Analysis of Divine Intercession
 by Courtney Roberts

Dark Light: Electricity and Anxiety from the Telegraph to the X-Ray
 by Linda Simon

The Myth of Solid Ground: Earthquakes, Prediction, and the Fault Line Between Reason and Faith
 by David L. Ulin

Transcendent Sex: When Lovemaking Opens the Veil
 by Jenny Wade

The Other Side

Forever Ours: Real Stories of Immortality and Living From A Forensic Pathologist
 by Janis Amatuzio

Hauntings and Poltergeists: A Ghost Hunter's Guide
 by Loyd Auerbach

Haunted Halls of Ivy: Ghosts of Southern Colleges and Universities
 by Daniel W. Barefoot

The World's Most Haunted Places: From The Secret Files Of Ghostvillage.com
 by Jeff Belanger

The Angel of Mons: Phantom Soldiers and Ghostly Guardians
 by David Clarke

My Last Breath
 by Matthew D. Dovel

The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?: Interdimensional Communication and Global Transformation
 by Wynn Free with David Wilcock

The Afterlife Connection: A Therapist Reveals How to Communicate with Departed Loved Ones
 by Jane Greer

Experiencing the Next World Now
 by Michael Grosso

Letters from the Afterlife: A Guide to the Other Side
 by Katherine Hart, Elsa Barker (ed)

The Wisconsin Road Guide to Haunted Locations
 by Chad Lewis and Terry Fisk

Don't Call Them Ghosts: The Spirit Children of Fontaine Manse - A True Story
 by Kathleen McConnell

Anatomy of a Seance: A History of Spirit Communication in Central Canada
 by Stan McMullin

Possessed by Ghosts: Exorcisms in the 21 Century
 by Wanda Pratnicka

Ghosts Among Us: True Stories of Spirit Encounters
 by Leslie Rule

The Unbelievable Truth: A Medium's Guide To The Spirit World
 by Gordon Smith

A Rainbow Over the River: Experiences of Life, Death, and Other Worlds
 by Veronika Van Duin

Talking to the Dead: Kate and Maggie Fox and the Rise of Spiritualism
 by Barbara Weisberg

Unsolved Mysteries: Ghosts (DVD)

UFOs, Aliens and Abductions

The UFO Magazine UFO Encyclopedia
 by William J. Birnes

Solving the 1897 Airship Mystery
 by Michael Busby

Sight Unseen: Science, UFO Invisibility and Transgenic Beings
 by Budd Hopkins, Carol Rainey

The Phoenix Lights: A Skeptic's Discovery That We Are Not Alone
 by Lynne D. Kitei

Listening to Extraterrestrials: Telepathic Coaching by Enlightened Beings
 by Lisette Larkins

Aliens Adored: Rael's Ufo Religion
 by Susan J. Palmer

A Covert Agenda: The British Government's UFO Top Secrets Exposed
by Nick Redfern

The Roswell Dig Diaries
 by Sci Fi Network
 
After the Martian Apocalypse: Extraterrestrial Artifacts and the Case for Mars Exploration
 by Mac Tonnies

Gods, Genes, and Consciousness: Nonhuman Intervention in Human History
 by Paul Von Ward

Unsolved Mysteries: UFO (DVD)

 
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