Unexplained: Mysteries of the Universe
Grade 4-6?Photographs and artwork are paired with captions and short paragraphs to create two irresistible packages. Mysteries of the Universe introduces natural oddities such as Uluru (Ayers Rock), rains of fish, and ball lightning. Man-made puzzles, including the Sphinx and Costa Rican stone spheres, join weeping religious statues and disappearing ships and planes. A few of the mysteries are explained scientifically, but most are just presented as baffling wonders. Some of the same oddities are examined in detail in Seymour Simon's Strange Mysteries from Around the World (Morrow, 1997). UFOs is equally entertaining, yet more realistic. While many photos familiar to UFO fans are part of this presentation, they are integrated with those of famous and lesser-known hoaxes. Actual photographs of ball lightning and of mysterious "spooklights" near Marfa, Texas, are among the illustrations unique to this volume. As colorful and comprehensive as Bob Rickard's UFOs (Watts, 1980; o.p.) yet less helpful for further investigation than Carole Marsh's Unidentified Flying Objects and Extraterrestrial Life (21st Century Bks., 1996) and Elaine Landau's UFOs (Millbrook, 1995), this title serves as an exciting introduction to a dynamic field. Some topics such as crop circles, Stonehenge, and Easter Island statues are included in both of Wilson's works. Flashy and tantalizing, these two volumes are more amusing than informative.?Ann G. Brouse, Big Flats Branch Library, NYCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.