The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles: Scientific Research and Urban Legends
by Eltjo Haselhoff
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Book Summary Information
Author: Eltjo HaselhoffEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2001-12-15
ISBN: 1583940464
Number of pages: 150
Publisher: Frog Books
Book Reviews of The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles: Scientific Research and Urban Legends
Book Review: A valid justification for the study of circles
Summary: 4 Stars
The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles: Scientific Research and Urban Legends by Eltjo H. Haselhoff is a quick read, weighing in at only 150 pages (including plentiful photographs and diagrams). The book covers the crop circle phenomenon from Dr. Haselhoff's vantage point, drawing primarily on his body of personal research and experience. We are walked through the main tenants of the circle dilemma from a scientist's perspective, including witness interviews, germination tests, node length measurements, balls of light, and geometric calculations. In addition to the scientific material, the author touches upon the less tangible aspects of the phenomenon and goes into considerable detail on skeptics and their motivations, the role of the media, and public perception of the circles. We conclude with a roundup and basic evaluation of some commonly presented theories surrounding the mystery. Each chapter is sandwiched between several full color, annotated, photographs of actual crop circles.
I found The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles to be a sufficient introduction to the field of cereology (the study of crop circles). Haselhoff does well to give us a fairly balanced tour of the technical problems which make the phenomenon as intellectually puzzling as it is. The text is a (perhaps uncharacteristically) fair treatment of the subject, as the author goes out of his way to avoid conjecture and exclude unqualified, "skeptical" points of view in favor of direct observations and physical data. I imagine this text would constitute an ideal read for armchair skeptics, or the otherwise uninitiated in the audience. We're provided with solid justification of why crop circles constitute an interesting and valid field of research, while simultaneously avoiding the gritty detail that would make the information inaccessible to those without scientific backgrounds.
I believe it can also be said that what makes The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles worthy for casual observers may also make it unfit for the more technically curious among us. Much of the material within is not presented in particular depth, and therefore is not likely to satisfy many truly scientific minds. The author only tends to offer data from single physical instances for any topic being discussed (e.g. node length, balls of light, etc), while at the same time claiming that similar data is found in hundreds or thousands of other cases. As a result, the book at times falls frustratingly short of providing the depth of evidence that may be necessary to prove to hardcore skeptics that we're dealing with a globally distributed scientific curiosity; we're left with the author's word and footnotes to achieve that. Haselhoff also tends to spend a bit too much time dwelling on the role of skeptics and the media, in my opinion, and comes borderline to ranting (justifiably or not) by the end. Finally, if I may offer one last grammatical nitpick, the author abbreviates the term "Ball(s) Of Light" as BOL throughout his writing, while pluralizing it as "BOLs". Unfortunately, Balls Of LightS is not proper English (given context), and may read a bit oddly.
Ultimately, I think the value of this book will be proportional to what you expect to get out of it. If you are looking for a book to serve as a well-rounded introduction to crop circles, you should be pleased. The Deepening Complexity of Crop Circles successfully provides a justification for the study of the phenomenon, and should open many eyes to the fascinating occurrences therein. On the other hand, its brevity and shallow scientific depth will not be of significant value for those already familiar with the more detailed works on the topic.
Rating: 3.5/5
--
Matt LaPlante
2/4/2008
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