UFOs and Nukes

UFOs & Nukes: Extraordinary Encounters at Nuclear Weapons Sites
by Robert Lambert Hastings
Published in May 2017
598 Pages
Thibault’s Score: 2/5

This book is a mixed bag, but I do not recommend it.

This book is definitely extensively researched. (Note that I did not say that it was well researched.) It  is a collection of eyewitness accounts from various soldiers and military personnel who have witnessed UFOs and UAP surrounding various nuclear sites.

The author interviewed over 170 veterans and former officials. He then comes up with a grand theory about why so many UFOs are seen around nuclear sites.

My issues with this book are manyfold.

First, the book was written in the 2010s. However, it concerns events from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s entirely based on eyewitness accounts. I find that the methodology is sketchy by definition (even though the witnesses and accounts are credible). 

Second, the book is too polemic. The author spends a lot of time refuting refutations, and arguing with various opponents. He devotes a lot of ink randomly interjecting his theories, thoughts about a cover-up, etc… It’s tragic, because Hastings had a lot of meticulous fact based research that gets spoiled by his opinionating that is thoroughly mixed into the book.

Third, the book is too long. I only read about half, then put it down. The actual accounts of events are good; but the analysis and rebuttal of counter arguments makes for dry reading. It's also not hyper informative dry reading; it's hyper opinionated dry reading.

For example, halfway through the book he randomly says something along the lines of “Critics criticize me for taking paid speaking tours. They say I only write about UFOs for the money. But it's hard to earn a living doing this.” An author shouldn’t talk about themselves while arguing about external events. Also, nobody seriously believes that UFO conspiracy theorists make a lot of money; all serious critics understand that the money authors make from writing and speaking is very minimal. It's an argument that should be addressed on Twitter; not randomly in the middle of a book.

The author also spends much time on a supposed sighting he had as a teenage janitor in a military base. This also undermines his credibility. I would have mentioned it at the beginning the way he did which was interesting and explained his curiosity - but wouldn’t have returned to it time and time again. Once again, this would have made for a great blog post or Tweet that goes alongside the book but shouldn’t have been included.

The best books just lay out the evidence and let the readers come to their own conclusions. This book painfully spells out every obvious conclusion that doesn’t need to be explicitly spelled out. Mixing facts with speculation is not a recipe for success.

This book was a great concept, and the author clearly did some very serious research. But his presentation style undermines the credibility of his own arguments.

I think that this book is of almost no interest to average readers. It isn’t a skitzo conspiracy book; but it's not something that will convince anyone of anything. I might recommend it to another UFO researcher as a source for interview material for their own book or article; but wouldn’t to anyone else.

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