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by Preston Dennett 
Does not live up to its potential
When my wife Fayaway and I moved to Malibu Lake, we sought out information on paranormal phenomena in southern California, and were pleased when we found this book relating events in our own neighborhood. I myself have no doubt that the Santa Monica Mountains, in which Topanga Canyon is located, contain reservoirs of energies unknown to mainstream science, and that entities from other dimensions or planets are drawn here--it was one of the reasons that we settled here--but this book fails in its objective to convince us. The book consists largely of sightings of lights or unidentified objects in the sky and memories of abductions, remembered without lapse or recovered by hypnosis. It is probable that these accounts are valid, and represent actual events, but the great flaw of this book is that the author himself lacks conviction and authority, and fails to draw on the authority of others to back up his argument. A case in point is his statement in the penultimate chapter regarding one possible reason that UFO occupants might be interested in Topanga Canyon: it may have a connection with the lost continent of Mu or Lemuria, a Pacific Ocean counterpart of Atlantis. Dennet's sources for this information, the discussion of which consists of a scant three paragraphs, are two local men, one named, the other anonymous, who believe that there are ruins of these ancient civilizations in the Santa Monica Mountains. Dennet's statement that "the Santa Monica mountains may be archaeologically significant" lacks both conviction on the author's part and, apparently, an awareness that others have preceded him in this connection between lost continents and the UFO phenomenon. Ivan T. Sanderson is just one luminary in this field who has posited a correlation between them, and provided evidence as well, but Dennet either ignores or does not know of Sanderson's work. In either case, Dennet has not fulfilled his responsibility to the reader. I myself am certain that something is going on in Topanga Canyon, and a revised version of this book would benefit the field of UFOlogy greatly. If the author would approach the material again with greater attention to those thinkers and researchers who precede him, and if he would provide a stronger theoretical structure, this book could be a valuable addition to UFOlogical thought. As it stands, however, the book reads like a collection of odd events that may have import, but which are unconnected by theory, and the meaning of which the author himself is uncertain. |
