Late last year our good friend Matt Staggs posted a link to the “Nervous Breakdown Reading List: Occult and High Weirdness“. This got me to thinking that once the Christmas craziness had settled down, a fun project might be to compile a list of books that any Fortean should definitely have on their bookshelf. But how to approach the compilation?
My thought was that the process could be done in two-steps. Firstly, I’ll put out a general call (first one below) for NOMINATIONS of books to a certain Fortean category (to simplify things a bit). From that list of nominations, a short-list will be compiled based on the number of nominations, which will then be PUT TO A VOTE to determine the order of importance. I’m thinking some parts of the process may end up being a little organic, but this should provide us with a reasonably fair end result.
So, to kick things off, I’m going to start with the ‘Alien’ category, which at the moment comprises everything from UFOs and abductions to astrobiology and SETI. Given the broadness of this category (with some elements likely even mutually exclusive), I may have to separate the nominations into sub-categories – but I might wait to see what kind of numbers we have first:
The Essential Fortean Booklist
Category: ALIEN (UFOS, SETI, alien contact etc)
Please list a maximum of ten books that you think are required reading/reference material for a Fortean, in the comments section below. This may be for a number of reasons, from historical through to scientific importance. Note: this means it does not necessarily have to be the *best* or most *scientifically valid* book on a topic – the criteria is that it deserves to be on the bookshelf.
Note that the number of nominations may be crucial in making the short-list, so you shouldn’t decide to not post a certain book just because it has already been mentioned.
A one or two line blurb accompanying the nomination describing the reason for its importance is encouraged and appreciated (and may end up being used in the final presentation of books)!
(You will need to be registered as a Daily Grail user to nominate and vote, to avoid spammers/self-promotion/poll-crashing by external sites.)
I look forward to seeing your recommendations!
Update: Nominations are now closed, but please feel free to add your suggestions in the comments for those who read this thread in future.