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The World's Best UFO Cases. Selected by Dwight Connelly. Bookseller, Inc., 2004. 240 pp.

The World's Best UFO Cases is a compilation of UFO reports that editor Dwight Connelly considers the best in terms of multiple witnesses/and or significant physical evidence. Most of them have appeared in The MUFON UFO Journal. To be taken seriously, the book would have to include the well-known abduction accounts of Betty and Barney Hill, Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker, Travis Walton and "the Allagash Four." The book does so, but goes further by providing updates whenever possible and including less publicized abduction cases, several of which occurred within the past 12 years.

One is the 1993 abduction of Kelly Cahill. Connelly says, "This encounter in Australia appears to have a wider range of convincing evidence than any other." Witnesses who do not know each other viewed the event from separate vehicles, and Cahill recalled her visitations without hypnosis. The case contains characteristics typical of alien abductions: a UFO sighting; missing time; physiological effects, including a red triangle branded onto Cahill's body; repeated visitations by nonhuman-looking creatures; and a hovering black helicopter.

Another tells of Peter Khoury, of Lebanon, being visited in 1992 by Nordic and Asian-looking females. There was close physical contact with the Nordic, who had fine, wispy blonde hair. Immediately after the entities left his bedroom, Khoury found wisps of fine blonde hair on his body. DNA analysis confirmed the hair came from someone "biologically close to normal human genetics" but of an extremely rare lineage.

No book of this nature would be complete without at least mentioning Roswell. Thankfully, Connelly limits his discussion to researchers' work at deciphering a memo seen in a photo of Brigadier General Roger Ramey and Colonel Thomas J. DuBose. Ramey held the memo in his hand.

Connelly also includes other important UFO-related incidents: Two people watched a crop circle form. A mother and daughter saw a calf being beamed aboard a UFO. Implants were removed from abductees and analyzed. Several Pennsylvania people saw Bigfoot creatures at a frighteningly close range. Victims incurred serious injuries from UFOs. Two women watched as teams from two UFOs that landed nearby repaired one of the craft. Four surveillance cameras at a factory filmed what appeared to be an alien abduction of a man.

This book is well illustrated. It contains photos of some abductees and researchers, a ring left in the soil by a UFO, crop circles, implants and Ramey with the Roswell memo. Also included are sketches of what abductees witnessed and experienced, as well as photos of historic and prehistoric art that appears to show UFOs.

Connelly compiled the book for use in educational institutions and to educate the general public and fellow journalists. Were I to consider content alone, I would say that the author was highly successful in accomplishing his mission. However, knowing that Connelly is a former editor who holds an M.S. in Journalism from Ohio University, I had looked forward to a book free of spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors. I was sorely disappointed to find that the book contains glaring errors throughout.

My other complaint deals with the book's production quality. My copy fell apart shortly after I started reading it. The narrow margins, small font size and lack of white space also made it a challenge to read.

Despite these shortcomings, the book is an important contribution to the field of ufology, and I would recommend it to anyone who is curious about the subject.