Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World [Hardcover]

I am totally confused by this book's title. Ordinarily, one might expect a book called "Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World" to have been written by Arthur C. Clarke!, but on this occasion there are another two names on the book's cover which are shown separately from Clarke's. Some years ago, Clarke hosted two successful British television series' entitled Mysterious World and World of Strange Powers. This work appears to be the best-selling book which accompanied the former series.

My problem with this book, however, is Clarke's attitude towards the world's mysteries and I get the firm impression that he thinks "Daddy knows best." Put another way, Clarke is a most distinguished scientist and engineer. For him, therefore, all paranormal events have a perfectly reasonable and rational explanation - even if he does not yet have all the answers to hand.

Take the many sightings of various Apemen around the world - Yeti, Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Almas and Yowie - to name but some. People from different countries and even different continents have reported seeing similar creatures over hundreds of years. To me this suggests there really "is" something out there or the reports would have petered out a long time ago. Clarke, however, draws the opposite conclusion stating; "Personally, I would take reports of contemporary apemen more seriously if there were not so many of them." Wrong!

In short, it is because Clarke is a scientist that his mind appears to be totally closed to the possibility of any true mystery. For that reason, I would suggest his suitability for a book on this subject is questionable. His downbeat comments certainly spoil the enjoyment of the read.

NM

i was young when i saw this book between my brothers books.just inspecting it and afterwards readind it over and over at a time when books were scarce and the topics a little 'curious' but what amazed me more was mr clarke's scientific and objective approach even to unknown.now i wish my children could read it and travel to many parts of the world with those questions in their mind.in fact as long as we can ask why,how etc. our development will continue...

For me, this book was an introduction to many a strange thing, and to a better approach to the paranormal. For this book is neither a smug debunking of the kind that Carl Sagan or Richard Dawkins are so keen on, or the sensationalised tabloid trash of the kind you get repeated continually on cable TV...

The book's attitude is summed up in the afterword by Arthur C. Clarke (who as some have cleverly deduced, didn't write this book) - some phenomena are much more plausible than others. This is a good thing, as all too often, there is a black and white approach, which seems to think that all of the so called paranormal is either real (to anyone with an "open mind") or the province of the gullible and ridiculous. So he says, quite rightly, that there's a better chance of "monsters" living in the deep ocean than in smaller lakes and lochs, which can be searched extensively.

My favourite chapter by far, is the one on Tunguska Explosion. This is something everyone should read. Here you've got a genuine mystery, and it is published with some excellent pictures from the original expedition, interviews with the surviving members etc. The bits about ball lightning and sea monsters are superb. Some of the pieces have been debunked since, unfortunately, but at the same time, plenty of things have emerged since - for example, Roswell and Area 51 were not the big legends in the early 80s that they are now.

Anyone who is looking for stuff on telepathy, poltergeists, ghosts etc will be disappointed. This is to be found in the sequel "World of Strange Powers".

It's great to read a book like this - it talks about the odd things in our world, without getting stupid or trashy. Other authors on the paranormal would do well to learn from it.