Supernatural
By Graham Hancock


    I found this book very interesting.  It's rather long (418 pages plus notes), but that is because of the thorough research that went into it.  
    It's essentially in three parts.  The first part is about ancient shaman who painted their spiritual visions on cave walls 25-35 thousand years ago.  The second part is about the fairy lore of old Europe (hint: they were not nice little winged folks like Tinkerbell).  The third part is about modern UFO sightings and alien abduction stories, mostly from the USA.
    He then compared the three noting the many similarities and comes to the conclusion, which I agree with, that these are all dealing with the same thing.  Many UFO believers would agree also, but would come to the conclusion that they are all alien encounters.  Hancock believes they are all encounters with a spirit world by people who are in an altered state of consciousness and I believe he is right.
    There are two areas where I disagree with Mr Hancock.
 (1) I don't agree that hallucinogenic drugs is the quickest and probably best way to achieve altered states of consciousness.  Fastest, yes, but not best.  For one thing, you can never be sure when under drugs if what you are seeing is real or hallucinations.
(2) Hancock fails to differentiate between various types of altered states of consciousness which implies it's all the same.  I definitely disagree with that.  An altered state can be a lower one, ie, to realms occupied by demons and other evil spirits which I think is what is mostly happening to those in this book, and higher states of consciousness where you talk to angels, saints and God.  Hancock thinks if the spirit gives good advise, such as what plants are safe to eat and which are poisonous, they must be good spirits, but if the good advise is strictly material in nature, they are not.  Good spirits are interested in saving souls, not bodies.

Overall though, I found this a fascinating book to read.  It has a 4.5 star rating on Amazon.