Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 81-85 of 90
 A Monty Pythonesque Joke Book !! September 5, 2002
34 out of 40 found this review helpful
I first became aware of this book though a brief review
published in a British tabloid.
As a former aerospace engineer with a background that
includes stints at NASAýs Johnson Space Center solving
complex Space Shuttle engineering issues, I was understandably
interested in reading Cookýs book.
I noticed early in the book that the
author decided to write it in an uneven, folksy, first-person,
bad-detective-novel mode. I also realized that as Cook
related his adventures, he carefully avoided providing a
timeline for his investigation. The reader is left wondering
whether he pursued this for six months or six years, during
this decade or the last. Why this was done one can only
guess at; it does make it very difficult to evaluate Cookýs
claims.
Cookýs understanding of science and technology is low, his
apparent gullibility is high. Cook begins to give this away by repeatedly
bragging about his close contacts with the public relations people at
various aerospace concerns, yet the one time that he seeks
to speak to an actual industry technologist it is such an investigative
reporting breakthrough for him that he places great pride in
such an original idea.
We then follow along with Sam SpadeýsorryýNick
Cook as he chases down leads in captured Nazi documents,
old photos of mysterious foreign ýexperiments,ý and anecdotal
tales of suspense. These are the same tired Nazi flying saucer
tales that have been published elsewhere.
Rather than bore myself with a further retelling of these
chapters, just let me point out that they suffer from Cookýs
all-too-apparent lack of understanding of the basic principles
of aerospace technologies, real or imagined. One
recurring case in point is his theme of antigravity research.
He is confused about the meaning of antigravity, often
confusing gravity-shielding with gravity-overcoming engines.
This basic misunderstanding is staggering.
Now to heighten the drama in Cookýs quest we need
just one more ingredient: the mysterious Deep Throatý
like informant. Luckily, Cook gives us just the person we
and his publishers are looking for, in the person of the
supermysterious evil genius, the pseudonymous Dr. Marckus!
Marckus is blamed in the book for leading Cook all
over Earth and WWII history as he bravely tries to uncover
the truth. The best/worst part of the book occurs as Cook
relates his first meeting with the amusingly secretive Marckus
character as he forces Cook to rendezvous with him on a
small ferryboat in the North Sea. A little too John Steed and
Emma Peel for my tastes.
As I mentioned, the book is a bit overdramatized, with
many conversations repeated verbatim, yet I cannot believe
he can recapture all the dialogue accurately (such as his
discussion with Marckus in little restaurants, or on cell
phones when traveling.)
So what are the results of Cookýs quest? He doesnýt
reach any conclusion, but at the end he strongly hints that
there really was some type of transfer of technology from
the Nazis to the Americans, and that this technology involved
exotic propulsion methods of some type, possibly
antigravity.
After finishing the book, I think Cookýs just not that capable
at analyzing information, despite what he thinks.
I suspect that the explanation for the antigravity stuff is
simple technological hubris in the aerospace community,
plus perhaps some disinformation to confuse the Soviets
and make them think they had to put research money into
antigravity studies.
OK Science fiction August 21, 2002
Bill Thomson (Bozeman, Montana USA)
33 out of 45 found this review helpful
The 'Science' discussed in this book has been completely discredited by real scientists. Nick Cook admits to not being a scientist, but he claims to have enlisted a competent scientist in Hal Puthoff... Hal Puthoff made a name for himself years ago claiming to find a theory that proved that Yuri Geller really could bend spoons with his mind. Later he published work on mind reading. Now he has a method for infinite energy. If you want to read this, at least understand the source.
Worthless Nonsense September 8, 2002
14 out of 19 found this review helpful
I am glad that I borrowed this book from the library rather than buying it. This book stinks of pseudo-science, crackpottery, charlatanry, and conspiracy-mongering. Read the review in the online magazine _Salon_. A measure of the Nick Cook's judgement is that he respectfully cites Thomas Bearden of Huntsville, Alabama, from where I am writing, as an authority. However, Cook does not mention that Bearden promotes more forms of wackiness -- Soviet weather control! Perpetual motion! Cattle mutilations as Soviet deep propaganda! -- than you can shake a stick at. Check Tom Bearden out on the Web or in the book _How_to_Build_a_Flying_Saucer_.
Poorly Written Bogus Book Lacks Credibility August 31, 2002
David G. Feltus (Raleigh, NC United States)
21 out of 31 found this review helpful
I was very impressed when I heard the author interviewed on NPR and I immediately went to my favorite book store and ordered the "The Hunt for Zero Point". From the discussion, it sounded like the book would be a well documented historical look at WWII and post WWII efforts to develop anti-gravity. After reading only a few pages I realized that "The Hunt for Zero Point" is basically a book of psuedo facts. So far, I've gotten to page 49. Cook uses a chatty, wordy style to pad out a book that includes little real information. In addition, he fills the book with quoted, often lengthy and unbelieveable, snippets of conversations he allegedly had with his sources. There is little documentation to support the mostly annectdotal information presented. The author frequently admits most of his "research" was done via the internet. The book reads like bad science fiction. Sample quote (page 30), "'I see,' General Craig replied. The man's urbane delivery earmarked him, to me at least, as someone big in Air Force intelligence." In general, this book has the tone of UFO book. It is worse than bad science fiction.
Bogus. November 4, 2002
KroolShooz
23 out of 37 found this review helpful
I purchased this book because I was interested in the potential practical applications of quantum physics, including the theoretical "zero point" energy. What I got was a half-baked conspiracy theory novel. Cook is clearly not a scientist, and there is precious little science between the covers of this book. What little there is is generally misrepresented or dead wrong, as when Cook makes some hogwash statement about the Theory of Relativity having been demolished by recent findings. I keep up on science news, and the Theory of Relativity is alive and healthy (see Scientific American, November 2002, pg.27) Cook has clearly been misled by his superficial understanding of quantum physics, which appears to offer relativity-defying possibilities (On this count, however, appearances are deceiving as even an informed layman should know). Cook clearly did a lot of interviewing, and a tremendous amount of flying back and forth, in his research for this book. Pity that he didn't actually interview physicists for a book that is largely about physics. And shame on Broadway Books, the publisher, for not having vetted the manuscript through a science review board to filter out the garbage (although that wouldn't have left much). I am stunned that the author is a journalist from Jane's Defence Weekly. I expected higher standards, a technical approach, and a modicum of healthy journalistic skepticism. With regard to the latter, Cook continually pays lip service to a skeptical attitude, while continually falling into all the traps that conspiracy theorists fall into. "If Mr. X was in Place Y when Event Z happened, can we doubt that Mr. X was secretly involved in Event Z?" Well, yes. I should have known what I was in for from the prologue, which had the reek of some noir detective novel. The whole book is shot through with a contrived sense of menace, as if Cook fears that the "Men in Black" are likely to grab him at any minute. The cheapest shot of all is a chapter that actually begins with government thugs breaking into his hotel room and preparing to shoot him in his bed. Then he wakes up, and whaddaya know, it was all a dream. Of course. One word...LAME. If you dig inane conspiracy theory babble, complete with government plots, UFOs, Nazi occult-science, and CIA psychic remote viewers, then this is the book for you! If you want to really learn something about quantum physics, which is astounding enough without the mystical mumbo jumbo, there are plenty of good books out there for the layman. Don't waste your money on this one.
Showing reviews 81-85 of 90
|
