Fringe-ology: How I Tried to Explain Away the Unexplainable—And Couldn't

Steve Volk

Jun 2011 · Harper Collins

About this ebook

“Fringe-Ologybrings a poet’s eye to the frayed edges between the known and unknown, beliefand skepticism. . . . A dive into the paranormal even a hardcore skeptic like myselfcan enjoy.” —Mat Johnson, author of Pym

Takea strange and unsettling trip into the heart of the paranormal universe asjournalist Steve Volk tries to answer some of the most fundamental questions atthe heart of human existence. Fringe-ology will appeal to anyone curiousbut cautious about reports of paranormal experiences, psychic phenomena, andother unexplainable events—anyone who has ever wondered about the existence anafterlife, intelligent life on other planets, or the limits of extrasensoryperception. For fans of Fringe, Mythbusters,Medium, Heroes, Nova, and Lost, Volk’sscintillating journey into mystery illuminates the furthest boundaries ofpossibility and wonder.

Ratings and reviews

Overall, I was disappointed in this book. Steve Volk does a good job of describing lucid dreaming, EMDR, and some other non-fringe, interesting science and then leaps to making paranormal claims around them. I cannot find a single prominent skeptic who he gives credence to (look for Randi, Blackmore, Klass, McGaha in the index), but he believes in lots of believers or people proven to prevaricate. Most annoying is when the author makes a pretense of being unbiased. "Blazing Saddles" about the 2008 Stephenville lights is a good example. Steve Volk goes on and on about how mysterious it all was and how it was never satisfactorily explained. We learn how UFO-enthusiasts from MUFON found the radar track of a single object flying or hovering for an hour, and the military "after two weeks of maintaining they had no jets in the area, they reversed course." Volk posits silliness about perhaps it being "some secret military craft." To mix metaphors, it's a kitchen sink approach to journalism - throw everybody's explanation, pretty much equally weighted, against the wall and see which sticks in which reader's mind. I checked this chapter using Google, and found the following. The FAA, NOT the military, said that eight F-16 jets flew into that airspace at the time of the sightings. Volk never mentions that - or that the MUFON radar record check he cites approvingly missed not one, not two, but EIGHT jets. All because two days after the lights an Air Force public affairs officer erroneously told a reporter that there weren't jets from his base that night, we get several pages of silliness in Volk's book. About 12 pages into the story of former astronaut Edgar Mitchell, we finally learn what "unexplainable" things he's seen. Mitchell's sure that Uri Geller can really bend spoons with his mind because he's seen Uri (who failed while being kept from touching the spoons at SRI) bend them when Uri controlled the surroundings. Oh, and Mitchell has a bag of spoons "psychically" bent by kids in 1970s. Right... Volk does make some good points in the book calling for civility between believers and skeptics.

Throughly enjoyed this book

About the author

STEVE VOLK is a longtime staff writer and regular contributor at Philadelphia magazine. His work has been published by Rolling Stone, VIBE, Men's Health, Men's Journal, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Weekly, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and St. Petersburg Times. Volk has received dozens of journalism awards and lives in Philadelphia. Visit the author online at www.stevevolk.com.