When it comes to extraterrestrials, UFOs, crop circles, and ancient-astronaut literature, most intelligent readers are repulsed by New Age hype, turned off by Erik Van Daniken, flustered by blatant pseudo-science, and deeply chagrined at how even the History Channel got dragged into the tabloid and sensational. Yet many intelligent, open-minded readers harbor secret interests: in the Great Pyramid and how it was built, in mythic tales of sky gods coming and going, from Ezekiel to the Rig-Veda. They are awed by the intricate fractals in crop circles, and they more than take notice when a NASA astronaut says he was trailed in space by UFOs. That questioning readership, however, swims in a vast sea of agnosticism-curious but not convinced. And there just aren't any books for them. None they can trust. None that reaches them. None that transcends tabloid fantasies to authentically treat issues with enough dispassion and scholarly erudition not to insult their intelligence.

Here, Dr. Kroth gives the run-down on a wide range of evidence, and ponders how reliable any of it may be. Readers are left with all the elements to form their own equation.