Stars That Pause: 2,000 Years of Asian UFO Encounters and Lore
by Yi Izzy Yu and John Yu Branscum
Many thanks (谢谢)
to Empress Wu Publishers and Book Sirens for lending me an advanced copy of Stars That Pause: 2,000 Years of Asian UFO Encounters and Lore by Yi Izzy Yu
and John Yu Branscum. Last year, in New Jersey, there were several
weeks of speculation, fear, and wonder as reports of lighted objects in the
skies were published across websites, newspapers, and social media. People shared
their photos of the night skies, questioning what all of these crafts were.
Were they drones, government crafts, or something from another world? Even the
New Jersey government requested more information from the federal government,
looking for more information and a rational explanation for all of this arial
traffic. The lack of explanation for this phenomenon seemed to push some to
panic and anxiety. Even my kids began to worry when looking at the night skies.
However, this kind of strange phenomenon, witnessed by millions of people yet
lacking a clear explanation is the kind of incident that Stars That Pause interrogates across history and cultures, using interdisciplinary theories
and research to make meaning of unexplained or unidentified anomalous phenomena
(UAP) that has occurred in different cultures for centuries. While I am
interested in learning more about these kinds of unexplained mysteries, I
thought this book would be almost like a catalogue or reference book that
details unexplained events related to UAP in Asian countries throughout
history. I previously read Zhiguai: Chinese True Tales of the Paranormal and Glitches in the Matrix, which was a collection of strange events and
experiences of Chinese people in modern times. Although there was some brief
commentary and explanation around the translated experiences, the book was a
clever and fascinating collection of strange and unexplained events. I enjoyed reading
the book and learning more about these experiences, seeing how some of these
experiences were culturally relevant or similar to western phenomena and which
were novel. However, Stars That
Pause is a different type of book,
one that challenged my thinking and drew from a vast array of multidisciplinary
studies including history, psychology, and physics among others, to investigate
and provide plausible explanations for how and why people experiences these
kinds of UAP. Yu and Branscum provide useful instructions for how to read their
book, which allowed me to take a different approach to investigating and
thinking about the ideas they present. Their first section, “Sightings,” presents
translated accounts of UAP sightings and encounters in different Asian cultures
spanning nearly 2,000 years. The second section, “Discussion,” draws
connections between the ancient accounts and the more modern encounters, tying
the observations and encounters together. It is a useful section that provides
some further context in understanding some of the cultural differences between Eastern
and Western views of these phenomena. The last section, “Rabbit Holes,” which
is also the longest section, provides about 20 different approaches, theories,
or “rabbit holes” to delve to further explore these phenomena. I didn’t expect
this book to be both scholarly and mysterious, but it balances both types of
genres in a compelling and engaging way (almost like a yin yang, as the authors
discussed in their exploration of Carl Jung’s own ideas about these kinds of
shared phenomena and synchronicity). I really enjoyed this kind of novel
application, taking unexplained events and using scholarly theories and approaches
across many different disciplines to explain them. Furthermore, the authors
made some really unique and interesting connections between UAP and other
events, in particular in religion, spirituality, and anthropology. One of the
chapters explored similarities between religious experiences like those of St.
Theresa or Our Lady of Fatima’s appearance to children in Portugal. These
experiences highlight not just unique encounters but also provide a religious and
spiritual context for explaining sightings and unexplained occurrences.
Furthermore, they highlight the nature of shared experiences and how these
events might shape participants' perceptions of the events. Other chapters
detail how shamans and their ability to navigate between the world of humans
and spirits might also serve as an explanation for sightings and UAP. The
authors note how many different accounts of shamans follow a particular script
that aligns with some of the UAP they present in the first part of the book
including suffering or an illness leading to an encounter or altered
consciousness that provides new insights. Another chapter explores how culture
and symbols also may affect our ideas about UAP and unexplained events.
However, I found some of the sections on skepticism and doubt to be
particularly interesting. The authors explore how doubt and skepticism is part
of culture, but also acknowledge the kinds of costs associated with being more
open minded to these kinds of phenomena. Nevertheless, they present several examples
of well-regarded thinkers and intellectuals who pursued unexplained events,
noting that this kind of open-mindedness about unexplained events is more akin
to the intellectual tradition that leads to more discoveries than closing the
door on unexplained events. There’s a lot to investigate and explore with this
final section, and this part of the book left me with many thoughts and
questions. I couldn’t stop thinking about the New Jersey lights in the sky last
December, and how people were seeking multiple explanations, turning to
conspiracies and willing to accept nearly any idea or explanation. Yu and
Branscum’s book pulls on that thread, the human need to find definitive proof
or a clear explanation for the unexplained but also offers several different
ways to unravel these mysteries. I loved that they presented so many different
theories and approaches, tying together different disciplines, examples, and
theories to show how these strange events are experienced and perceived across different
histories and cultures. This was a unique and fascinating book- one I will
revisit. Highly recommended!
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