I respect his obvious interest in the events combined with his determination to approach them without agenda. This book is an intelligent and measured approach to a collection of strange disappearances the author did an excellent job of debunking some famous incidents whose inaccurate details have become accepted as truth, and even managed to do so without snottiness. But it would interest anyone interested in the paranormal (skeptic and believer alike) and, of course, anyone interested in missing persons. I wouldn't call this a true crime book, since most of the cases he discusses are not criminal in nature. (He's especially good at this in his Bermuda Triangle chapter.) Going back through the old records, he is able to prove that many of these wild stories about disappearances are replete with serious errors, if not made up entirely. He discusses the Bermuda Triangle, the disappearance of the captain and crew of the Mary Celeste, and the story about the guy who vanished crossing a field, among other cases. Begg mentions a few contemporary cases but mainly focuses on mysterious vanishings thought by some to be paranormal. There's a centerfold of pictures, some of them curiously irrelevant to the book. Though this book was written in the seventies, it's not terribly dated. I'm glad to see he's turned his research talent and common sense to the topic of missing people. Paul Begg is better known to me from his Jack the Ripper writings.

Into thin air book