3 out of 4 stars
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E.T. is real. Or so Shawn Taverner would have you believe. In his book, Dino's World, the author tells of the year he spent observing extraterrestrial ships and their pilots. He includes photographic evidence in the tome and notes that he took video as well. In fact, the title of the book is due to a particular alien crew member looking like a little dinosaur.
Shawn starts his short book by noting how he's always had "a keen, and almost obsessive, interest in extraterrestrial beings." He then goes on to say how this obsession has resulted in him spending much of his time stargazing, hoping to see something more than just the sun, moon, stars, or clouds. It is during one evening in 2017 that Taverner spies something unusual and starts taking video on his cell phone, the only device he has handy. He then spends the next year or so documenting his evidence, sometimes sharing his pictures and videos with friends and family.
I too have always been fascinated by the idea of aliens from other worlds - as well as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Bermuda Triangle, etc. - so I nabbed this book as soon as I saw it. I was very interested in reading a first-hand account, complete with pictures. Sad to say, I was a little disappointed. Even though I believed that Shawn saw something, I wasn't completely sold on the things being extraterrestrial in nature. The included pictures were very muddy and really just looked like a mix of colorful shapes that could be anything. The author did note that the pictures had to be digitally blown up many times, resulting in very pixelated photographs. I have experienced this myself, but without clear evidence, I only had his word to go on, and I didn't buy it. One thing in particular that stood out to me was that even though the ships were hundreds of miles away (if not further), when he examined the pictures, he could clearly make out the aliens' faces and parts of the interior of their ships. I found this very hard to believe. I've taken pictures of airplanes, which are much closer to the earth (a mere 7.5 miles above ground, at most), and have never been able to make out a face or any other details in the photographs. To be able to make out that much detail in his pictures seemed like a very far-fetched claim. Shawn did note that he saw the aliens much closer a couple of times. Once, he saw one on a footstool in his house (there was no picture of this encounter), and he saw one on his neighbor's roof another time. There was included a picture of the creature on the roof, and it resembled a face, but I still wasn't certain.
Even though the pictures were less than convincing, I was still captivated by Taverner’s story. He noted how the visitations became more and more frequent until they were nightly. The aliens kept getting closer and closer too. I kept thinking, "Is this guy for real?" and wondering if this book was supposed to be tongue in cheek. The front of the book noted, "This is a work of nonfiction. No names have been changed, no characters invented, no events fabricated." Furthermore, in the Author's Note, he explained, "This is a real-life story that has stayed hidden for far too long." Even so, I kept feeling as though my leg was being pulled. Barring this book being fiction, I thought that the author had a vivid imagination and was just seeing what he wanted to see. Funnily, at one point, he wrote, "I wondered if what I was seeing was even real. Perhaps my deep desire to witness these things had somehow ended up creating illusions in my head." The pictures and videos erased his doubts, but I still had mine. Still, my doubts didn't decrease my reading enjoyment; his excitement was palpable, and I found myself getting excited, even though I was very skeptical. I enjoyed the author's voice as well. It really seemed like we were sitting somewhere, and he was telling me about these events in a casual, friendly manner. In addition, Dino's World seemed to be professionally edited, as I found only one very minor error.
Even though I haven't been persuaded that aliens from other planets are real, I am giving this tome 3 out of 4 stars. The removal of one star is due to the murky, unconvincing pictures; the author used the photographic evidence as a major selling point, so I can't just let the abysmal pictures go. I do, however, recommend this book to fans of first-hand extraterrestrial accounts and readers who are fascinated by unproven entities like the Yeti. People who enjoy science fiction may also find the read enjoyable, but I don't recommend that anyone phone home just yet.
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Dino's World
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Great job and thanks!
