Reviewed by Douglas Chapman
Albert Budden's theory is nothing if not inclusive. Irradiation and/or electromagnetic pollution is postulated by him to be related to or the source of nearly everything "paranormal." A chart that opens the book relates it to anomalies including missing time, "UFOs," psychic phenomena, spontaneous fires, metal bending, "aliens," skin trauma, "hauntings," "poltergeists," and more.
Major electrical events are thought by him to kick-start peoples' bodies into field sensitivity. With the brain rather unprotected from irradiation, many experienced odd phenomenas through epileptiform states, "in which an electrical destabilization of the brain occurs due to frequent and prolonged irradiation by EM [electromagnetic] fields...." Budden sees the downplaying of the dangers of power lines and other such generators of fields as being motivated by the fear of the moneys to be lost via lawsuits if such things are admitted. The visionary materials experienced by the victims are actually warnings of the harm to their persons and the environment—but not generally understood as such unless reflected back to them by outsiders. Case file studies climax the volume, with much quoted anecdotal material, demonstrating these concerns.
One contactee, an "Ian of Peckham," was, when young, narrowly missed by lightning and was, at the time of the interview, being irradiated by excess radio waves and electricity; Budden's tape recorded acted up around him.
Many readers of this book may well have previously wondered if energies have affected humans in all sorts of ways. They are apt to find Budden's ideas fascinating, if not proven in the vastness of their contentions.