MYSTERIOUS PLACES by Daniel Cohen

And there was Elvis - not the real one 

When he kissed me goodbye he called me hon

Just another shot in the dark 

Like El Dorado or Noah's Ark

Another very readable pop-sci primer from Daniel Cohen, collecting the most cutting edged research c.1969 around such mysterious places as Atlantis, Mu, Camelot, and others! This is a journey not just to unknown lands but through academic debates and pop culture mutations, as interpretations and explanations rise and fall through the years - was Atlantis real, or just a metaphor? Where the hell did Prester John come from? How many times do we have to establish the creators of Great Zimbabwe before the Rhodesian government will admit it wasn't a lost white race? Cohen dives into the archives to tackle all of these questions head on ...

Per usual, Cohen is gentle but firm in his exploration of fringe science and crank ideas, and by putting theories about lost worlds like Atlantis in their historical and social contexts Cohen lights the way as surely as a torch in a dusty tomb. Sometimes the journey is as important as the destination, and a few dead ends and side paths here and there can be edifying.

This title was published the same year von Daniken's Chariots of the Gods? made it to American shores, and so while Cohen does not answer von Daniken's mystery mongering by name, his chapter on Easter Island is notable nonetheless for including research and information that von Daniken would pretend was impossible and unknowable for decades to come.

Throughout his world tour of the unknown Cohen makes reference to our romantic yearning for cataclysm and mystery. The work is a pleasure to read, and Tower Books' cheap and flashy presentation (dig the ad for smokes!) adds spice to a volume that surely undercuts a good deal of other titles in their occult oeuvre.

Cohen includes a nice bibliography, and Tower Books include a nice page of juicy ads for other occult/paranormal titles such as Stefan Elg's Fortean mixer Beyond Belief and Devi Sonero's pro-phrenology reader!

Tower Books also put this title out as Lost Worlds, with new cover art and a different ad spread in the back. Check out Otto Binder's sci-fi entry Night of the Saucers, published under his Eando pseudonym:

It's been said that a girl trying to find herself the perfect man is like trying to find Atlantis. Even 50+ years on, this work is illuminating and enjoyable. Mysterious Places is available to read and download at archive dot org.

Tower Books, 1969

PHRENOLOGY: SECRETS REVEALED BY YOUR FACE AND HEAD by Devi Sonero

Now here's a real curiosity: a pro-phrenology text from 1970! Author Devi Sonero defends Dr. Franz Josef Gall and his "misunderstood science" with no small amount of passion and quite a lot of quibbling - to whit, right off the bat Sonero tells us that the wonderful, scientific, paradigm shifting practice of phrenology is already FULLY ACCEPTED in forensics and psychology, and that even though phrenology is capable of launching us into a golden age of perfected human specimens, it's also not fair to criticize it ... pobody's nerfect, after all!

Hmmm ...

Sonero marshals more than a few luminaries to phrenology's defense, from Horace Mann and Oliver Wendell Holmes to Mark Twain and William Seward. Phrenology goes hand in hand with eugenics, and as we read on through Sonero's text we can see the tragic arc of pseudoscience through the modern era, promises of understanding curdled by our own limited perspectives, as we grasp for some illumination through the haze of our bigotry and blindspots.

Like any good self help title, there's a section profiling celebrities of the time, with Nixon, Hubert Humphrey, King Hussein of Jordan, Burl Ives, and others being analyzed through phrenology. No women are present, notably, nor does Sonero seem much interested in what any prominent female minds thought of phrenology.

In Ted Kennedy's case, his stolid "motor temperament" doesn't seem related to actual motor ability, sadly.

Sonero's only other credited title is a work on hypnotism. Phrenology can be read and downloaded in full at archive dot org.

Tower Books, 1970