The Believer

Alien Encounters, Hard Science, and the Passion of John Mack

By: Ralph Blumenthal

Narrated by: Phil Thron

The Believer is the weird and chilling true story of Dr. John Mack. This eminent Harvard psychiatrist and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer risked his career to investigate the phenomenon of human encounters with aliens and to give credibility to the stupefying tales shared by people who were utterly convinced they had happened.

Nothing in Mack's four decades of psychiatry had prepared him for the otherworldly accounts of a cross section of humanity, including young children who reported being taken against their wills by alien beings. Over the course of his career, his interest in alien abduction grew from curiosity to wonder, ultimately developing into a limitless, unwavering passion.

Based on exclusive access to Mack's archives, journals, and psychiatric notes and interviews with his family and closest associates, The Believer reveals the life and work of a man who explored the deepest of scientific conundrums and further leads us to the hidden dimensions and alternate realities that captivated Mack until the end of his life.

©2021 Ralph Blumenthal (P)2021 Tantor

This is an incredible story of an enigmatic human being.

I absolutely loved this story. At the beginning I knew almost nothing about John Mack except for his connection to UFO research. After reading this book he may be one of my favorite human figures. He really did live a full life (despite its tragic end) and passionately pursued his interests and principles. For me personally, I was blown away by the overlap of several interests of mine: UFOs/ 60s counterculture/ plant medicine and psychedelics/ intellectual curious characters/ and the big questions of existence and death.
I loved it. Thanks to Ralph Blumenthal for this in-depth portrait of Mack, and for his own work in investigative journalism.

Beautiful work.

Listened twice and will return to this work again. Highly recommend to anyone interested in John E. Mack’s legacy and work!

What an amazing man Dr John E Mack

I've always been intrigued by Dr Mack, but never really knew his story. I thought this was a well written and very interesting biography, in a fashion. Dr Mack rubbed shoulders with some amazing people of his era. Sad to hear how Dr Mack died, yet interesting how people reacted, and the belief Dr Mack reached out to each. Maybe it's a way they truly processed his death, or who knows. Overall, the voice performance was solid, and I was never distracted by the narrator's various voices. Interesting how the scholastic community is full of weirdos, Dr Mack having some of that, but maybe that is how some geniuses act. He had his problems, but I appreciated his passion in whatever he did. The stories of the abductees were quite interesting to say the least. On a side note, and a common theme in other books, is Carl Sagan had a super inflated egomaniac who didn't seek the truth often standing in the way of truth. I think Dr Mack stood as a giant over dinosaurs like Sagan, although he did do some great things, just his ego crushed his ability to do more. Great book. I wish Dr Macks books were on Audiobooks. Thanks, Ralph, for this work.

Dr. Mack was an interesting man

I was interested in reading about Dr. John Mack after having read his ground shaking book ABDUCTION. I knew Dr. Mack suffered blow back from his research into the UFO questions. So this book was a nice explanation of where Mack came from and how he got to his beliefs. A worthwhile listen if you read either John Macks books.

Blumenthal honored John Mack’s pioneer work well.

John Mack reigns Supreme in the realm of discovery of other species and their intentions albeit negative or positive toward Humans. Mack’s early demise is suspicious and leaves his readers missing what could have been his continued work in this field of the paranormal.