Books like Intimate Alien — picked by fans

I highly recommend this book because it offers one of the most balanced and skeptical examinations of the UFO phenomenon available.

Unlike many books that lean heavily into sensational claims, Sheaffer applies the scientific method and critical thinking to famous cases, exposing how misidentifications, cultural myths, and selective reporting often fuel the UFO narrative.

His work provides readers with a broad overview of major sightings and trends in ufology, while also highlighting the importance of questioning extraordinary claims and demanding credible evidence.

I highly recommend this book because it takes a uniquely scientific yet imaginative approach to the question of extraterrestrial life.

Instead of relying on speculation alone, Pickover blends biology, physics, and astronomy to explore what alien life might realistically look like, how it could evolve, and the environments it might inhabit. He examines possibilities ranging from microbial organisms to advanced civilizations, grounding each scenario in scientific principles while still leaving room for wonder.

This makes the book both intellectually stimulating and accessible, appealing to readers who want more than just UFO anecdotes—they want a thoughtful exploration of life beyond Earth.  

I highly recommend this book because it is a groundbreaking investigative book that compiles credible testimonies from military, aviation, and government figures to argue that UFOs represent a genuine, unexplained phenomenon worthy of serious study.

The book begins by establishing its journalistic foundation: Kean emphasizes that while most UFO sightings can be explained as misidentifications, a small percentage—roughly 5–10% remain unexplained even after investigation. These cases often involve highly trained observers such as military pilots, radar operators, and government officials.

Fuller’s book captures the story of Betty and Barney Hill, who became the first nationally covered case of an alien abduction.

The book tells their tale and shares the hypnosis sessions they underwent to recall the many bizarre details of their experience. Fuller’s interviews with the Hills, along with the documented transcripts, make for a remarkable read. 

I highly recommend this book because it is one of the most influential and thought‑provoking books ever written on the UFO phenomenon, blending personal experience with cultural impact.

Strieber recounts his chilling encounters with mysterious “visitors” in vivid detail, describing moments of paralysis, lost time, and hypnotically recovered memories that challenge the boundaries between dream, reality, and the unknown. His narrative is not just about alien abduction—it's about confronting the limits of human understanding, exploring whether these beings are extraterrestrial, interdimensional, or something entirely different. 

I am an experiencer myself. Although our stories are very different, I can say that extraterrestrials are real without question, and his book is a good read!

This was the first 1950s “contactee” book I read while researching my book. And it’s a fun one.

Contactees were a group of people in the fifties and sixties claiming to have been in contact with aliens—usually Venusians. Fry gives his account of stumbling upon a flying saucer in New Mexico in 1950 and flying to New York and back in 30 minutes. He flew alone, guided remotely from an alien far above.

In his conversations with the extraterrestrial being, he learned that they were visiting our planet to warn us about the dangers of the atomic age and the possible destruction of earth. It’s entertaining, and regardless of your beliefs, the alien makes a fair point.

George Adamski was another contactee, like Daniel W. Fry. Adamski, however, was perhaps the most vocal of them all.

He’s the author of several books that recount his meetings with Venusians and other beings from the solar system, but this is my favorite. After all, in this book he gets to fly in several spaceships and describes them all, along with his learnings throughout his journeys. Enjoy the ride. 

Identity isn’t personal, it is shaped by all sorts of influences, some of them we are very aware of and some of them we have never thought about. To be free means to be aware of all of them.

Appiah shows that while you cannot escape identity, you can pick and choose much more than most people make us believe. There is no inevitability and that is extremely liberating.

As a white woman, it made me see much better how not to equate privilege with guilt only, but responsibility and agency. 

The book, written in mid-century, has some of the most powerful hypotheses of social psychology, which, along with the ideas of fellow émigré from Germany, Kurt Lewin, gave birth to the field of social psychology. Read Chapter 4 at least. I do every 5 years or so. The chapter gave rise to both dissonance theory and attribution theory, two of the major accomplishments of social psychology.

This is a book about (social) identity and how our understanding of self is derived from the social groups we are part of.

Two brilliant psychologists, Jay Van Bavel and Dominic Packer, use their own research and insights from social psychology and neuroscience to explain how identity really works and how it influences our thinking and doing every single day.

The book really makes you think about how our social nature impacts on all kinds of decision-making, and it will give you new ideas and insights about power and influence.