Trinity: The Best-Kept Secret by Jacques F. Vallée

Trinity: The Best-Kept Secret Reviews

• 
  Andrew

  The best of the book are the narratives from Reme and Jose Padilla. They sounded genuine with a profound impact in their lives. The chapter on the Socorro's case is also well covered and contain, arguably, credible witnesses. The last chapter of the book is equally interesting with multiple references to other unexplained cases.
  
  On the other hand, the authors spend too many pages in interview excerpts that not always add value to the case. I found Paola's interview style a bit too much biased on what she would like to listen. Also, I did not think Sabrina's participation helped in increasing the veracity of the case. Apart from witnessing people coming around and the burning effects in the vegetation and soil years after the incident, she did not have any first-hand participation in the case, thus no added value.
  
  Overall it is an entertaining reading, with repetitive and boring moments, but I don't believe it justifies the title of the best kept secret.
• 
  Peter A. Lio

  Solid
  
  I love Jacques Vallée and have read all his books— over a half century of wonderful thoughts and prose! This was a solid book with some new ideas, but I was hoping for more…
• 
  coffee

  Great book that reads like a French Essay Film a’la Chris Marker, Agnés Varda, or even JP Gorin. Enjoyable with many personal asides, reminisces, talks about WW2 and even a few mentions of COVID19.
• 
  Declan L

  Incredible investigative reporting, this story is flying under the radar now but is truly insane and def will blow up in the future~ (And the author Jacques Vallée has worked for NASA and Stanford University)
• 
  Mark Tallen

  This is an excellent book. Not only is this book the definitive study of the 1945 San Antonio NM case, but it provides a history lesson concerning the development & detonation of the 3 Atomic bombs, 2 of which were dropped over Japan. The book is co-authored but it reads primarily like Jacques Vallee, with the witness transcripts conducted by Paolo Harris. This is not a criticism, it works exceptionally well & both of them have to be commended for their input & research. This is one of the best books I've ever read on the subject matter & it ties into present day ufology. I can't recommend this book enough. I purchased the revised September 2021 Hardcover edition from Amazon.
• 
  Aaron

  Very light on the science and nothing terribly enlightening regarding the phenomenon in question.
• 
  Cynthia Larson

  The door is open, and we now have a handle on the 1945 UFO crash
  
  Vallee and Harris combine their considerable investigative skills to summarize and detail the body of noteworthy related events surrounding the 1945 crash of a UFO in San Antonito, New Mexico.  Through analysis of materials found on and at the site of the crash, and interviews with witnesses who observed the 'little men' moving around after the vehicle cut and burned a wide swath through the desert countryside, Vallee and Harris provide penetrating insight and clarity to what will surely be acknowledged as one of the most significant and most meaningful UFO incidents in recent history.  
  
  Trinity provides the best of both UFO worlds through careful attention to details pertaining to the "nuts and bolts," while giving equal attention and care to metaphysical insights evident in remarkable synchronicity.  I love the way Trinity provides background information about some of the primary witnesses who were first on the scene at the time of the crash, including how these two young boys boldly obtained a physical souvenir from the spaceship itself, as well as other types of material from the craft.  Thanks to thorough interviews conducted with these young boys, Harris succeeds in bringing the reader to events that  occurred one month after the world's first atomic bomb blast, within the blast range.  
  
  Vallee illuminates key questions, identifying both areas of fruitful investigation, as well as providing tips on how to recognize red herrings, bogus distraction strategies, and positive lines of thought by which we can best maintain clear rational inquiry.  
  
  We are truly blessed that Vallee and Harris teamed up to investigate this 1945 Trinity incident and write such a beautiful description of one of the iconic, significant UFO events in American history.  Thanks to the authors' cumulative breadth and depth of decades of UFO investigative experience, some deeper levels of meaning begin to shine through.  
  
  Imagery from Trinity will stay with this reader long after the book is read and closed--with a sense that humanity has been given a message that "the door is open," and we now "have a handle" on this.  And thanks to Trinity: The Best-Kept Secret, we do. 
  
• 
  Jack Pramitte

  Le cas passionnant d’un crash d’ovni à 30 km du point de l’explosion de la 1ʳᵉ bombe atomique sur le site de Trinity aux environs de Los Alamos, le 16 août 1945, soit 1 mois après ce test grandeur nature et 2 jours après la capitulation du Japon.
  L’armée US n’avait alors aucune expérience de la récupération de ces épaves. Deux enfants ont assisté au crash et observé les opérations de nettoyage de l’armée pendant une semaine. Quelques détails amusants : l’armée a demandé l’autorisation au père de l’un des enfants témoins de construire un nouveau portail sur sa propriété afin d’accéder au lieu du crash avec l’engin de levage nécessaire pour récupérer le « ballon » qu’elle avait perdu (le portail existant n’étant pas assez large). Ironiquement, le propriétaire conservait également dans sa grange quelques vrais ballons qu’il avait récupéré sur son terrain et que l’armée avait oublié de récupérer.
  Les enfants ont ramassé aux abords du crash une étrange matière filamenteuse luminescente qui a servi de décoration de Noël dans plusieurs maisons pendant plusieurs années avant d’être jetée. Et une autre pièce d’un étrange matériau à mémoire de forme a servi à rafistoler le mécanisme d’un puits : le bricolage fonctionne à merveille depuis 70 ans !
  Mais le plus ironique sans doute c’est qu’Enrico Fermi lui-même venait manger dans un bar-restaurant de la ville du crash. Peut-être est-ce là même qu’il a formulé son fameux paradoxe sur les extraterrestres.
  Plusieurs décennies après les faits « quelqu’un » est venu planter une végétation vénéneuse à l’exact point du crash, et finalement tout a été enseveli sous 6 m de terre peu après.
  L’enquête de Jacques Vallée et Paola Harris est minutieuse, même trop par moment pour la patience du lecteur. Le rappel des événements historiques à Trinity et la mise en perspective du crash avec ceux-ci donne matière à réflexion.
• 
  First Name Name

  This book is about an eyewitness account of a UFO sighting in 1945 in New Mexico. But one month prior to the UFO sighting, there was a "test" atomic explosion prior to the two bombings in Japan that ended World War II. The atomic bomb that was "tested" in New Mexico was in-between the size of the bombs that exploded over Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The difference was that the atomic bomb that was exploded in New Mexico was a ground zero while the bombs that were dropped on Japan were detonated at an altitude of 1,500 to 2,000 feet. While the bomb that was exploded in New Mexico was in a rural area, people were not informed about the detonation of the bomb. Many people were sterilized and developed cancers at a higher rate than normal. Vegetation was destroyed and did not grow back. It was truly an atrocity by our government.
• 
  Mike

  Solid but information is spoken word testimony dictated 60 years after the fact. Much of what is said is taken at face value despite discrepancies throughout.
  
  Overall, narrative is engaging and it works not only as a UFO investigation summary but a travelogue of 1940s-now UFO culture, with interesting and grim asides pertaining to early nuke tests and their effects on the local populations. Hardly full disclosure but an interesting read.
• 
  Aaron Kadkhodai

  There are so few well researched books on this topic, that something of this quality (despite some minor editing oversights) is worthy of all five stars. Thanks to Jacque for giving me further to chew on and a window into a world that is so much bigger than the little house we occupy.
• 
  Bruce

  Poorly written and unconvincing.
• 
  Mark M

  Tho I think Roswell involved an actual crash, this case seems stronger.
  
  Fascinating.
• 
  Larry Sanders

  Thorough investigation of an uap that has been overlooked until now. Most impressive!
  
  Vallee and Harris use their wells respected and objective investigative skills to put the unidentified aerial phenomenon first under a microscope, and then to pull back with a gradually expanding historical perspective. The telescopic optics create the perfect contrast as they lay out the science of the case amidst the human observations and foibles without any attempt to create silly drama. In the process, the authors manage to challenge much of government's, science's and media's closed mindedness to uap/UFO and anomalous activity. As with most of Vallee's (& Vallee et al) the reader comes away with more knowledge and more questions to pursue.