Flying saucers are real.

But they are not what you think they are in "Flying Saucers," a book just published by the University Press, Donald H. Menzel, professor of Astrophysics, shows that saucers have been seen throughout history, and that they are in almost every case illusions produced either by the unique optical properties of the earth's atmosphere or by familiar objects that have been wafted high in the skies by air currents.

"Many of them have proved to be extraneous objects like newspapers, balloons, or distant airplanes," Menzel writes. "Others have been searchlight or automobile-headlight reflections on a thin layer of could or haze. The most puzzling and frightening of all saucer phenomena are those that have come from reflections and refractions from drops of water, ice crystals, or even from the air itself. Thus, all reports of saucers, those from the air or ground, those seen at night or during the day, those detected visually or by radar, result from unusual or unfamiliar conditions in the atmosphere."

Among these "unusual conditions," Menzel includes effects caused by aurora borealis, which occur when the air is ionized by radio-active particles coming to earth from explosions on the sun. Aside from atmospheric effects, he finds, "saucers" can be caused even by particles of dust on the observer's face.

People have not imagined that they have seen saucers in the last five years. They did see strange shapes in the sky, and their immediate reaction was that the shapes were space ships from another planet. "Why", Menzel asks, "have so many civilized people chosen to adopt such an uncivilized attitude toward the flying saucers?" He presents three reasons:

"First, flying saucers are unusual. All of us are used to regularity. We naturally attribute mystery to the unusual.

"Second, we are all nervous. We live in a world that has suddenly become hostile. We have unleashed forces we cannot control; many persons fear we are heading toward a war that will destroy us.

"Third, people are enjoying the fright to some extent. They seem to be a part of an exciting piece of science fiction."

The author himself has seen flying saucers, but his training in scientific observation has enabled him to explain what he saw. But other authorities have only added to the mystery. Menzel sharply criticizes the Air Force for the shrouds of secrecy with which it has enveloped its Project Saucer. By using such methods as instructing people who have seen "saucers" to remain silent about their experience, it has only added to the state of alarm.

On April 27, 1949, the Air Force blandly announced that "the possibility of some sort of strange extraterrestrial animals has also been remotely considered." Immediately, a cult of saucers worshippers arose in California.

The saucers are as old as history. Menzel shows that records of identical effects have been discovered that date back to Biblical times. In the Middle Ages, they were called "flying dragons" and around 1897, they were thought to be dirigible balloons, for airships were just in the process of being invented. New they are called space ships.

Menzel disposes of instance after instance of observed "space ships" by pointing out fantastic inconsistencies in the reports submitted by the observers. His scientific explanations are couched in simple, everyday language, are easily followed, and are convincing.

The recent radar scare, which occured when radar scope operators in Washington, D. C., observed unexplained patterns on the screens of their instruments, is also explained. While radar cannot reflect an optical illusion, the radar beam itself may bounce around in such a manner that the "blips" produced can be mistaken for solid objects.

Some of the optical phenomena, such as the famous Lubbock Lights, are easily reproduced in the laboratory, or indeed, even in the Kitchen. If such experiments do not explain everything that saucer observers have reported, they at least leave it to be inferred not that the earth is being visited by some superior beings from outer space, but that there is an urgent need for serious scientific study of the earth's atmosphere. Air Force and Navy guided missiles are engaged in such a study right now, gathering information at altitudes not yet, accessible to man.

"Flying Saucers' 'is popular science at it best. It can be recommended to at least four groups: those who believe in flying saucers; those who do not believe in them; those who do not know what to believe; and those who are interested in a first rate analysis of a phenomenon in social psychology.