Secret Societies: ...and How They Affect Our Lives Today

This review is from: Secret Societies...and How They Affect Our Lives Today (Hardcover) I had never read a Sylvia Brown book before so I had no particular expectations as to what I would find. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The entire book read like a bad Wikipedia article. There was little to no documentation, the sources she does cite are secondary and of questionable merit. Stunningly her publisher/editor had the nerve to refer to"Sylvia's research," This research could be compared with a high school or college freshman English paper. Her ability to churn out bestselling books assembly line style appears to reflect her skill in writing in a style that consistently attracts a specific audience and fan base. Despite her writing style it is still beguiling as to why she has such large following and even her own church. (despite her criticism of organized religion) The most ridiculous part of her book is where she claims to uncover a secret meta-society that controls all the other groups. In her "extensive" research she has found no one who has documented or even mentioned this group called the "Secret Coalition for American Nationalism" or SCAN. All her "research" and all the "web sites" she visited talked about every society but this one. Her only source of information about this organization is her imaginary friend Francine or as her editor puts it "her amazing communication with her spirit guide Francine." Conveniently this source cannot be confirmed or verified by anyone else. I wonder if I were to write a research paper on SCAN how I would cite Francine as a source. I mean if I was using the Chicago Manual of Style would it be a personal conversation with a ghost or some type of correspondence. Perhaps it would be a conversation with yourself or talking to yourself: ---Francine (imaginary friend or delusional discussion) with the author November 2005. Anyway, this book is a waste of trees.