Literature Review #1

Visual. 

Citation. 

   Kroth, Jerry. Messages from the Gods: A Scientific Exposition on the Extraterrestrial Origin of Crop Circles. Genotype, 2019.

Summary. 

    “Messages from the gods: A scientific exposition on the extraterrestrial origin of crop circles” by Jerry Kroth, analyzes crop circles that show no sign of man-made creation. He looks deep into the question of extraterrestrials and if these crop circles are a way of communication. Kroth, along with researchers, decodes these circles which indicate a message of warning the human race about potential dangers such as nuclear meltdowns, amongst many more. These crop circles show no sign of being made by humans and raise ideas of extraterrestrials. A crop circle that Kroth mentions is the crop circle found near Oldbury nuclear reactor on July 18, 2010. This crop circle portrays 2 large circles that have rings around them which a physician says represents the electron shell of an element that is radioactive, specifically polonium, astatine, and cesium. The two smaller circles represent the electron shell of the radioactive element, beryllium. Close to a year after this crop circle had been discovered, an incident occurred which led to the closing of the plant. Containments of polonium, astatine, and beryllium were found at the site. Kroth believes that the hidden message behind the crop circle had been that these elements can be a threat to the planet and society. In his book, Kroth investigates 40 crop circles that have mysteriously shown up and decodes them for the hidden message that lies within.

Author(s). 

    The author of “Messages from the gods: A scientific exposition on the extraterrestrial origin of crop circles” is Jerry Kroth, Ph.D. He is an Associate Professor Emeritus at Santa Clara University in California. I believe Jerry Kroth is knowledgeable on the topic because he has a Ph.D. and also he has had help from many scientists and researchers. He is a professor in the graduate counseling psychology program and has interests in collective psychology and research methods amongst more. Kroth has also written about synchronicity, psychology, etc which I believe has a great hand in trying to understand crop circles and discover the message that is being tried to unveil which makes him knowledgeable on this topic.

Key terms. 

    Extraterrestrials: beings from outside of Earth

    Decode: the translation of a hidden message

Three Quotes. 

“Pay attention to the aging, defective fission reactor across the river. The elements cesium, astatine, polonium, and beryllium can pose a serious danger to this area of your planet and to your species for generations.” (Kroth)

“And perhaps it is a coincidence that the elements which might have been depicted in the crop circle (polonium, beryllium, and astatine) all were found in the radioactive debris of Oldbury after it closed.”(Kroth)

“Large plumes of steam rose from the facility affecting nearby residents.” (Kroth)

Value. 

    This material will help me explore my research question because it provides me with information regarding a case study in which the crop circle does not show any signs of being created by humans but may have a connection to extraterrestrials. My research question incorporates how crop circles are perceived by humans depending on initial beliefs of how they were created. This includes the aspects of the creation by humans and potentially aliens. The material that I have gathered will assist me in the different case studies that I can address in my research paper which will support both aspects of the creation of crop circles. Along with this, it will also help me in understanding the different views on how crop circles are perceived by humans based on what is known about them.