- Hardcover: 245 pages
- Publisher: HarperCollins (Jan 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 006018731X
- ISBN-13: 978-0060187316
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.7 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 954,149 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
In the new book, Strieber returns to his youth to recount a summer he spent in a " secret school" in the woods near his childhood home. It was there that he learned the nine lessons that forever changed his life and prepared him for the chilling events narrated in his previous three books. His recollection was triggered by his first encounter in 1985, but for years still remained half-hidden in shadow. Only now has he begun to reconstruct these childhood summers spent in secret adventure, these summers that planted the seeds for his adult encounters with alien visitors.
Jumping between a child's-eye view and an adults hindsight, Strieber deftly weaves an adventure that stretches across decades, landing (or rather, lifting off) at the place his new life started when he met extraterrestrials. Strieber fans everywhere will not want to miss his haunting odyssey into the past and the startling new insights these memories provide about the meanings of his alien encounters and the future destiny of mankind.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Am I the only reviewer who realizes that Whitley Strieber is a hoax?
Originally, Strieber wrote fiction. When his horror stories weren't selling anymore, he suddenly published "Communion", a supposedly true story about how Strieber was abducted, tortured and reprogrammed by alien entities known as Greys. A clever way to restart his faltering career as an author, wouldn't you say? "Communion" became a bestseller, was translated to several foreign languages, and spawned a little cottage industry of sequels, prequels and newsletters. Even later, Strieber apparently wrote and published a number of new agey books, which I haven't read. Since he's a former member of the weird and cultish Gurdjieff Foundation, he was probably well fitted for that role as well.
Logically, Strieber should be a basket case at some mental asylum. Nobody who *really* experienced the events described in "Communion" could possibly have recovered his sanity and written a bestselling book about it! And yet, the man has been authoring novels (and earning hard money) ever since.
Strange indeed. Maybe he is the Chosen One?
"The Secret School" is a prequel to "Communion". Strieber claims that he was groomed by the aliens already as a nine-year old kid in Texas. They took him and other children to a place in the woods, showed them bizarre holographic visions, and taught them the mysteries of the universe. One of the aliens was named Sister of Mercy and once took the young Strieber to Mars, where he saw the famed face-on-Mars. He was also shown visions of how the Moon split from Earth, of the Permian extinction and of a distant world in a galaxy colliding with another.
Then, I stopped reading. I never finished "The Secret School", but apparently Strieber was induced to forget everything he had learned around the age of 14. Only as an adult did he remember the whole thing, and kindly conceded to write this little novella about it. He also offer us some prophecies about the future, none of which have come to pass (yet). Apparently, the United States will be turned into a "real republic", we will crack the riddle of fusion and anti-matter, and start mining operations on the Moon. It seems the Sister of Mercy was a bad prophet.
"The Secret School" sounds like a novel. It comes across as a strange blend of the movie "Stand By Me" and a ghost story. The plot, if you can call it that, is constantly interrupted by Strieber's annoying interpretations of the lessons given him by the aliens. Had Strieber developed the story, it could have become an interesting novel (I admit that he's a good writer).
Instead, we are pretty much stuck with...the Greys.
Originally, Strieber wrote fiction. When his horror stories weren't selling anymore, he suddenly published "Communion", a supposedly true story about how Strieber was abducted, tortured and reprogrammed by alien entities known as Greys. A clever way to restart his faltering career as an author, wouldn't you say? "Communion" became a bestseller, was translated to several foreign languages, and spawned a little cottage industry of sequels, prequels and newsletters. Even later, Strieber apparently wrote and published a number of new agey books, which I haven't read. Since he's a former member of the weird and cultish Gurdjieff Foundation, he was probably well fitted for that role as well.
Logically, Strieber should be a basket case at some mental asylum. Nobody who *really* experienced the events described in "Communion" could possibly have recovered his sanity and written a bestselling book about it! And yet, the man has been authoring novels (and earning hard money) ever since.
Strange indeed. Maybe he is the Chosen One?
"The Secret School" is a prequel to "Communion". Strieber claims that he was groomed by the aliens already as a nine-year old kid in Texas. They took him and other children to a place in the woods, showed them bizarre holographic visions, and taught them the mysteries of the universe. One of the aliens was named Sister of Mercy and once took the young Strieber to Mars, where he saw the famed face-on-Mars. He was also shown visions of how the Moon split from Earth, of the Permian extinction and of a distant world in a galaxy colliding with another.
Then, I stopped reading. I never finished "The Secret School", but apparently Strieber was induced to forget everything he had learned around the age of 14. Only as an adult did he remember the whole thing, and kindly conceded to write this little novella about it. He also offer us some prophecies about the future, none of which have come to pass (yet). Apparently, the United States will be turned into a "real republic", we will crack the riddle of fusion and anti-matter, and start mining operations on the Moon. It seems the Sister of Mercy was a bad prophet.
"The Secret School" sounds like a novel. It comes across as a strange blend of the movie "Stand By Me" and a ghost story. The plot, if you can call it that, is constantly interrupted by Strieber's annoying interpretations of the lessons given him by the aliens. Had Strieber developed the story, it could have become an interesting novel (I admit that he's a good writer).
Instead, we are pretty much stuck with...the Greys.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
13 reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Preparing To Find Consolation
5 Oct 1997
Format:Hardcover
This book was probably written more for Whitley Strieber than for his readers. The Secret School provides none of the horror of Communion, the contemplation of Transformation, or the awe of Breakthough. Instead, the Secret School focusses on Whitley Strieber putting his whole life into perspective. It is interesting to follow the chronicles of a man possessed by something, and tormented inside and out by the things that have been brought into his life. If you have read Strieber's previous alien-type books, The Secret School is a must just to complete the cycle. If you are looking for a place to start, start at the begining with Communion. Perhaps this book will bring closure to Whitley's public struggle with demons inside and out.
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
The true nature of time and reality....
30 April 2001
Format:Hardcover
This is the second time that I have felt compelled to read this book. It is an important, virtually unique, work. The nearest works to it that I can think of would be Phillip K. Dick's Exegesis and Harpur's Daimonic Reality. However, The Secret School is definately the best discussion of the true nature of time and reality that I have found. Streiber is correct about the nature and importance of Joy, opposed to happyness. True joy is a transcendent quality that places us in contact with the realm of the Divine. As for the prophecies contained in the book, after four years they seem more accurate than ever. Finally, even though this is a nonfiction work, the prose style is excellent- I kept being reminded of the magical atmosphere of Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine and Martian Chronicles.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
A wonderful description of Whitley's incredible experiences!
12 Jan 2000
Format:Hardcover
Mr. Strieber has provided us with yet another excellent work describing some of his experiences with aliens. I was enthralled with his descriptions of events of the past, and a bit of a look to the future. From what I "know" about the events surrounding the Biblical Deluge (the Noah flood, also described in the Gilgamesh Epic and the Atrahasis Epic, in addition to other cultures and religions that in some instances describe a freezing instead of a flood -- for reasons I won't explain here), his description of the interaction with a huge "comet" (that I contend is now our moon) are very much what I would expect from a competent scientist or astronomer explaining what would have happened if a planet the size of the Moon came within 30,000 miles or less from the Earth. Those pages alone made the book go beyond my wildest expectations. And fortunately, for other readers, they are surrounded by equally intriguing pages.
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