The Hunt for Zero Point: Inside the Classified World of Antigravity Technology

Amazon.com
Imagine the power, economic and military, that would fall into the hands of the person who figured out how to bypass the ordinary laws of physics, defy gravity, and travel near the speed of light.

Though it sometimes seems to fall in the realm of science fiction more than pure science, aviation-technology journalist Nick Cook's intriguing tale involves the long quest to develop antigravity vehicles and the sometimes eccentric characters who have played a part in it: Nazi rocket engineers, backyard inventors, NASA scientists, conspiracy theorists, and UFO watchers among them. The last group figures, Cook explains, because the ideal craft for "electrogravitic reaction" would take the form of a disc, a design consideration seen in the shape of current stealth aircraft. It could just be, the author suggests, that what witnesses have taken to be flying saucers might instead be antigravity-aircraft prototypes, though he cautions that "the subject is too complex ... to conform to a single explanation."

And therein hangs a good part of this always interesting, if admittedly speculative, story, which, regardless of the truth of the matter (or, perhaps, antimatter), will appeal to techies and Trekkies alike. --Gregory McNamee


From Publishers Weekly
For the last 15 years, Cook has been an aviation reporter and editor at Jane's Defence Weekly, a defense industry trade journal that one would expect to find Cheney and Rumsfeld discussing on the way to the briefing room. A full-length project from a high-ranking Jane's editor creates a certain confidence in the contents, yet, as Cook makes clear, most of what's in this book won't be found in Jane's, as the evidence for "zero point energy" is less concrete, even if just as scrupulously sourced here. The book begins when Cook jokingly calls the possibility of antigravity drives "the ultimate quantum leap in aircraft design" in one of his Jane's pieces more than 10 years ago. A few years later, someone anonymously slips him an article, dating to the 1950s, that shows officials at Lockheed Martin and other big contractors claiming they were close to exactly that. Intrigued, Cook takes the bait and follows the trail to the wildest territory imaginable: destroyed or pulled reports; disappearing battleships; silent, glowing flying discs; time distortion; Nazi slave labor. To simplify in the extreme: Cook has found evidence that Nazi scientists had tapped into zero point energy the quantum energy that possibly exists within vacuums in amounts that make nuclear energy look like a joke (enough energy in the space of a coffee cup, Cook explains, to boil the world's oceans six times over). When WWII ended, Nazi secrets were plundered by the U.S. Army, which spirited them, along with many of the German scientists themselves, into "black" programs not acknowledged by the government and which may have produced working aerospace technology based on zero point. Through his cover as a Jane's reporter, Cook seeks out the stealthy wonks of this top-secret world, but readers will have to wade through some opaque thumbnail descriptions of the science and arcane WWII history to understand what he and others are getting at. It is well worth it.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Cook's position as aviation editor at Jane's Defence Weekly, a military-affairs journal, and his determinedly skeptical approach to his subject give his investigation of antigravity technology credence. Research by the Nazis, and then by the Americans and Canadians, found that the ideal shape for an antigravity vehicle is a perfect disk, making antigravity tests a possible explanation for the numerous UFO sightings reported in the last 50 years. Cook's curiosity about antigravity was piqued by a popular science article from the late 1950s. If a "zero point" of gravity actually exists and can be reproduced, that means it's possible to harness gravity, which would give nations the ability to build military planes of unlimited speed. The theory has long been dismissed, but Cook spoke to engineers, some mainstream types at NASA, others evidently on the scientific fringe, who think antigravity is not a crackpot idea. Cook's sleuthing is intriguing, diligent, and indefinite. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review

“An intriguing work of scientific speculation. Technology enthusiasts, aviation
buffs, and UFO watchers should find it fascinating.” —Kirkus Reviews

“An extraordinary investigation into aviation’s greatest mystery.” —Mail on Sunday

“Cook relates his investigations in splendid cloak-and-dagger style with low-lit X-files scenes of secret meetings and nervous witnesses.” —Guardian (London)


Review

?An intriguing work of scientific speculation. Technology enthusiasts, aviation
buffs, and UFO watchers should find it fascinating.? ?Kirkus Reviews

?An extraordinary investigation into aviation?s greatest mystery.? ?Mail on Sunday

FROM OUR EDITORS

What if there were a down-to-earth explanation for all those UFO sightings? Aviation editor for Jane's Defence Weekly, the world's leading military affairs journal, Nick Cook has been immersed in the arcana of military aircraft for more than a decade. In this startling work of investigative journalism, Cook presents evidence of secret antigravity research dating back to World War II. He reveals that the ideal shape for a craft using antigravity technology is the same as the classic flying saucer. Maybe, one day, we'll be the ones in the flying saucers buzzing distant planets.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"The atomic bomb was not the only project to occupy government scientists during the 1940s. Antigravity technology, originally spearheaded by scientists in Nazi Germany, was another high priority, one that still may be in effect today. Now, for the first time, an acclaimed journalist with unprecedented access to key sources in the Intelligence and military communities reveals suppressed evidence that tells the story of a quest for a discovery that could prove as powerful as the atomic bomb." "The Hunt for Zero Point explores the scientific speculation that "zero point" energy - a limitless source of potential power that may hold the key to defying and thereby controlling gravity - exists in the universe and can be replicated." Drawn from interviews with those involved in the research and visits to labs in Europe and the United States, The Hunt for Zero Point is a captivating account of the twentieth century's most puzzling unexplained phenomenon.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

For the last 15 years, Cook has been an aviation reporter and editor at Jane's Defence Weekly, a defense industry trade journal that one would expect to find Cheney and Rumsfeld discussing on the way to the briefing room. A full-length project from a high-ranking Jane's editor creates a certain confidence in the contents, yet, as Cook makes clear, most of what's in this book won't be found in Jane's, as the evidence for "zero point energy" is less concrete, even if just as scrupulously sourced here. The book begins when Cook jokingly calls the possibility of antigravity drives "the ultimate quantum leap in aircraft design" in one of his Jane's pieces more than 10 years ago. A few years later, someone anonymously slips him an article, dating to the 1950s, that shows officials at Lockheed Martin and other big contractors claiming they were close to exactly that. Intrigued, Cook takes the bait and follows the trail to the wildest territory imaginable: destroyed or pulled reports; disappearing battleships; silent, glowing flying discs; time distortion; Nazi slave labor. To simplify in the extreme: Cook has found evidence that Nazi scientists had tapped into zero point energy the quantum energy that possibly exists within vacuums in amounts that make nuclear energy look like a joke (enough energy in the space of a coffee cup, Cook explains, to boil the world's oceans six times over). When WWII ended, Nazi secrets were plundered by the U.S. Army, which spirited them, along with many of the German scientists themselves, into "black" programs not acknowledged by the government and which may have produced working aerospace technology based on zero point. Through his cover as a Jane's reporter, Cook seeks out the stealthy wonks of this top-secret world, but readers will have to wade through some opaque thumbnail descriptions of the science and arcane WWII history to understand what he and others are getting at. It is well worth it. (On sale Aug. 13) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews