If you think the natural world is boring, buy this book! It can serve as either a reference or a source of countless hours of enjoyable reading. The phenomena described are eerie, fantastic, or simply weird, and all of them are interesting. The book illustrates beyond doubt how far we have to go before we completely understand what happens on this planet.. An example, ball lightning has been observed for many centuries, even photos exist, but only recently has a complete scientific explanation been forwarded. Mainstream science has indeed overlooked many of these phenomena, whether because of their rarity and the consequent lack of data, their sheer multitude, or fear that they might be associated with fringe paranormal groups (this book clearly isn't). But, that doesn't prevent you from reading and speculating about them.