Wild Things They Don't Tell Us includes discussion of crop circles, UFOs, Egyptology, alchemy, religion, evolution and creationism, among other subjects. Reg Presley touches upon many issues, without becoming bogged down in any one. Don't be put off if you think you've heard it a million times before, because this book includes a little nugget of gold, or to be more accurate, white gold. Like Fox Mulder, Presley wants to believe, and his enthusiasm is infectious. In a genre that is so often the domain of conmen, I found Presley's open and honest approach to be a breath of fresh air. It's clear that he has no desire to befuddle or deliberately deceive the reader. The style of writing he employs feels similar to a pub conversation with a knowledgeable friend. Knowledgeable, but not know-it-all. Unlike authors who insist they have the one true theory, Presley is keen to remain open minded. The one small downside to this, is that his sheer enthusiasm sometimes produces rambling accounts, and holes in theories are not always challenged rigorously enough. But part of what makes this book a good read is that its author's main mission is not to provide definitive answers, but rather to help make us more aware of the unanswered questions. Seasoned conspiracy theorists may be quick to dismiss much of the anecdotal evidence and informed speculation presented here, but the book is not aimed at experts. Wild Things They Don't Tell Us is an everyman primer for those awakening to the fact that there's more going on in the world than the mainstream admits. The book is often light on hard science, though all the more accessible because of that. All too often books purporting to disseminate scientific proof include hard, highly complex data, which is beyond what most of us understand. Ultimately, when faced with such choices, these issues come down to whose truth you want to believe. It is perhaps worth remembering that the most eminent scientists of the day once told us that the Earth was flat, and that travelling in a vehicle above 40mph might suck the air from our lungs. Yesterday's science fiction becomes today's science fact, and science fact needs to be reassessed in the light of new evidence.

The stand-out chapter of Wild Things They Don't Tell Us details the work of David Hudson. An American dirt farmer, Hudson accidentally discovered something extraordinary. What he found was that a common agricultural processes used to make his land farmable, was producing an odd white dust. Unable to identify it himself, he had it professionally analysed. The result was that the substance turned out to be small amounts of what science calls monoatomic or white gold. Not to be confused with the white gold used by jewelers. Monoatomic white gold is very different; a substance which was recorded in the ancient history of Egypt, but thought to be mythological, until its relatively recent rediscovery by modern science.

Monoatomic gold has odd properties, which are not yet fully explained or understood. Its weight can fluctuate, as if it's there one moment and part of it is gone the next. What is known, is that white gold was fed to Pharaohs, and was said to improve the health and boost the intelligence of those who ingested it. Reg Presley makes it clear that he is not a doctor, but he believes that a solution of white gold, (available legally on the Internet at a price similar to other alternate therapies), has had a beneficial effect on himself, and others with more serious health concerns. No recognised medical body has yet validated these claims, which of course is just what those who believe in white gold expected. Among the biggest villains of our age, Presley says, are the multinational drug companies who don't want credibility attached to any product that might undercut their massive profits. Whether the power of white gold is mostly a placebo effect, or it really is a rediscovered health potion, is still wide open to question. However, if it does act the way that Presley, Hudson, Sir Laurence Gardner and others claim, then it wouldn't be the first time minute amounts of a substance was found to be the basis of a medical breakthrough. It is also apparent that, for all our advancements, many of those with power or prestige are still behaving as they did in the days of Copernicus. The most stifling conspiracy theory of all, Presley suggests, is the conspiracy of silence.