Why people recommend it
Communion by Whitley Strieber is a controversial autobiographical account in which the author details his alleged close encounters and abductions by non-human entities. Michael P. Masters recommended the book on The Joe Rogan Experience, explaining that seeing it on his father's bookshelf in the 1980s sparked his lifelong interest in UFO phenomena. Joe Rogan repeatedly discussed the book and its 1989 film adaptation across multiple episodes, noting that Strieber was primarily known as a fiction writer before publishing what read like a true-life alien encounter story. Rogan and various guests, including Rizwan Virk and hosts on Stuff You Should Know, emphasized that the book's iconic cover art featuring a grey alien face profoundly shaped modern pop culture imagery surrounding alien abductions and the paranormal. Dennis McKenna also referenced Strieber's broader series of books exploring abduction experiences, highlighting how the author's narratives cemented themselves into the broader mythology of mid-twentieth-century ufology.
Who recommended it
- Joe Rogan Discussed
- Michael P. Masters Recommended
- Dennis McKenna Discussed
Joe Rogan — 6 mentions
“There's a famous movie with um Who's in the Who's in Communion? God damn I don't think I want to say someone but I don't think it's right. 1989. Uh I just knew about Hillbilly Christopher Walkin. That's right. I just knew about Hillbilly Elegy or whatever the [ __ ] Yeah, that was his first book and his new”
“...the Whitley striber movie Communion I didn't see that one that's that's a weird one CU Whitley striber is also a fiction writer and he wrote this book about his own personal experiences with aliens which I want to believe him”
“do you remember that whitley striber movie... communion... whitley streiber was a fiction writer... and then he writes a true life story that reads exactly like his novels it talks about him being abducted by aliens and then they make a movie about this and the movies when i was a kid and i was [ __ ] terrified to”
“what movie communion this is what here listen to this this is not a value judgment this is just facts whitley streiber was a fiction writer”
“he wrote I'm aware of communion communion which you know because communion has had that gray head alien head on the cover it's become kind of the dominant thing”
“Whitley streber is one of the [ __ ] biggest proponents of the alien abduction story and you know wrote books on it communion and had movies made about it And that guy is a [ __ ] bookwriter”
Michael P. Masters — 1 mention
“He got Whitley Striber's book, Communion, as most people did in the 1980s, and as they should, because it's a great book. And I walked into the living room.”
Dennis McKenna — 1 mention
“He's from the communion books or people don't know exactly what a series of books about being abducted and yeah”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker — 1
“But he was a horror and science fiction writer and in '87 published the book 'Communion' which had, if you look up the cover of 'Communion', the illustration that was done by Ted Jacobs along with, you know, Strieber, because he was like this is what I saw, you got to draw this right, that is as stereotypical alien head”
Also mentioned in the same episodes
- Abduction
- Autobiography of a Yogi
- Best evidence
- Changing Our Minds
- Journey of Souls
- Magic Mushroom Explorer
Other mentions (2: passing, ad reads, own books)
“And it's a good plug for my my new book, Communion, Finding My Way Back to Faith, not to be confused with Whitley Strive's book, Communion, which is all about aliens.”
“you know it used to be we all thought it saw that alien on the cover of his book communion and and figured it was a space alien from some other planet”