in 1991 seeks to validate the authorship of Smith's writings using the stylometric approach. In This is the Place, Taves writes that he found no evidence of multiple authors in the Book of Mormon, contrary to the church's teachings, calling the book a "hoax, yet the religion is growing faster than any other in the U.S.". UFO Taves was a Scientific and Technical Consultant of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. He, along with Philip J. Klass, James E. Oberg and Daniel Cohen were founding members of the CSICOP UFO subcommittee. UFO expert Robert Sheaffer writes in his 1981 book UFO Verdict that the subcommittee was "the first ufological group formed by individuals 'not inclined to believe in the literal truth of UFO claims'". Personal life According to his son Henry, Taves was an amateur radio fan, and was part of a very small group of "county hunters" which attempt to "make contact with every single county radio station" and be on air. The task took five or six years. He was also "dedicated to the conservation of the New Hampshire rural landscape, protecting several tracts of land by donating cash and conservation easements. Described by his son (Henry) as 'congenial, distinguished, and a stickler for the English language,' Dr. Taves enjoyed golfing at his winter home in Naples, Florida. He was also a proprietor of the Boston Athenaeum and a member of the Port Royal Club of Naples". Taves' wife was Judith deForest Taves who predeceased him. For reasons he and his wife could not remember, she nicknamed him "Pancho" and in his retirement years, he used the name more often than Ernest. His wife grew and showed roses and kept him surrounded with them, Traves said '"always on my desk are one or two roses"'. The couple spent winters in Naples, Florida, since 1949, the rest of the year they lived in their homes in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Taves died in a Naples hospital from a heart attack. Publications The UFO Enigma: The Definitive Explanation of the UFO Phenomenon (1977) [with Donald H. Menzel] Trouble Enough: Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon (1984) This is the Place: Brigham Young and the New Zion (1991) References External links Science Fiction of Ernest Taves 1916 births 2003 deaths American skeptics UFO skeptics Columbia University alumni New York University alumni