Cydonia: The Secret Chronicles of Mars

by David E. Flynn, Timothy Alberino (Foreword), Mark Flynn (Foreword)

Genres: Science Fiction

466 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

From 1993 until his untimely death in 2012, David Flynn posted original and ground-breaking research into ancient mysteries, "illuminated" fraternities, and Bible prophecy on his famous Watcher Website. David's research has been published and referenced by numerous best-selling authors, books, magazines and media around the world.

Also published as David Flynn

Reviews

[Dawn Harper]

I normally read through a book at a fairly quick pace. However, this book is packed with so much information that it took me 6 months to read and digest what was being presented. The late David Flynn has performed high quality research on the topic of Mars and why this planet was so important to the first mystery schools of the earliest civilizations. Those same ideas, having been handed down through millenniums, are still being taught today in secret societies to those considered worthy of the secret knowledge. This research has helped me to understand our country's current obsession with exploring and tying to colonize the planet Mars. There are over 1,100 footnotes available to track down his sources for determining credibility and further research.

[Dominic De]

interesting

A lot of fascinating observations, but much of it is word association, observations, and correlations, without any clear chain of evidence. It may have a bunch of truth, but I need to continue triangulation with other more verifiable sources.

[Anne Hamilton]

A book with a wealth of information - fascinating, intriguing, interesting. But I felt it was like coming in on a conversation half way through; that I was missing all that went before and trying to pick up the thread of what people were talking about.

There were times when the coherence of the work was lacking.

[Aaron Kleinheksel]

This is the book version of the meme of the feverish guy making connections between literally everything in the process of constructing an Ur-theory. For those familiar with Umberto Eco, this could be the non-fiction version of Foucault’s Pendulum.

That said, when this book is at its best it's difficult to put down. I really enjoyed the beginning and ending chapters, but the middle of the book dragged. It probably could have benefitted from a very OCD editor to cut down on redundancies and issues with subject matter flow.

The gist of this book is that ancient source material and modern science & astronomy are coming to agree that Mars and a now-destroyed 5th planet (Rahab) were populated with a pre-human angelic race who built an advanced civilization that was ultimately destroyed by God when it rebelled. There have been cyclical cataclysms on Earth as well and we are approaching once again the end of a cosmic age and approach another apocalyptic event as predicted in the Bible and many other ancient sources. If this sounds nuts, you have to understand that all of this theorycrafting is done using ancient mystery cults, astrology, occultic wisdom, the Bible, etc. etc. There is ALOT of astrological & astronomical material in this book. I tend to be bored by the study of the stars, so it didn't always engage me. David Flynn may be wrong, but he was highly intelligent and did the work as far as research goes.

If you're interested in UFOlogy, ante-diluvian study, ancient eschatological beliefs from around the world, mythology in general, and ancient mystery cults specifically, I highly recommend this book. If not, then move on.

[Peter A. Lio]

I tried to like it

I really wanted to like this book, as the subject matter is right up my alley and I’m generally very open to unconventional ideas. Unfortunately, early on I encountered several issues: some apparent false cognates and factual inaccuracies that made it difficult for me to trust the foundation of the argument.

Once that confidence was shaken, the increasingly elaborate connections and conclusions became hard to follow in a meaningful way. I can appreciate the ambition and imagination here, but in the end it felt more speculative than persuasive.

[Lester Brent]

clarity and completeness

Brings it all together in a direct, comprehensive way. The research leaves no gaps and no doubts. Conclusions rise above the mass of confusion of mythology. In some ways it is a hard read since there is so much information packed in here, and profound statements are interspersed throughout. The penultimate read for someone trying to make sense of man’s pursuit of hidden mysteries.

[Paul H.]

The first half is a legitimately interesting (and learned) account of mythological pre-history, and finds some novel connections between differing traditions. The second half contains various falsifiable claims about alien pyramids on Mars etc. etc. and is thus not as useful, but I suppose has some value as unintentionally Pynchon-esque satirical literature.

[Frank Hogan]

Full of information and well written, very enjoyable even as someone who doesn’t agree with the thesis of the book