The Close Encounters Man: How One Man Made the World Believe in UFOs

by Mark O'Connell

The wildly entertaining and eye-opening biography of J. Allen Hynek, the astronomer who invented the concept of "Close Encounters" with alien life, inspired Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster classic science fiction epic film and is the subject of History Channel's Project Blue Book, and made an entire nation want to believe in UFOs.In June 1947, private pilot Kenneth Arnold looked out his cockpit window and saw a group of nine silvery crescents weaving between the peaks of the Cascade Mountains at an estimated 1,200 miles an hour. The media, the military, and the scientific community—led by J. Allen Hynek, an astronomer hired by the Air Force—debunked this and many other Unidentified Flying Object sightings reported across the country. But after years of denials, Hynek made a shocking UFOs are real.Thirty years after his death, Hynek’s agonizing transformation from skepticism to true believer remains one of the great misunderstood stories of science. In this definitive biography, Mark O'Connell reveals for the first time how Hynek’s work both as a celebrated astronomer and as the U. S. Air Force’s go-to UFO expert for nearly twenty years stretched the boundaries of modern science, laid the groundwork for acceptance of the possibility of UFOs, and was the basis of the hit film Close Encounters of the Third Kind. With unprecedented access to Hynek’s personal and professional files, O’Connell smashes conventional wisdom to reveal the intriguing man and scientist beneath the legend.Tracing Hynek’s career, O'Connell examines Hynek’s often-ignored work as a professional astronomer to create a complete portrait of a groundbreaking enthusiast who became an American cult icon and transformed the way we see our world and our universe.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History, Science, Paranormal, Biography Memoir

416 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2017

About the author

Mark O'Connell has written several episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” -- one of which, the DS9 episode “Who Mourns For Morn?”, was named by Hugo-winning science fiction writer Charlie Jane Anders as #72 on the io9.com list of the Top 100 Star Trek episodes of all time. Mark has had feature film projects in development with Disney, DreamWorks Animation, Launchpad Productions, Barcelona Films and Al Ruddy Productions. He currently writes the UFO blog "High Strangeness" at www.highstrangenessufo.com and made his reality show debut in 2015 on "Mysteries at the Monument" on The Travel (TRVL) Channel. Mark wrote “The Close Encounters Man,” the authorized biography of UFO scholar Dr. J. Allen Hynek, for Dey Street Books, an imprint of HarperCollins in June, 2017. He is currently producing a new UFO TV series for TRVL.

Reviews

[Will Byrnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I know of no hypothesis that adequately covers the mountainous evidence,” [he] said in closing, “this should not and must not deter us from following the advice of Schroedinger: to be curious, capable of being astonished, and eager to find out.”

Quiz time. Ok, what is a close encounter of the first kind? Second kind? Third? You might be forgiven for not knowing with much precision the answers to the first two, but I bet you can answer number three. You probably think you have Stephen Spielberg to thank for that particular item. Well, I guess you do. But neither Spielberg nor his writers came up with that structure for describing the levels of possible UFO encounters. In fact, Spielberg was all set to steal the intel until the guy who actually came up with it, hearing about the film project, sent the director a polite letter pointing out the ripoff, one of many. Spielberg had borrowed liberally from the man’s reports on sightings, as laid out in his 1972 book The UFO Experience: A scientific enquiry. The scientist in question was one Josef Allen Hynek. Spielberg brought him in and paid him a pittance to be a “consultant” on the film. Hynek even got a cameo, six whole seconds. If you have never heard of him before, welcome to the club.


Josef Allen Hynek - from the author’s site

J. Allen Hynek, the child of Czech immigrants, was born in Chicago in 1910. He had two careers, often simultaneously. First, he was a world class, forward looking astrophysicist, who, as a young Turk, had the nerve to point out errors in the data put out by the Mount Wilson Observatory, which did not win him any friends. He helped develop a proximity fuse for the US Navy in World War II. Seeing that scientists could be brought together to address large problems in wartime, he was eager to do the same in peacetime, and made good on that dream, developing technology and organizing teams of amateur scientists around the world to track American satellites in the 1950s. In addition. his view of the possibilities of orbital science were ahead of his time.

In a television news interview that aired in 1958, Hynek urged the construction of a “National Space Observatory”…claiming that a space based observatory would “pay great and immediate dividends” in new scientific knowledge… “From a space observatory we could see the surface of planets with unimaginable clarity even with a small telescope,” Hynek said. In addition to revolutionizing astronomical observing, Hynek’s proposed telescope could also be trained on Earth itself, making real-time weather data “continuously available to weather forecasters over the world” and leading to “greater knowledge of basic weather causes that would result in more reliable long-range forecasts.”
Hynek was, of course, describing the Hubble Space Telescope a mere thirty–two years before its launch, while throwing in a little preview of TIROS-1, the first successful weather satellite, to be launched two years hence, in 1960.

Then there was his other career. Actually, the two converged. Interest in UFOs increased in the late 1940s and early 1950s, as there were more and more eyes on the skies, and equipment with which to record sightings was more widely available. Who hasn’t heard of Roswell? But you may not have heard of Kenneth Arnold, who, on June 24, 1947, while flying his plane across the Cascades to Yakima, WA, spotted nine objects in the sky, that he judged flew at about 1200 miles per hour. He called this ahead to the Yakima field and was dismissed by the personnel there. But when he continued on to Pendleton, OR, he was interviewed by reporters. One took his description of the craft he had seen and added a bit of flourish. Thus was born the term “flying saucers.”


The Thing From Another World runs into a bit of resistance

Popular media fanned the flames. In 1951, Howard Hawks produced The Thing from Another World, which stoked popular interest. The April 7, 1952 issue of Life magazine, one of the most popular media outlets in the country, prompted even more interest in the subject with a major article on UFOs, despite the fact that the cover photo on that issue may have generated a lot more interest of a different sort.


Image from NICAP.ORG

The appearance of pips (not led by Gladys Knight) over Washington D.C on multiple occasions during the summer of 1952, gave the military pause, particularly as they sent up fighter jets to intercept the intruders, only to have the UFOs zoom away at incredible speeds. One Air Control radar registered speed in excess of 7,000 mph. As someone particularly knowledgeable about studying starlight and other astronomical phenomena, Hynek was brought in when the government finally decided that the increase in UFO sightings needed some looking into. You may have heard of Project Blue Book, but there were other such programs before it. All pretty much dedicated to stifling sighting reports and using scientific analysis to come up with credible explanations (alternate facts?) for what people had seen. Swamp gas, weather balloons, hoaxes and inebriation were popular. And if you are looking to debunk sightings, there are always plenty of other explanations one can come up with. Hynek’s ability to piss people off did not end with his professional faux pas re Mount Wilson. His work as a paid debunker gained him a whole new population of haters.


Mark O’Connell - from his site

But one of the things about being sent to check out a large number of supposed UFO sightings is that sometimes it is not so easy to call “bullshit.” Sometimes the observers are highly trained military personnel, sometimes professional pilots, sometimes law enforcement officers with no history of mental or substance weirdness, sometimes the clergy, sometimes very observant, sane, persuasive witnesses. It takes a toll after a while. You start to wonder if there might not actually be something out there. And if you are a real scientist, with commitment to the notion that facts are facts, eventually you find yourself more open to the possibilities. The line had been crossed.


Parking for aliens only - from the WB archives

While he was still brought in by the government to investigate UFO sightings, it could no longer be assumed that his employers would be getting the answers they wanted. He became a prominent, credible public persona for those who believed that UFOs were real, the Neil DeGrasse Tyson of UFOlogy. He even started his own organization, The Center for UFO Studies.

Mark O’Connell’s bio takes no position, well overtly anyway, on the real/not-real positions in the UFO debate. But he includes in each chapter a tale of a credible sighting. He also became an accredited UFO investigator and began hosting a site to report on that experience, so he can certainly claim a leaning. He says:

I didn’t set out to prove anything one way or another, and so I never had to worry about painting myself into a logical corner, or closing my book with a disappointing let-down. I think that, by recounting the history of UFOs through the eyes of Dr. Hynek, who was literally on the scene within hours or days of many of the most spectacular UFO incidents on record, and mirroring Hynek’s open-minded approach to these incidents, I give the reader a new way to experience the UFO phenomenon without feeling silly about it. I try not to persuade the reader one way or another, but to present the facts of the cases, Joe Friday-style, as they were reported by the witnesses, by the Air Force, and by Dr. Hynek, and let the reader draw his or her own conclusions.

He does a solid job of detailing Hynek’s life in science, his entry into studying the UFO phenomenon, and his role in the ongoing research. Hynek’s personal life is given cursory consideration.

There are many political skirmishes that O’Connell goes into. Some are significant, debunk-crazed bosses burying data, for example. A major public scientist treating his views on UFOs with withering scorn, if not much actual analysis. Some are less interesting, office politics at an organization he was directing later in his life. The level of detail sometimes gets in the way of keeping the narrative moving. Some smaller battles could have been omitted.

A strength of the book is that O’Connell gives us a blow-by-blow account of how UFOs became a public concern. He explains how public interest grew and shows how the governmental response was to stifle reasoned consideration of observed events. Hynek passed in 1986, so there is a considerable chunk of time left unexplored here. I do not know what significant facts have been discovered since then, and this book does not report them. But I am sure the truth is out there, somewhere.


I Want to Believe - You know this pair – image from Atlas Obscura

One of the most interesting things about the book and about Hynek, is where his scientific leaning led him, re his consideration of possible sources for UFOs. I will not spoil that here, but it definitely worth checking out.

Being a Boomer, it was during my impressionable youth that public awareness of and interest in (fear of?) UFOs emerged. While this or that sighting may have been of something other than an alien presence, the impact the large swath of reports had on me, and many others, was quite real. I confess that I am with Mulder in wanting to believe in UFOs, whatever they might be. It is impressive that a world class scientist dedicated much of his life to studying widely derided UFO reports, and applied his considerable skills to trying to figure out their nature. Learning of Josef Allen Hynek bolsters my hope that clear, broadly accepted answers might emerge in my lifetime. If not in mine, hopefully in yours. In the meantime, in light of the fact that UFOs constitute one of the great mysteries of our time, I cannot urge you strongly enough to Watch the Skies!.


Review Posted – July 7, 2017

Published - June 13, 2017

=============================EXTRA STUFF

Links to the author’s personal UFO site, High Strangeness UFO and his Google Plus page

OK, here is relevant piece of Hynek’s categorization speech.

“I divide the close encounter cases into three subdivisions: the close encounter, with little detail; the close encounter with physical effects: and the close encounter in which ‘humanoids’ or occupants are reported,” he told the group. Although the “physical effects” variant was the most appealing to him, he acknowledged that the “humanoid” encounters possessed their own uniquely repellant appeal. “This latter subgroup, of course, has the highest strangeness index and frightens away all but the most hardy investigators. I would be neither a good reporter nor a good scientist were I to deliberately reject data. /there are now on record some 1,500 reports of close encounters, about half of which involve reported craft occupants. Reports of occupants have been with is for years but there are only a few in the Air Force files; generally Project Bluebook personnel summarily, and without investigation, consigned such reports to the ‘psychological’ or crackpot category.

Link to the full 1951 film, The Thing From Another World

December 16, 2017 - NY Times - Thankfully, governmental interest in the unexplained did not pass with Josef Allen Hynek - Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program - by Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Keandec. Also from the NY Times, The Daily offers an audio report on this story

January 15, 2019 - NY Times - ‘Project Blue Book’ Is Based on a True U.F.O. Story. Here It Is. - by Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean - reacting to the success of the new Project Blue Book series on the History Channel, the writers look at the actual history, and spot where the series departs from that.


Aidan Gillen as the astronomer J. Allen Hynek in “Project Blue Book” on History - image from the above NY Times article

May 26, 2019 - NY Times - Wow, What Is That?’ Navy Pilots Report Unexplained Flying Objects - By Helene Cooper, Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean

May 9, 2020 - Vox - It’s time to take UFOs seriously. Seriously. by Sean Illing

July 28, 2020 - NY Times - Do We Believe in U.F.O.s? That’s the Wrong Question by Ralph Blumenthal and Leslie Kean

January 25, 2021 - The New Yorker - Have We Already Been Visited by Aliens? by Elizabeth Kolbert

February 11, 2021 - NY Times - Aliens Must Be Out There by Farhad Manjoo

June 12, 2021 - The Guardian - The woman who forced the US government to take UFOs seriously by So Yuon

June 25, 2021 - OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE - UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIEDOFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena - the latest declassified report summary. While very reminiscent of prior reports, doing the full range of ballroom dances about all the possible other explanations, it does at least accept that there are reasonable, reliable records of sightings that are not currently explainable. This made me even more sympathetic to Hynek's view of what might be going on.

September 12, 2021 - The Guardian - ‘What I saw that night was real’: is it time to take aliens more seriously? by Daniel Lavelle

February 5, 2022 - The Guardian - ‘Something’s coming’: is America finally ready to take UFOs seriously? by Adam Gabbatt

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars: a bit dry at times, with references to occurrences early on in the book that may have faded from memory, but otherwise this book presents a multidimensional biography of a fascinating scientist.

[Hunter Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic biography of a very special man. Hyneck wasn't just the man who changed his opinion on the UFO phenomenon. This is a great read for anyone interested in this subject.

[Leo Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had only known about J. Allen Hynek from his work on UFOs, and his cameo in "Close Encounters," a term which he coined, by the way. He also had a long and prestigious career as an astronomer and teacher. He was born in 1910, when Halley's Comet was in the sky. Perhaps this was an omen.

The book gives a concise history of the UFO phenomenon, from the mystery airship stories of the late 1800s, through the postwar sightings, starting with the Arnold case, on up until Dr. Hynek's death. It also gives a clear view of the frustration Hynek experienced in dealing with the Air Force and other investigative groups.

Dr. Hynek tried to remain objective, and open to data. UFOs presented very little of this. Most of the cases might be "explained away," but a small core of cases baffled him. While working with Project Sign, an early Air Force program to investigate UFOs, Hynek felt satisfied that he had managed to explain about 80 percent of the cases. In later years, he focussed instead on the 20 percent that remained unexplained.

Hynek also tried not to jump to conclusions, and when he did, he usually regretted it. His declaration that one sighting was the result of "swamp gas" became infamous.

Parallel with the UFO phenomenon was the Space Race. Hynek worked on several projects to track satellites, which became a matter of national importance after the Soviet launch of Sputnik. Dr. Hynek's unique expertise in optics, photography, and astronomy lent credence to his studies of UFOs.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book as a look back at the early days of astronomy, space exploration, and the UFO phenomenon, and how each informed and influenced the others.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book I’ve read all year.

It’s hard for me to stick with non-fiction because it’s usually pure information with no real story, but O’Connell does an amazing job of balancing the career, family life, and paranormal exploration of Hynek’s life in such a way that you’re always intrigued.

The quality of the prose is perfect. It’s beautiful but not flowery, and definitely not dull. The author finds beautiful notions and analogies to cap each major moment that help you understand the emotional impact and cultural importance of Hynek’s achievements. I came away not only impressed with his career but truly emotional by the end of his life.

O’Connell is also great at teasing out all the “weird” UFO stuff in such a way that the more questionable aspects of the phenomenon (ie, abduction and humanoid figures) seem downright probable when you’re finished reading.

On the one hand, the author never betrays the subject of his book and holds true to Hynek’s ethos of exploring UFO sightings with an open mind, but on the other hand you might damn well come away from the book as a downright believer. And that’s a testament to how thorough and unbiased the research is (admittedly the author’s frustrations with Carl Sagan peek through a bit, but not much).

Ultimately, this book shouldn’t be categorized in the “paranormal and occult” section of your bookstore (as it was at mine). It’s much more of a straightforward biography of a fascinating man who was driven by the perceived divide between science and “faith” (for lack of a better word) that exists in this culture.

A key scene for me is when Hynek and another scientist colleague are alone and essentially “come out” to each other, admitting they both are open to the idea of things outside the current realm of science, but feel they have to keep that private since the scientific community wouldn’t accept it.

This conundrum is probably what motivates people to place The Close Encounters Man in the paranormal section. It’s easy to shrug this stuff off just like it’s easy (sadly) to shrug off Hynek’s career in the paranormal. But you shouldn’t. He was a great man and the UFO phenomenon remains a great mystery. We shouldn’t be willing to ignore UFOs simply because we can’t imagine what they might actually be, we should boldly explore the unexplainable.

And that’s my biggest takeaway from the book: Hynek tried to boldly go where no one else wanted to go. And it’s humbling to think about what might have happened if he hadn’t encountered so much opposition. He might just have gotten there.

[Stephanie Mccallum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fantastic review of the life Dr. J. Allen Hynek and his involvement in the history the global interest in UFOs. I really enjoyed learning more about the man and came away with an even higher level of respect for him as a person as well as all of the amazing contributions he made to the world of astronomy. He is exactly what every scientist should be - not skeptical so much as eager to understand. He never once said that UFO reports were proof of the ETH. But he did urge anyone who'd listen that these reports were worth studying and investigating. Because they are something and we still don't know what that something is.

[Jeff Porteous · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an absolutely fascinating and extremely well-written book! I truly feel I’ve gotten to know Dr. Hynek (I only wish I could’ve met him in person), and felt a strong sense of loss at his passing at the end. This was an impressive book about an important man and essential topic of study, and Mark O’Connell really knocked it out of the park. What a joy it was to read.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to win a copy of this compelling book through a goodreads giveaway. I was drawn in from the beginning, and O'connell's writing is superb. Informative, detailed, and humorous in all of the right places.
Absolutely loved this book.
Highly recommended!

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Giving up on this one, even though it's interesting. The material's a bit too "in the weeds" in terms of early details and I'm losing interest enough to let this go back to the library unfinished.

Your mileage may vary, depending on your interests in UFOs et al.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started out a bit slow. Lots of info that was interesting but I wasn’t fully captivated until it got into the project blue book parts. But, now that I’m done, I’m glad all the info was provided in the beginning so we got a full picture of the man , and not just the hype. Overall, if you’re into UFO studies, I recommend this book.

[Xander · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I learned from this book: Carl Sagan was a dick.

[Melissa Chung · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my first book of the year. I started it on vacation in Hawaii while visiting family. I love UFO's and learning about a real person who spent most of his adult life studying the phenomenon was fascinating. This was a buddy read with my friend Ashley.

The Close Encounters Man is a non-fiction story about a man named Josef Allen Hynek who was born 5 days before the legendary Halley's comet was to return to Earth. His parents, Joseph and Bertha Hynek, took "Joey" to the roof of their Chicago home to witness the beauty of the comet. He "may have gotten a sprinkling of comet dust that night because for the rest of his life, his path would be marked, and sometimes defined, by the appearance and movement of unusual heavenly bodies."

We witness the growth of this incredible man as he makes his way through university, becoming a professor of astronomy. O'Connell states, "Hynek was not afraid to ruffle the feathers of the power that be in pursuit of scientific truth." This was the case of the military and their mishandling of science when it came to World War 2. Hynek said the very concept of military research was becoming deeply troubling. "How inspiring if even part of that [our laboratory spends 3/4 million a day] could be directed into constructive channels instead of weapons of destruction." By 1948, Hynek was hearing stories of flying saucers. He thought they were distractions from real science. But as Project Sign continued to receive puzzling reports, Hynek felt "20 percent-were left 'unexplained'." Hynek was eventually hired to debunk UFO stories for Project Sign. These stories weren't just from civilians but from military pilots.

As the phenomenon of flying saucers continued to thrill the public through Hollywood and books, "Student interest in astronomy at Ohio State has enjoyed an upsurge in the past few years, much of the credit is due to Dr. Hynek, who started a non-math astronomy course in 1947." Unfortunately, the CIA and the Air Force was getting annoyed with people's fascination. Project Grudge was mandated "to make the UFOs go away." Project Sign turned into Project Blue Book. The movement started in earnest in 1949. The CIA continued to ask Hynek to debunk stories, and he did so across the country.

Hynek did many more things for science, helping to build a camera that could take pictures of a moving satellite. As he continued at the universities as a professor, he still helped track down flying saucers and debunk stories of swamp gas, planets and stars, and the famed weather balloons. "Hynek began to visualize a system by which he could categorize UFO events. It occurred to Hynek that if he could place cases in discrete categories derived from the reliability of the witness and the nature of the sighting, then perhaps, over time, patterns might begin to emerge."

What I found funny while reading this biography was that Hynek went head-to-head with Carl Sagan, author of Contact. Sagan was a non-believer, and during an interview with Hynek, he mocked and teased those on the show who thought UFOs may be real. Hynek stated, "The incontrovertible fact is that reports of UFOs exist. IT is also a fact that reports of UFOs continue to be made almost daily in all parts of the world by all sorts of people from all walks of life and, actually, of all degrees of education, training, and culture."

At the end, Hynek was diagnosed with prostate cancer and a brain tumor. His friend Powers states, "He started life as an astronomer interested in spectroscopy, that was his main passion, was looking at the chemical composition of stars and gas clouds in space, but he never got to do that. He became director of the observatory and got involved in UFO stuff and involved in NASA stuff and all of that, so he never really got back to his main love." O'Connell leaves us with this, "For years Hynek had fretted that the return of Halley's Comet in 1986 would herald his own death, and it was beginning to look as though he had been right all along. In March 1986, traveling through southern Arizona, just over the horizon, 'the tail streaming away like a feather in a cap'. A little over a month after Hynek said his last farewell to Halley he passed.

This book was beyond interesting. Learning about a man who fell into the UFO world and made the world believe. I highly recommend if you are interested in UFOs, if you are interested in science throughout time from the 50's to the 80's, if you are interested in government cover ups. This book has it all.

[Bill Weaver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Threads the eye of the needle between science and the ‘supersensible realm’. There is one incredible reveal here in that the author quotes Hynek saying that the French scientist in Spielberg’s Close Encounters film was inspired not by Jacque Vallee as I previously had thought but in fact by another French scientist/ufologist- Claude Poher! I do appreciate this book but still have a lot of questions. Perhaps there is no escape from questions in this. It surprised me a little that Hynek was into occult esotericism, particularly Rosicrucianism, but given this in his background perhaps his eventual conversion to UFO believer makes more sense. (The people who founded the esoteric community Findhorn were also connnected to Rosicrucianism…) This book paints Hynek as scientifically minded, yes, but still having a weakness for the types of ‘wild speculation’ common to the UFO program. He maintains scientific objectivity in many of his statements and writings on the subject yet he seems to be taken in easily by the Barney and Betty Hill story for example, which appears psychologically suspect from a number of angles, including even as pointed out by the author who references an article stating that just prior to the Hills’ hypnosis sessions an episode of the Outer Limits “the Belaro shield” aired with an alien similar to the ones ‘remembered’ by the Hills. Hynek was never a psychologist. Why would he fall for psychological ’proofs’ without the requisite expertise to scientifically analyze these results? His approach from that angle appears scientifically unsound. Yes, the Pascagoula encounter is terrifying, and also measures high on the strangeness scale, but there is a psychological dimension that is never fully explored by Hynek or other believers. I too am a fan of the Simonton interstellar pancakes encounter, but considered within the measure of tall tales is hardly proof of much. I also found it a bit ridiculous that Hynek embraced the Close Encounters film so enthusiastically when it seems to cut against all of his efforts to portray himself as scientifically objective, by generally denying that he was making truth claims about extraterrestrials. Then ironically the book spins such episodes as the famous “swamp gas” sightings as in fact being likely nothing more than . . . swamp gas! I’ve read elsewhere of the Coyne helicopter encounter debunked as likely a close call and misidentification of a tanker refueling plane. (You can imagine in fact why pilots will never admit they misidentified a plane, right?) There is an old newspaper article archived online about how the famous Ohio UFO police chase case was a hoax perpetrated by physics grad students. And another review on Amazon mentions the infamous “file 13” from Project Grudge alleged to describe a human mutilation case that happened in 1956. This kind of thing makes me wonder why Hynek didn’t actively work to debunk some of the more outlandish claims made by UFO believers. He would rather it seems have argued with the arch nemesis Carl Sagan. Colin Wilson too denigrates Sagan in his book Alien Dawn. The other thing I found strange about this book is how little change is apparent in the UFO field since Hynek’s lifetime. We still are locked in essentially the same information doom loop circling between hoaxsters, counterintel rumors, and the merely unexplained. If UFOs are such a big deal, why this never ending cul de sac with no big reveal? Perhaps John Keel was right to mistrust the phenomenon as a trickster, arguing that it changes form to suit the preconceptions of each investigator. The quote on the cover from Leslie Kean who got the story about UAP into the New York Times also I found troubling rather than trustworthy, as a lot of those UAP stories seem to be crumbing under the weight of the skinwalker ranch and other questionable associations. Is UAP nothing more than counterintelligence for the benefit of Lockheed Martin? Has anyone really seen a “dinobeaver”? This book makes no claims in that direction but the New York Post has been busy debunking as of late and caught my attention. Based on the proliferation of hucksterism at present, and despite the enjoyable read here about the good ole days (pre-Roswell crash and pre-Rick Doty, you might say), I myself have decided to go back to my old perspective that it is still mostly meaningless until a real flying saucer lands on the White House lawn.

[Fred Bradford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably worth 5 stars, but I reserve that for my absolute favorites. And although this was a very good read, it loses just a hair for just not having that personal "it" factor for me.

It's not that the book wasn't comprehensive, or that it wasn't fanciful enough, or that it was poorly written... On the contrary, I found it to be perfectly comprehensive, I wasn't looking for it to be fanciful, and I thought it was very well written. I think, perhaps, I was awaiting more profound revelations on what caused Dr. Hynek, man of science, to depart from major skepticism and to begin to question the UFO phenomenon. I think what revelations the book addresses are enough, and I agree, but I suspect a part of me was hoping for some "inside" information from the astronomer's experience with his investigations. Something previously unrevealed, I suppose. And there was a bit of that. Just not the degree I was (deep down) hoping for.

That said, I was quite familiar with the subject overall, and well aware of J. Allen Hynek and his work with USAF investigations into UFO cases. What I didn't know, were his non-UFO achievements, which were substantial! I found THOSE revelations to be quite interesting (as I suspected I would). Mark O'Connell has really done a masterful job not only in writing, but also in researching, his subject here.

I really wish there WAS more funding for UFO research. More funding would undoubtedly lead to more involvement by mainstream scientists. Personally, I think I huge part of the problem is simply the way traditional science is done. You need a "controlled" environment, repeatable tests, and all these methods, that are virtually impossible in UFO study. UFO investigations are almost exclusively retroactive by nature, making the scientific study of encounters, well, rather difficult. Still, it should be undertaken, in my humble opinion, if for no other reason than, as Hynek says, to seek answers.

[Zachary · Rating 4 out of 5]

J. Allen Hynek's name pops up all the time in any book that you read about the culture and history of UFOs and for good reason - his status as one of the most sympathetic academic/scientific researchers of the phenomenon is legendary, as is his contributions to the broader science of astronomy. He's always been intriguing to me as a figure in the shadowy history of the phenomenon, so I loved getting to know more about his story and especially about the bizarre institutional and cultural battles that he had to fight to get his investigations taken seriously. Hynek's story is at least in part the tale of what happens when passionate individuals get caught up in the nightmares of bureaucracy, and it ain't pretty. All things considered, O'Connell's book does an admirable job weaving Hynek's personal story and development as a scientist in with the fascinatingly diverse array of UFO and UFO-related cases that he consulted on. There's a pretty comprehensive overview of his life and work here, really. The one thing that's missing, though, is attention to the broader cultural contours of the Hynek's life and times and their importance on the culture of UFO investigations and their contributions to the UFO phenomena in general. That is, this is a good biography, but does little to give cultural context to its subject. Additionally, O'Connell's bias towards Hynek is very clear from the start...and that makes sense, given that he's writing a whole book about him, but at times it is arguably maybe beyond what is helpful or even appropriate for a biographer. Still, a very interesting read that profiled a lot of cases that I hadn't heard of but would love to learn more about now.

[Pat Rolston · Rating 4 out of 5]

I knew of Professor Hynek as the man who was the window dressing for Project Blue Book, but this impression has drastically changed. The reason is this wonderful book regarding J. Allen Hynek and his journey to great professional academic success as a professor of a astronomy and parallel role as the scientific advisor to project Blue Book. This is a man obsessed with the search for knowledge in most all realms, but made it his career as an Astronomer. He is often quoted as saying he should have paid Ohio State and Northwestern to serve as the a professor and department head of Astronomy at both Universities. It is ironic he also was selected by the military as the scientific advisor to Project Blue Book.

Blue Book was the name of the group designated by the Air Force to investigate and finalize the root causes of reports of unidentified flying objects. The reader will learn of the politics of the group and subject that led the professor to battle the senior military staff in the search for truth. This is a very well written book that offers innumerable cases of anomalies that stumped Professor Hynek and some very determined open and closed mined investigators. These aren’t wild eyed speculations aka Ancient Aliens television, but thoroughly vetted and investigated cases that led to one of America’s greatest Astronomers going from agnostic skeptic to skeptical believer. This will entertain and provide much opportunity to consider one of the most important and perplexing mysteries of our time.

[Allison Thurman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've known who J. Allen Hynek was since childhood: the Air Force-associated UFO researcher who started a skeptic but became a believer, best known for his cameo as the bearded, pipe-smoking scientist in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Sad to say I don't think I've read any of his work though. After reading this fine biography I've determined to rectify this!

O'Connell shows how Hynek's background in astronomy and seemingly conflicting interests in esoteric/hermetic thought informed his approach to UFO cases and eventual conviction that they were a subject worthy of scientific study. Far from a blind believer, he looked for conventional explanations even as he clashed with his military superiors over their eagerness to turn ambiguous data into certain identification.

I found it especially interesting to read this after finishing the first volume of Jacques Vallee's "Forbidden Science" journals. The 1940s-50s were a "borderline" time in UFO research, before they'd been written off as a subject for cranks but while some genuinely unusual incidents still strained credibility (the contactee movement, the first abduction events), and Hynek and Vallee formed the core of an "invisible college" to investigate such strange events.

Highly recommended for a portrait of early UFO research and researchers.

[Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author does a terrific job of mixing Hyack's academic biography with his work as a UFO investigator with a history of the most dramatic UFO encounters in the U.S. along with some history of science fiction as well. Very good handling of a lot of material in an entertaining way, with excellent writing throughout.

I disagreed with the author on a couple of points, but these disagreements are minor. Calling Hyack the first crowd funder, for instance disregards many "by mail" efforts dating back to at least the U.S. Civil War. I think the 1966 Michigan events were lights seen through swamp gas, having witnessed something like this myself. Some UFO events are caused by the atmosphere working as a lens. I always wonder why people who believe in desert mirages don't get this. But again, these disagreements are slight.

Excellent narrator.

Anyone who likes this book will likely also enjoy Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base," which also received 4 stars.

[Lea Wiggins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this amazing book in the Giveaway. I am so glad I did. It was the book I wanted most to win! How cool is that.

I grew up hearing and watching a lot of stuff about J Allen Hynek. I have always been fascinated about stars, space, astronomy, even as a child. Of course I am of that generation that watched the news on July 20, 1969, at 20:18 UTC.

I found in the course of reading this book that I had some preconceived and biased beliefs about Mr Hynek, that this book was able to correct.

I had always believed that Mr Hynek was hired by the government to work with Project Bluebook to deliberately defuse and downplay all UFO sightings.

Initially his outlook was very different from what he later came to believe.

However he never believed that UFOs were necessarily aliens from other worlds.

Mr Hynek was an amazing scientist, and a very interesting man. I came to respect him more than I did before I read the book by Mark O'Connell.

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

The quintessential book on the legendary UFO researcher, J Allen Hynek, and not just because such books were basically non-existent before this. Thoroughly researched, with just enough of the classic and famous UFO stories peppered throughout to provide an idea of context, reminiscent of the UFO books written by Hynek and his invisible crew throughout that period, but with enough biographical information throughout to keep the narrative moving in a way that many of the more conceptual books can struggle with. Equally fascinating was the way O'Connell takes us through the shifting cultural landscape of the 50s-80s, as the UFO phenomena rose and fell in popularity, providing a background that gives the book an even larger scale than the story of one individual. Well-cited throughout, this is an excellent jumping-off point and equally an overview of a period in time that already feels long, long ago.

[Giorgio · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Any man who says that he thinks of himself as an ordinary man is a liar. Any man that says he doesn’t matter—as one individual in the galaxy—is a liar. This sounds like shades of John Donne, and probably so. There is no such thing as an ordinary man.

There are physical and emotional characteristics common to all humans. And there are humans who are educated and creative, who travel, and who constantly ask ‘why?’ ‘when?’ ‘what?,’ and there are humans who live and die by the millions, in starvation, poverty and ignorance, who have never been 10 miles from home, and who don’t know what a star is, and are too hungry to care. But they are not common people; they are, each one, distinctive individuals, and the paradox is that each one does matter—just as each star or planet, regardless of size or distance, does exert some influence upon the others.", J. Allen Hynek.

[Katy Koivastik · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would give this book 10 stars if I could. It is well-researched, well-organized, highly readable and a perfect book to read while awaiting season 2 of History Channel’s “Project Blue Book”.

I had never heard of J. Allen Hynek until watching the aforementioned show about his work with the United States Air Force’s attempts at debunking UFO phenomena, code name Project Blue Book. Reading this book inspires me to want to know more about this most interesting astronomer’s life, work and legacy. As author Mark O’Connell writes: “This book, then, is an attempt to rectify Dr. Hynek’s story, to find the heroism, humor, and humanity in a man whose name has been relegated to a basement full of file cabinets when it should rightly be written in the stars”. Indeed.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent biography and really won me over by the end. I sure wish he could be alive today to see the great impact his work is making. I am confident that he was ignorant of the truth of what is being revealed publicly, which, I find very sad, in the similar vein of Carl Sagan. I was very intrigued to learn that Hynek's spiritual guru was Steiner, as I have always been drawn to the majesty of his beliefs and teachings. I'm happy to hear Hynek came to believe in god at the end; an intelligent scientist coming to that faith on one's own, is most valuable. I recommend this book to anybody interested in learning more about Hynek, this is a very good biography if you stick with it.

[Phyllis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such an interesting life and subject. An astronomer by education developed an interest in the sightings of UFO's and ends up pursuing them and their stories all his life. He becomes involved in the Air Force project, Blue Book ,which like many of his contacts is more intent on making fun of UFO's than studying them scientifically .
He works with the government on several other projects and has some brilliant scientific works.

Well written, sticking to the facts where it could have gone off into sensation.

[Harish Save · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by this book. This book gives you wonderful insight into Dr. J Allen Hynek's life and work. While working for the US Air Force, Dr. J Allen Hynek, has made his mark in UFOlogy, no other scientist / researcher has done yet. He was willing to go against the grain of what many scientists at that time believed just for the sake of finding the truth. After reading this book I have greater appreciation for the man himself. If UFOs interest you then this book is a must read.

[Ashley Wright · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting one. I couldn't tell you a single person's name mentioned in this story...but I couldn't stop reading it. It's very apparent how much the author researched to get this to be as cohesive of an account as possible about this man's life. But apart from the famous stories of UFO abduction mentioned that everyone's already familiar with and the Spielberg parts, I'm not sure how much of it I will retain in the long haul.

[Sharon Fernandes · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an extremely well written book about a very fascinating man and his search for scientific information about the existence of unidentified flying objects.
Biographies can often be dry, but this was anything but. The facts of his amazing life were generously interspersed with fascinating stories about UFO experiences he had investigated.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Full of interesting and new to me information. Gives a great look t the life and work of J. Allen Hynek. Written in a very informational and entertaining manner. I would recommend to anyone interested in UFO's. I won this book in a GoodReads Giveaway.

[Mrklingon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating. A biography of a scientist who went where his curiosity took him.

O'Connell does an excellent job charting the course of J. Allen Hynek's life - a serious scientist who worked in many corners of astronomy - and defined the way we think about UFOs.

[Mike Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this, having watched the Project Blue Book TV series, which is - sometimes loosely - based on events covered in this book.
J. Allen Hynek evidently led an amazing life and this book is a fascinating journey through that life, of a giant in astronomy and the pursuit of the truth about UFOs.