The Close Encounters Man Audiobook By Mark O’Connell cover art

The Close Encounters Man

How One Man Made the World Believe in UFOs

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

The Close Encounters Man

By: Mark O’Connell
Narrated by: Charles Constant
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $21.49

Buy for $21.49

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

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 pronouncement: 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 US Air Force's go-to UFO expert for nearly 20 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.

©2017 Mark O'Connell (P)2021 Tantor Professionals & Academics Science & Technology Unexplained Mysteries Aviation Air Force US Air Force Astronomy
All stars
Most relevant  
I learned about J Allen Hynek in the 1970s, and it was related to UFOs. In my lifetime, I have never heard anything about his exceptional career in astronomy or his significant accomplishments. I have a new appreciation for a giant in Astronomy and UFOs. The narration fits the book.

Exceptional Book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
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.

Now I feel like I know the man

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This is a remarkable book. It presents Hynek’s biography a explains what he thought and why he thought it. The book provides context for is intellectual interests and projects. And it is just a good read. I will be listening to it again. Highly recommended.

This is a remarkable book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Great book that really introduces you to the man behind the legend. I didn’t know JAH was so accomplished

I had no idea

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.