The Mars Mystery: The Secret Connection Between Earth and the Red Planet - Hardcover

Hancock, Graham

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0609600869 ISBN 13: 9780609600863

Publisher: Crown, 1998

Synopsis

In The Mars Mystery, investigative archaeologist Graham Hancock treats our growing knowledge of Martian topography as a Rosetta Stone we can use to decode mysteries as old as the human imagination. He examines the current landscape of Mars and discovers evidence that the planet was once home to a lush environment of dense atmo-sphere and flowing rivers, lakes, and oceans. He asks questions, based on growing evidence, that cannot be dismissed: Has Mars ever sustained higher forms of life? How might the secret history of Mars be intertwined with Earth's own past and future?

In his most riveting and revealing book yet, Hancock points to the intriguing possibility that ancient Martian civilization is communicating with us through the remarkable structures it left behind. Megaliths found on the parched shores of Cydonia, a former Martian ocean, mirror the geometrical conventions of the pyramids at Egypt's Giza necropolis. Especially startling is a Sphinx-like structure depicting a face with distinguishable diadem, teeth, mouth, and Egyptian-style headdress. Might there be a connection between the structures of Egypt and those of Mars?

Yet, as intriguing as scientists all over the world find the Cydonian discovery, NASA continues to balk at taking a more detailed look at the site and has veiled previous photographs and studies

in a web of equivocation. In The Mars Mystery, Hancock makes a strong case that NASA is motivated by a lingering Cold War mentality and a fear that evidence of alien life will have destabilizing political, economic, and social consequences. In exploring the traces left by the Martian civilization and the cosmic cataclysm that may have ended it, The Mars Mystery is both an illumination of our ancient past and a warning which we still have time to heed about our ultimate fate.

About this title

Review

Mars holds a special fascination for us, because it is the most Earth-like planet we've yet encountered. As we continue to explore the red planet, geological evidence mounts that long ago water flowed freely across its surface, begging the question: If there was water, was there life? Graham Hancock thinks so. In fact, Hancock, a former journalist and the author of several books, including Fingerprints of the Gods, believes that certain formations on the Martian surface are the remnants of an ancient civilization--one strikingly similar to ancient Egypt--that was destroyed by a cataclysmic deep impact. Further, Hancock claims that NASA's reluctance to give credence to "The Face," "The Pyramids," and other things people see in images of the Martian surface is evidence that the U.S. space agency is motivated by cold war paranoia and mistrust. Hancock seems to be more fair-minded than many NASA critics, stating that, "what we see is a mindset, here, not a conspiracy." And indeed, one is hard-pressed to imagine why NASA isn't agreeing wholeheartedly with Hancock, since his ultimate point is that we should be paying more attention to our planetary neighbors and the skies above, lest we suffer the same fate as the Martians. Hancock raises many intriguing questions in this synthesis of unorthodox Mars theory, but those looking for applications of Ockham's razor had best search elsewhere--Hancock's theories require a leap of faith as surely as NASA's do. --Therese Littleton

About the Author

GRAHAM HANCOCK is a former East African correspondent for The Economist and has traveled around the world writing books and filming movies on archaeological discoveries and their connection to our distant past. He is the author of the best-selling Fingerprints of the Gods and The Sign and the Seal, and the coauthor of The Message of the Sphinx. He lives in Devon, England.

About this edition

• Publisher: Crown
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0609600869
• ISBN 13: 9780609600863
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 344