Customer Reviews

The Cydonia Controversy: The History, Science, and Implications of the Discovery of Artificial Structures on Mars

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The "Face" is a mile long formation on the surface of Mars that appears to be an ancient and highly-eroded artificial structure. The Face and other anomalous objects were first photographed by a Viking orbiter spacecraft in 1976, and more recently by the Mars Global Surveyor. The objects are located in Cydonia, a region lying along what many scientists believe to be the shoreline of a vast northern sea which once existed on Mars.

The Cydonia Controversy provides the most complete and up-to-date treatment of the Face and other anomalies on Mars from a scientific, historical, and political perspective. It summarizes and synthesizes information from different perspectives into an integrated picture of the controversy, and presents new imagery and research results not previously available to the general public. Organized chronologically, the Cydonia Controversy:

* Traces the evolution of our interest in extraterrestrial life and Mars from the time of the Sumerians and Babylonians, through the Greeks, the Renaissance, to Percival Lowell and the great debate over the Martian canals

* Discusses how the debate over extraterrestrial life changed in the 20th century from a legitimate area for scientific research to one increasingly influenced by politics and concerns over national security

* Tells the story of how the Face and other objects on Mars were discovered during the Viking mission, and later denied by NASA, and how a group of independent investigators rediscovered these strange objects and brought them to the attention of the public

* Describes the science behind the investigation, summarizing all of the evidence for, and against, artificiality

* Considers the question of whether or not the existence of artificial structures in Cydonia is plausible in light of what we know about Mars

* Discusses what happened after the Viking mission, including the mysterious loss of the Mars Observer in 1993, and the successful launch of Mars Global Surveyor and NASA's plan to re-image Cydonia in the spring of 1998

* Presents and discusses new evidence of artificiality in Cydonia based on the new Mars Global surveyor imagery of the Face and other objects on Mars

* Reviews and assesses the Cydonia discoveries in the context of the extraterrestrial life debate, and concludes with a discussion of possible implications of the discovery of archaeological ruins on Mars

The controversy over the Face and other objects in Cydonia involves science and high tech, NASA politics, UFOs, government cover-ups, scientific revolutions, ancient mysteries, and other scientific and historical threads. Woven from these threads, the Cydonia Controversy walks the fine line between science and speculation.

The book is targeted toward open-minded, critical thinking individuals with a general knowledge of science and technology. It is written for those who are fascinated by unexpected connections between disparate fields and the new insights they can sometimes provide. There is no intended age group as both young and old are equally fascinated by this subject.

I was deeply impressed by the book Cydonia Controversy, both for the scope of the data and analysis, but also the effort by the author to place this controversy in its proper context in the history of science and philosophy. The book presents a comprehensive and up to date review of the latest images from Cydonia, that bear deeply on the two great questions of the age: are we alone, and, if we are not alone, how close are our neighboring intelligences in the cosmos?

The question of whether humanity is alone in the cosmos has mesmerized great thinkers since ancient times, as this book illuminates. In the present era, science has focused its SETI efforts on radio, or more recently optical, signals from faraway stars. The "between the lines" message being: that it is acceptable to discover intelligent life, past or present, as long as it is many light years removed from us. However, on Mars , the nearest earthlike planet in the cosmos and only five light minuets away from us, we may be confronting archeological remnants of a past civilization.

The Cydonia Controversy still rages despite new images of the face on Mars and other objects. This occurs, as the author shows, because despite apparent erosion and wind drifting many of the features seen in the original Viking images actually persist in the new and more detailed images. The author points out that the first new Cydonia images taken by the MGS probe and released by JPL, upon which most of the world formed its present opinions , were processed differently from other images taken of Mars surface on that mission, and were of much lower quality. This troubling phenomena remains a mystery to this day. Fortunately the images in question have now been better enhanced, and more images have now been taken and these are all shown in the book. The author also shows the effects of erosion on earthly archeology for comparison, showing that it is rare for archeology on earth to be pristine or perfect and hence any possible archeology found on another planet must also be interpreted with the help of a model of its appearance before erosion occurred.

The book also discusses the curious similarities of the Cydonia mystery to tales of similar ancient and even legendary civilizations on earth.

All in all this book was an excellent and informative read that left me feeling that this controversy is still alive and kicking.

Mark Carlotto is a name closely associated with the Face on Mars controversy ever since the early 1980s. He writes well, dispassionately outlining the difficulties he and other researchers have faced in getting to the bottom of what is one of the most profound mysteries to confront us - is there evidence of intelligent design on the Cydonia plains of Mars? The main drawback however, to what is an excellent book is the annoying spelling errors that are a tad too numerous for my liking. Also, the pictures would have more impact if the paper quality had been better, or if they were presented in colour. Which is why I'm giving the book only 4 stars - better quality, spelling, editing and it would warrant 5 stars.

I've heard of Mark Carlotto in connection with the "Face" for years and decided to get this book.
It really isn't written in too complicated a manner (I'm not sure what his Ph.D. is for but apparently it's something to do with image enhancement, maybe even space related)leaving out most of the science but tells what Dr. Carlotto and others have done with Nasa's Mars images over the years.
Apparently even though several well qualified researchers have used a variety of methods in their studies of so many images from Mars Nasa just isn't interested in what they think might be there. The establishment seems to resort to stunts like misrepresentation or bad science to brush them off, if they don't just ignore them in the first place.
You'd think that the mainstream would want to look at anything that had the slightest possiblity of being important but it seems if they don't believe in it then it just isn't there. Carlotto also mentions mankind's fascination with Mars over the centuries as well as various ancient structures on Earth (mainstream science ignores much of that too)and speculation, by some, of a possible connection with what might be on Mars and who built these things. there are numerous photos and diagrams.
At least some of the researchers seem to take the stance that there's something interesting there (on Mars), let's take a closer look and see what it is, prove one way or another that it is or isn't real- too bad Establishment science and Nasa won't go for it.
I found a few irritating spots in the lack of editing and didn't like the total lack of footnotes although there is a resource list for each chapter at books end.

I see a few comments about the editing, thats not the point. Mark Carlotto has made one of the best and most logical arguments for ancient ruins on Mars. Different then Hoagland; Carlotto gives fair airing of the different opinions, and you don't have to be an astro/geologist to see those pyramid structures are not natural. Truly fact is stranger than fiction, and the true history of this solar system appears to be more amazing than we imagined! I highly recommend this book.