An Illustrated Review of “The Close Encounters Man”

This document is a detailed book review of 'The Close Encounters Man' by Mark O’Connell, written by Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos in April 2020. The reviewer, a long-time ufology researcher, provides a critical assessment of the biography of Dr. Josef Allen Hynek, the prominent scientific advisor to the U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book. Ballester Olmos examines Hynek’s career, his transition from a skeptic to a proponent of the UFO mystery, and his eventual founding of the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS). The review covers various historical UFO cases discussed in the book, including the 1947 Kenneth Arnold sighting, the 1957 Levelland incident, the 1966 Socorro landing, and the Dexter-Hillsdale sightings. Ballester Olmos frequently contrasts the book's narrative with his own perspective, which is rooted in a skeptical, scientific-materialist approach. He argues that many UFO reports are the result of human error, media sensationalism, and the 'airship effect' rather than extraterrestrial visitation. The reviewer also discusses the strained relationship between Hynek and Major Hector Quintanilla, the final officer in charge of Project Blue Book. Throughout the review, Ballester Olmos emphasizes the lack of hard, empirical evidence in the field of ufology, noting that despite decades of research, no definitive proof of anomalous phenomena has been established. He critiques the 'believer' mentality and suggests that the UFO phenomenon is largely a social construct fueled by movies, literature, and the press. The document includes two appendices: one discussing a pair of photographs taken by Hynek during a commercial flight, which the reviewer considers to be of zero scientific value, and the original text of Hynek’s foreword to Ballester Olmos’s 1984 book, 'Investigación OVNI'. The review concludes by reaffirming Hynek’s status as a significant figure in the history of science and ufology, while maintaining that the field itself has become an 'assortment of superstitions'.