: He argues the story of Adam and Eve is actually a survival account from a previous cataclysm 11,500 years ago, rather than a creation story.

The book's association with the CIA has fueled much of its current fame:

: The discovery of quick-frozen mammoths with fresh food in their mouths is cited as proof of a sudden, violent shift into polar climates. The CIA Connection and Controversy

: Thomas argues that the Earth's 60-mile-thick outer shell is not rigidly fixed. Instead, it can slide over a molten sublayer when planetary magnetic fields weaken.

The book proposes that Earth experiences periodic, catastrophic "resets" approximately every 7,000 to 11,500 years.