Book Description
This lively, beautifully illustrated history of the civilizations that rose and fell on the lands bordering the Mediterranean Sea represents the culmination of a great historian’s unparalleled art, eye, and scholarship.
John Julius Norwich is renowned for his magisterial histories, including the two-volume A History of Venice and the three-volume Byzantium.
The Middle Sea showcases the qualities that have made him one of the most respected and popular historians of our day: witty prose, scrupulous research, and an unerring ability to bring to life the dramatic event, the colorful character, and the telling detail.
Norwich traverses five thousand years of history, tracing the growth of culture, trade, political alliances and enmities, and religious movements from the Phoenician civilization to present-day Mediterranean nations.
In a vivid, fully accessible narrative, he recounts the achievements of the Phoenicians, those great sea traders who carried not just goods but also knowledge to Europe and parts of Asia, the glories of ancient Egypt, the extraordinary contributions of the Greeks, and the rise of the mighty Romans. The twin stories of Byzantium and Islam, the dominant forces after the fall of Rome, crescendo in the incredible saga of the Fourth Crusade and carry readers to the reemergence of a vibrant Europe.
From the far-reaching developments in medieval France to the Renaissance wars in Italy to the triumph of Isabella’s Spain, Norwich provides a brilliant portrait of the intermingling of ancient conflicts and modern sensibilities that shape life today on the shores of the Middle Sea.
Customer Reviews:
The Middle Sea.. a read that should not be missed.......2007-10-18
Here is a history book filled with detail, dialogue, and facts that should be read by ALL!
The Mediterranean, possibly the cradle of humanity, has seen the viyages of the agee. This water way has been the corridor to new civilizations, and the road to glory and dispear for others. John Norwich has made a more than interesting, entertaining and informative read. He has awakened many readers to an era many 'westeners' have missed in there history calsses.
The events today, are reflected in history. It is a shame some of the world's learders have not really studied history. Perhaps if they did, history would not have repeated itself.
Norwich has written this book at a very appropriate time. It should be offered in ever secondary school program. We need to know the world, as it was. And we must know what we may expect if we do not learn from past experiences (mistakes)!
Ambitious.......2007-08-28
It is an ambitious undertaking to attempt to cover such a long and varied history as that surrounding the Mediterranean. But professor Norwich turns to the task with the same skill and passion as his earlier works. As should be expected with such a broad subject, there is a great deal rushed over and many details left unattended. The early history seems, in particular, to suffer this fate of limited detail. Yet, where professor Norwich lacks in detail he compensates in broad sweeping coverage of one of the most historically diverse and active areas of the world. It is a good introduction that will give you an appetite for more. Ideal for the new student of any history in the Mediterranean area.
The Middle Sea.......2007-08-27
This book provides a sweeping, very engaging narrative of the history of the Mediterranean Sea, from the ancient civilizations of the Near East to the events and impact of the First World War. It is history told in broad strokes - the key events, historical figures and political, social, and religious trends of the entire geographical area from southern Europe to northern Africa and the Near East over thousands of years. It is true, as some other reviewers have noted, that there may lack a balance in coverage of specific epochs or civilizations. Nevertheless, Norwich is very skilled at recounting history with a sense of drama, excitement, and grace. The book includes a number of black and white and color plates and several useful maps. Strongly recommended.
Entertaining but limited.......2007-08-03
I love Norwich's writing style and have been a great fan of his Byzantine, Venetian, and Sicilian histories. The reader will quickly be seduced by the stories and the pages will turn. While it is evident that the writer is very knowledgeable about Medieval and even Renaissance and early modern topics in Europe, he is very limited, perhaps negatively biased in some non-European areas. Modern Egypt, for instance, received about a paragraph and most of that was inaccurate, making mistakes on who was khedive/sultan/king and when, which then caused me to wonder what other mistakes were present. The 1956 Suez Crisis where Israel invaded the Sinai implied that the Israelis were doing so as a result of Nasr violating a treaty, which is simply incorrect or in the least not remotely accurate. Nasr is dismissed as the man who ripped down the statue of the builder of the Suez Canal and nothing else.... and all that in three or four sentences. Once again, the cursory discussion of the Suez Crisis, the dismissal of much modern history, and some mistakes caused me to wonder what other areas were not treated correctly. As entertaining as the nymphomania of Isabel II of Spain is, it doesn't deserve page after page in comparison with much more important, if less fascinating, aspects of Mediterranean history.
It is my hope that this book will be updated, edited, and researched more thoroughly in any future printing.
Eye-catching cover art and lively writing style.......2007-03-12
THE MIDDLE SEA: A HISTORY OF THE MEDITERRANEAN sums up the author's life's work studying the lands of the Mediterranean from early times to the present. His is a story of ongoing conflicts, the rise and fall of civilizations, and how and why Mediterranean nations changed. While it's a recommended pick for college-level holdings strong in Mediterranean history, its easy access, eye-catching cover art and lively writing style lend to leisure browsing at the public library level, as well.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Book Description
This book provides both a detailed introduction to the vivid and exciting period of `late antiquity' and a direct challenge to conventional views of the end of the Empire.
Customer Reviews:
Highly recommended.......1998-10-08
Anyone looking for an introduction to Late Antiquity will find this book not only interesting, but also helpful because it provides a well structured overview of the life in the Mediterranean during Late Antiquity. Unlike other books on the subject, this one is easy to understand for those who are not necessarily experts in Ancient Rome, yet at the same time it deals with the subject in an intelligent manner.
Average customer rating:
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Imaginary Greece: The Contexts of Mythology
Richard Buxton
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Greek Mythology: An Introduction
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The Uses of Greek Mythology (Approaching the Ancient World)
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The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)
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Gods and Heroes of the Greeks: The Library of Apollodorus
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Approaches to Greek Myth
ASIN: 0521338654 |
Book Description
This is a study of Greek myths in relation to the society in which they were originally told. It does not re-tell the myths; rather, it offers an analysis of how myths played a fundamental role in the lives of the Greeks. The relation between reality and fantasy is discussed by means of three case studies: the landscape, the family, and religion. Most of all, this book seeks to demonstrate how the seemingly endless variations of Greek mythology are a product of its particular people, place, and time.
Customer Reviews:
for the serious scholar.......2000-05-16
Buxton's small book is big on theory and thus truly useful only to scholars interested in Greek mythology, especially as a social or intellectual phenomon. While one may not agree with everything Buxton has to say, his theories are well supported by the evidence he uses and he has a firm grasp of the ancient Greek mind and culture. A must have book for the serious scholar. The only thing that might make it better would be a more general approach since that would make it accessible to a wider audience.
Book Description
The Corrupting Sea is a history of the relationship between people and their environments in the Mediterranean region over some 3,000 years. It advocates a novel analysis of this relationship in terms of microecologies and the often extensive networks to which they belong. This is the first major work since Braudel's The Mediterranean to address the problems of studying the area as a whole and on a long time-scale.The authors emphasize the value of comparison between prehistory, Antiquity and the Middle Ages. They draw on an exceptionally wide range of evidence - literary works, documents, archaeology, scientific reports and social anthropology.The themes addressed include past conceptions of the Mediterranean, its historiography, the history of primary production, the rhythms of exchange and communication, the pace of environmental and technological change, the geography of religion, and the contribution of Mediterranean social anthropology to an assessment of the region's unity.The book offers a provocative and innovative approach to the history of the Mediterranean, explaining what has made Mediterranean history distinctive.
Customer Reviews:
Mediterranean microecological connectivity.......2002-12-02
Mediterranean microecological connectivity
I like reading history. I enjoy with it. I am not a professional historian. In the last few years I have tried and read books offering a broad scope and general overviews of history such as this one.
In this work, the authors intend to study Mediterranean history as a whole, the history of the region. For them, the Mediterranean is only loosely defined, distinguishable from its neighbours to degrees that vary with time, geographical direction and topic. Its boundaries are not the sort to be drawn easily on a map. Its continuities are best thought of continuities of form or pattern, within which all is mutability.
In that sense, the distinctiveness of Mediterranean history results (they propose) from the paradoxical coexistence of a milieu of relatively easy seaborne communications with a quite unusually fragmented topography of microregions in the sea's coastlands and islands. The different chapters of the book are aimed to impressionistically show some of the prime ingredients in the normal variability and connectivity of Mediterranean microregions: the shifting along a spectrum of possibilities; the fluctuating relations between pastoralism and agriculture; the manipulative state with its taxes and symbols; the mobility of people both voluntarily -economic migration- and compulsory -military service- (not necessarily very distinct); a history of Mediterranean redistribution as inseparable from that of the people (who are often profoundly mobile) who produce, store, process, transport and consume.
The authors also warn that several central topics have been reserved for a Volume 2 to come in the future: climate, disease, demography and the relations between the Mediterranean and other major areas of the globe.
I have rated it four starts. Considering its content, I think it should be five; considering its readability, three (sometimes falling to two, sometimes raising to four).
Other books of "global history" I would recommend to read are "The Rise of the West" by William H. McNeill, "World History. A new perspective" by Clive Ponting, "The Great Divergence", by Kenneth Pomeranz, "The Dynamics of Global Dominance. European Overseas Empires 1415-1980", by David Abernethy and "The History of Government", by S.E. Finer.
A prequel of Braudel.......2001-03-03
Horden and Purcell have produced in The Corrupting Sea a comprehensive overview of the ancient Mediterranean world in the annaliste tradition of Braudel's Mediterranee et le monde mediterraneen a l'epoque de Philippe II. A historian of medicine (Horden) and a classicist (Purcell), the authors develop the thesis that one must examine the microenvironments of the Mediterranean in order to understand the broad trends of the region's culture and history.
This work is a must read for everyone who is interested in the Mediterranean --classicists and medievalists in particular. Every public library in the world would be well advised to purchase a copy. In addition to the narrative that is replete with extensive commentary, the volume has a very useful set of bibliographical essays as well as the normal scholarly apparatus.
Average customer rating:
- The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization
- A necessary resource for the student of early christianity
- "Condensed" version still weighy volume
- A good starting place
- Quite helpful----with at least one serious exception.
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The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization
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The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature
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The Oxford Classical Dictionary
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The Oxford Companion to English Literature
ASIN: 0198601654 |
Book Description
CIVILIZATION IN ALL ITS ASPECTS For more than 2000 years the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome have captivated our collective imagination and provided fresh inspiration for every age. Now, for the first time, The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization distils the fruits of recent scholarship to provide the most up-to-date and authoritative survey of the Greek and Roman worlds in all their aspects. Drawing on the latest edition of the highly praised Oxford Classical Dictionary, this new illustrated Oxford Companion offers unrivalled access to the latest knowledge of classical civilization, making it the perfect guide for general readers interested in learning more about the very bedrock of Western culture. HISTORY AND POLITICS the events, achievements, and personalities of 2500 years of history of Greece and Rome and their immediate neighbours, as well as the underlying issues from democracy to propaganda, famine and finance, Hellenization and mercenaries, population, and slavery ETHICS AND MORALS, LAW AND PUNISHMENT individual philosophers and their schools, and ethical issues, such as corruption; prison; torture; abortion; attitudes to animals, to wealth, or to warfare; suicide; freedom; and intellectual or religious intolerance SOCIAL AND FAMILY LIFE food and drink, cookery, houses, and dress; childbirth; sexual behaviour, including rape and incest; and broader social topics such as status, kinship and the family, ritualized friendship, tourism, and urbanization LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, ART AND SCHOLARSHIP writers and poets, orators and playwrights, literacy and books, archives and education, literary genres, painting and sculpture, and the writing of history RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY Greek, Roman, and Egyptian beliefs, cults, and rituals, from oracles and curses, to sacred prostitution, together with their attendant deities and mythological creatures, mingle with Judaism and early Christianity TECHNOLOGY, SCIENCE, AND MEDICINE the birth of the scientific method in experiment, and all manner of discovery , exploration, treatment, and theorizing on disease, geography, climate, astronomy, mineralogy, navigation, sanitation, vivisection MAJOR ESSAYS and BRILLIANT ILLUSTRATION Specially designed articles on the individuals and themes of central importance provide a useful overview for the modern reader from Alexander to Xenophon, Cicero and Hannibal; and from the histories of Greece and Rome, to Christianity, and architecture. Imaginatvely chosen and striking illustrations underline further the sophistication and complextity of classical civilization, making the ancient world dramatically present.
Customer Reviews:
The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization.......2003-06-19
A stunning revelation to the classical world . this book is more of a classical hero than herakles was
A necessary resource for the student of early christianity.......2001-04-09
This book is indispendable for a person like myself who got a degree in world religions in general, and early christianity in particular, and who, therefore, lacks an in-depth background in the secular history of Greece and Rome. I hesitated a while before writing a review because I had not read a sufficient number of articles. However, the time has come for comment. I find the shorter articles informative, but at times leaving me waanting more. The longer ones are more satisfying. I was tempted to buy the longer version of The Companion (The Oxford Classical Dictionary), but decided against it after reading the reviews. I am happy with my decision. If I want more information on a topic, I can find it elsewhere. I find that The Companion covers more topics than I need, but I enjoy randomingly paging through the book, selecting what strikes my fancy before going to sleep at night. This is a treasured resource that enhances my understanding of the milieu of early christianity.
"Condensed" version still weighy volume.......2000-09-01
The publication of The Oxford Classical Dictionary, weighing in at 1,640 pages and $99.95 price tag may have told many people more about the Ancient Greek and Roman worlds more than they wanted to know. To them, this companion will be of prime interest.
To pare down the selections, the same editors who updated the dictionary relied on an all or nothing rule: either an entry would be reproduced in its entirety, or it would be dropped. Of the 40 Claudius in the original dictionary, only the Roman emperor popularized in "I, Claudius" made the cut. In addition, the editors kicked the type size up a point or two and recast the longer essays into a one-column layout with the background lightly shaded. Even at half the price, it still offers nearly 800 pages and contains a selection of maps and color photographs not found in its larger brethern. For those who were reluctant to shell out a C-note, this is an appealing alternative.
A good starting place.......2000-02-27
As a standard introductory reference text, I found the Oxford Companion invaluable as a good beginning point to pursue any line of inquiry regarding the classical age. Weighing in at nearly 800 pages, this book is a weighty tome, not something to carry around lightly. Navigation within the book is easy with appropriate cross referencing, such as pointing you at GAIUS when you look up Caligula and warning you of other articles relating to the same subject. Also classical sources are clearly cited and I have followed a number of these up in standard translations to check their opinion. Spread throughout the book are numerous colour and black & white photographs of archaeological evidence and other artefacts. Also throughout the volume and are a number of special reference entries of extended length discussing in more detail important people, places or themes. Such as sections on: Homer, painting and slavery. As in any extended encyclopaedia project, the number of contributors is huge. Inevitably, given the small amount of space available for each section, each item is unlikely to offer a full range of scholarly thought, opinion and research. As with any reference text, it should be used as a starting point for research, not as a substitute.
You cannot please everybody all the time. On balance I think you have to accept that a work of this nature is going to throw up anomalies or controversial entries which not all readers will agree with. It is the nature of academic pursuit of knowledge to encounter disagreements or views which do not match your own. I very much doubt if hardly any of the contributors listed, would completely agree with each other on the articles which they have written. This is the nature of encyclopedias.
Particularly the arena of classical history, is prone to heated debate over the most simplest of issues, due to the lack of evidence or the interpretation of what exists, such as it is. In short there are no `facts' only interpretation.
Quite helpful----with at least one serious exception........1999-07-13
With one serious exception (see below) I have thus far found The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization to be quite helpful.
Having purchased this book as a supplemental reference for my study of biblical literature, I was shocked, angered and disappointmented upon coming across the article on "Christianity," by Philip Rousseau.
The fact that Rousseau describes Christianity in unflattering terms is not nearly so significant as the fact that his "facts" appear poorly researched and loosely strung together in an obvious attempt to vilify Christianity. Summarizing the life and ministry of Jesus in terms of "the wonder-working holy man," for example, does gross injustice to both Jesus' teachings and miracle claims.
Rousseau presents Christianity as little more than an arrogant thief and counterfeiter, stealing ideas and images first from the Jews and then from secular philosophers. In so doing, Rousseau completely disregards the concept of God's progressive revelation and the fact that no one has a patent on the truth. The New Testament books, the last of which was written prior to the close of the first century A.D., are unanimous in their presentation of the gospel as God's secret plan now unveiled for all peoples in all places. Whether for good or ill, Christian apologists later sought to convey infinite Christian truths using common finite imagery. Indeed, some did try to "blend" Christian thought and secular philosophy, although even in such cases enlightenment and not deceit was their primary motivation.
By no means an historian, I am nonetheless familiar enough with "Christian history" to know that Rousseau's arguments are full of holes. Not only is his article biased in the extreme, it is also just plain wrong at several critical points. I purchased The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization for its presentation---and, unavoidably, its interpretation---of the facts. I did not know, however, that I would also be treated to a radical reinterpretation of history. Rousseau's taking extreme liberty with the facts reveals his personal ideology and makes him guilty of the very thing of which he accuses Christianity: " . . . what had happened was that the controlling element in a whole society had changed its mind about the meaning of history and experience" (pg. 158).
Average customer rating:
- Helps you understand our own time, too
- good social and political understanding
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The Uses of Greek Mythology (Approaching the Ancient World)
Mr Ken Dowden
Manufacturer: Routledge
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Greek Mythology: An Introduction
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The Library of Greek Mythology (Oxford World's Classics)
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Imaginary Greece: The Contexts of Mythology
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Approaches to Greek Myth
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Myth: Its Meaning and Functions in Ancient and Other Cultures (Sather Classical Lectures)
ASIN: 0415061350 |
Book Description
Explores the uses Greeks made of myth and the uses to which we can put myth in recovering the richness of their culture. Sheds light on many aspects of Greek history and culture - including war, religion and sexuality.
Customer Reviews:
Helps you understand our own time, too.......2007-06-15
The author argues in case ofter case how Greek myth was used to justify a certain political situation, so as to gain acceptance for otherwise immoral situations of dominance, to take one example. This is a very different way of approaching myths than, e.g., geomythology, or psychoanalysis. There is no single origin for all myths, but understanding different mechanisms for how they originate and are manipulated and promoted, can be a tremendous help in understanding both ancient and modern myths. Warning: The book may make you understand that some things that you thought of as fact in reality are modern myths, and that these same principles are active today. He does not discuss these issues, but once your senses are on the alert, you may look at the daily flow of information in a new way. I know I did.
good social and political understanding.......2000-05-16
Dowden provides the reader with a good social and political basis and evaluation of mythology in the ancient world, focusing on the ancients themselves instead of falling into the trap of modern theory and belief. If one is working on anything involving classical myth, I highly recommend reading this book at some point. You'll disagree at times, but it will make you think.
Book Description
S. D. Goitein's magisterial five-volume work on Jewish communities in the medieval Mediterranean world offers an unparalleled view of how people lived, traveled, worshiped, and conducted their economic and social affairs. Living under Muslim rule, the Jews became increasingly urbanized and played a significant part in an expanding world economy. As major actors in the flourishing intellectual life of the period, they forged much of what constitutes traditional Judaism today and served as a conduit of Islamic learning to the Christian West.
Goitein's masterpiece is now abridged and reworked by Jacob Lassner in a single volume that captures the essential narratives and contexts of the original. To understand the value of this distillation, we need to picture the remarkable, all-but-impenetrable cache of unique letters and documents found by accident in a geniza, or repository of sacred writings, in Old Cairo. These materials, unlike historical chronicles and literary texts of the time, represent the living experiences of people in a wide variety of settings throughout the entire Mediterranean and stretching as far east as the Indian subcontinent.
Goitein explored and interpreted these texts as no other scholar had. Lassner, in turn, makes Goitein's findings available to a wide audience and then moves on to raise a host of new and tantalizing questions about the Jews of the Geniza and the relationship of their community to the hegemonic Muslim society.
Customer Reviews:
A comprehensive look at a long ago vanished world.......2000-07-07
Interested in technology ? Just stop browsing for a while and take your time to read this book.
It really opened my mind to how broad is the field of technology. The book covers technology in the broad sense of the word, from cooking utensils (including even dietary considerations), pottery, clothing, glass and metal working, furniture, vehicles, building techniques and materials, water supply, sailing, warfare instruments, etc. Broader than you thought?
Singer gathered a large group of contributors, and with the exception of only one of its 21 chapters, this is an easily readable compendium of how technology evolved from the bronze age through the iron age into the Middle ages.
Spanning more than a thousand years, it covers the whole of the roman civilization and the classical greek. Rome is given central attention, due mainly to the abundance of evidence, but it is generally put in perspective.
A very interesting book, with almost an illustration per page and more than 40 extra plates with photographs. References are plenty and thorough.
Read throughout, it guided me across a world only partially glimpsed reading more specific books. You have to do a little effort on your side to integrate the parts the different contributors focus on, but it's all there in one volume.
Book Description
Egypt, Greece and Rome is regarded as one of the best general histories of the ancient world. It is written for the general reader and the student coming to the subject for the first time and provides a reliable and highly accessible point of entry to the period. The volume begins with the early civilizations of Sumer (modern Iraq) and continues through to the Islamic invasions and the birth of modern Europe after the collapse of the western Roman empire. The book ranges beyond political history to cover philosophy, art and literature. A wide range of maps, illustrations and photographs complements the text. The second edition incorporates new chapters on the ancient Mediterranean and the Ancient Near East, as well as extended coverage of Egypt.
Customer Reviews:
excellent read in ancient history.......2007-10-08
This is a great intro book on ancient civilizations around the mediterranean. While the subtitle is Egypt, Greece & Rome, the author goes into other, older and more distant cultures as well. The chapters are short and leisurely - you get a good feel for each section without being buried in details.
Egypt, Greece, Rome.......2006-02-24
This book was one of the required texts for a course I took on ancient history. Egypt, Greece and Rome was the perfect text, because the book reads as a narrative; nothing in Charles Freeman's book is boring or dry. It covers Mesopotamia from 5000 BC up through the emergence of the Byzantine Empire in the fifth century AD. This book is the key to understanding ancient history, and I highly reccomend it.
Plus, there are a number of black and white and full-color plates, plus some in-text drawings and maps.
A Gateway to the Ancient World.......2005-09-13
Charles Freeman's work, Egypt, Greece and Rome, is a long and ambitious work, intended as an undergraduate introductory text as well as a text for the layman. Works of this size and scope (over 600 pages of text and illustrations covering the Egyptian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Persian, Greek, Etruscan, and Roman civilizations as well as some others) tend to leave the reader breathless as they jump from one important topic and time period to another. This is not the case with Freeman's work. He wisely juxtaposes the overviews of civilizations with interludes that highlight a small part of the civilization in greater detail.
For example, between Chapter 14 ("Religion in the Greek World") and Chapter 15 ("Athens: Democracy and Empire") is an interlude titled "The Classical Age in Art." This short section discusses the golden age of art in ancient Greece, and brings us to the modern age briefly as the art historian Johann Winckelmann is discussed in relation to his views on the age. ("Winckelmann claimed that the `sublimity' of Classical art was the result of the atmosphere of liberty and exuberance which followed the Persian Wars" 244.)
The text is very accessible, and has a generous bibliography at the end of each chapter in case one wants more. Recommended highly as an introduction to the civilizations of the ancient Mediterranean.
Decent History of Three Great Civilizations.......2005-02-22
I liked the idea of a book that includes the three great Mediterranean civilizations. The book is not too detailed and serves well as a survey, especially for novices to the subject. The book could have had a little better editing for things such as punctuation (many commas were missing where they could have made reading more easier) and better use of the words "which" and "that."
Good but lacking coherence.......2004-01-06
This book covers Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome in three multi-chapter sections and covers the Ancient Near East, the Hellenistic world after Alexander, and Europian "barbarians" in single chapters. The main topics--Egypt, Greece, and Rome--are, I think, treated quite separately, so there is no great advantage besides convenience to grouping them in one book.
I believe that the Ancient Near East--particularly the Persians and Jews--should have been a primary focus, and probably Egypt should not have. The Persian Wars and the rise of Christianity had huge impacts on Rome and Greece, and much of Greek culture was derived from Eastern culture. Ancient Eqypt was a unique and remarkable civilization but it was relatively isolated, and certainly it is possible to understand Greece and Rome without understanding Egypt.
The basic flaw of this book is that the chapters aren't tied together and that it has no overarching vision. For example, a theme like the similarities between the Eastern, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman religions because of assimilation would have been very interesting and enlightening I think, but there is little of it.
The writing is a bit prosaic, though in general this book is written well. You can learn a lot from this book, but it is difficult to remember it all since it is too much a compendium of facts and too little a coherent story.
Book Description
Why do nearly all the world's major religions share such similar myths and legends? Erich Von Däniken, author of the runaway international bestseller Chariots of the Gods, believes he knows--and the answer is as wondrous and awe-inspiring as it is controversial: the winged angels populating the Bible, Koran, and other religious texts from cultures the world over were in reality extraterrestrials who visited the Earth in ages long past. Fully illustrated with compelling full-color and black-and-white photographs, the book takes us from the jungles of Myanmar, where ancient pagodas point heavenward in the unmistakable shape of spacecraft, to Portugal's mysterious legend of Fatima and on to the unexplained "landing strips" of Peru and Egypt, offering persuasive evidence that actual living beings inspired the legends that became the basis for many of our religious traditions. Intellectually challenging and provocative, these findings shake the foundations of both science and faith.
Customer Reviews:
God weren't astronauts.......2007-05-30
I read this trash-book here in Brazil.This book is so bad, that I didn't finished it.This book is absurd, ridiculous and senseless.Please, don't waste your money and time, reading this trash-book.
Mostly the same old stuff.......2004-01-20
This book seems to be a collection of scattered thoughts that have only a small thread of commonality, and it's not all about ancient astronauts.
Von Daniken begins by describing his own concept of what "God" is, namely an infallible, timeless, omnipresent and omnipotent spiritual being. He then points out some of the inconsistencies of the Old Testament that contradict this concept, and concludes that the Biblical God can't be the real deal. All this has been covered before by others, though he doesn't get into the specifics of god comparisons that authors like Sitchin have done.
Chapter two deals with apparitions and miracles associated with Mary, the Mother of God. He says that any theologian worth his PhD knows Jesus wasn't God, therefore there's no Mother of God, therefore these miracles must be caused by someone else. He suggests that perhaps there's an extraterrestrial power at work doing this stuff. Uh huh... OK, Erich.
By now you're half way through the book (there's only 4 chapters), and nothing's been said about gods from space.
Chapter three talks about the religion and archetecture of the country of Myanmar (Burma). It seems their temples all look like golden spaceships or something. (Yawn)
The last chapter is the meat of the book, where he writes about the gods of ancient India, and the tremendous volumes of stories that exist in their literature. Flying craft the size of cities, celestial battles and outrageous weapons of the gods. That's what I bought the book for, but I'm not sure it was worth the price.
Throughout this book, Von Daniken gets on his soap box and preaches about how the scientific, religious, and media communities squash any free thinking that falls outside the mainstream. The Vatican lies about what they know (really?), Archeologists hide anything that could counter conventional thought, etc, etc. Yes, we know this. But (sorry, Mr. Von Daniken), nobody who reads this book will ever be able to change that.
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