Book Description
The Museum of Lost Wonder is a book with a mission, simply stated: To illuminate life's mysteries. The execution is nearly indescribable. Think McSweeney's production values and design pyrotechnics. Think traditional esoteric symbols in a childhood garden of wonder. Think graphic novel and an adult version of the coolest activity book ever made. And you'll be somewhere in the neighborhood.
Jeff Hoke has created a history of the human imagination with visual cues and clues and wonderment about and around everything you ever thought and everything you wish you'd been crafty enough to think. He has built a museum accessible to all, in book format, arranged with 7 halls (representing the seven stages of alchemical process) in which the questions of the universe unfold. All one needs to enter is some basic understanding of the human experience.
Open The Museum of Lost Wonder, and step into an alternative world full of beautiful drawings, interesting historical tidbits, thoughtful challenges to common myths, and projects and pursuits to complete at home. Pages pull out with cutouts for building models. Hoke's museum is graphic novel meets quantum physics meets mythical journey meets spirit.
Hoke begins with The Calcinatio Hall where the featured exhibit is The Beginning of Everything and leads us into halls like The Sublimatio Hall, with the exhibit How To Have Visions. In The Separatio Hall the exhibit Where Are You Going challenges us in our own journey. Through each hall we are led into an exhibit that questions our own understanding of life and urges us into new ways of thinking. As in wandering the great, immense halls of an ancient museum with endless corridors and fascinating exhibits, the reader is instantly pulled into this enormously imaginative pursuit. Each page is full of depth and questions. And each hall features a special fold-out interactive page.
The Museum of Lost Wonder is a ray of hope in a dreary world. It is an oasis in an age when we are inundated everywhere we go with messages of consumption and materialism. It is an invitation into the imagination of a brilliant artist as well as a welcome back into your own imagination. It is a call to challenge your mind and your mind's eye to re-assess what you believe to be true and what you know to be true. Once you enter the museum, there is no turning back. For the price of admission you get a whole new perspective on the meaning of life and your purpose in it.
Customer Reviews:
Museum of Lost Wonder.......2007-07-18
What do you think of when you hear the word museum? Do you see glass encased exhibits with little tags of text beside various artifacts? Can you hear someone complaining about the loud whispers that can be heard? Can you feel the boredom setting in?
The Museum of Lost Wonder is an example of a completely different kind of museum. The pages of this book lead the reader on a journey of exploration and freedom of thought. Instead of stuffy scientific displays, this museum encourages the visitor to wonder and ask all of those questions that they always wanted to ask but thought they'd sound foolish or be glared at for even coming up with the idea.
This book is divided into eight alchemy themed exhibit halls: Calinatio (technology), Solutio (aquaria), Coagulatio (zoological), Sublimatio (observatory), Mortificatio (history), Separatio (science and faith), Conjunctio (arts), and Circulatio (the entrance and exit). Within each of these sections readers explore scientific, mythological, spiritual, and fantastic renditions that explain our world. Many of the exercises encourage visitors to use their creativity to come up with alternative explanations, to explore their own questions, to try various experiments, and to construct models of the various exhibit halls.
Unleashes something between strange and wonderful.......2007-02-07
I'm not sure what this book set out to do, but it certainly fires up the imagination of anyone who looks at it. The drawings and constructions are masterful, the little experiments and mental expeditions are thought provoking and the organization is absolutely indecipherable. If you have a brain and it could use a little exercise, get this book.
Still thinking.......2007-01-22
A beautiful book, interesting, creative, but somehow a bit quaint. The last forty pages seem very disjointed, but maybe I just missed the point. The artwork is meant to be in an old style, 1900's style with broad and heavy lines and unrealistic imagery. Yet intriguing.
It is worth the price of purchase just because it is so intriguing while at the same time being sometimes a bit too cutesy in a seeming effort of being creative.
Give the book a try. It is worth the mental tweaking.
Admirable in spirit.......2007-01-02
First allow me to extend my thanks to the several other reviewers who gave lengthy and informative reviews of this book. Without them, this review would be much longer.
This book has filled for me a very personal need for synthesis in science and mysticism. It is excellent in both its content, but also its approach. Jeff Hoke has managed to balance his satire of both mainstream science and orthodox religion very well. Regardless of what your personal background may be, this book will make you question some aspect of your current paradigm of thinking.
Further merit must be extended to Hoke for his popular delivery of some very interesting and profound ideas connecting alchemy and psychology. Although these ideas are largely due to the work of Carl Jung, the simultaneous presentation of a physical process of transformation (alchemy) and a mental process of transformation (a quest for transcendence) reflects the authors deft abilities as a museum exhibit designer. Having done some museum exhibit design for a course at MIT, I see that the themes of repetition and symbolism, visual splendor and quality text-based content, show the mark of a true master.
For someone who is interested in general patterns of varying systems, this book is a true delight. The focus on archetypes found in multiple settings, whether it be the origin and evolution of things in the physical universe, or the stages of personal development one encounters throughout life and one's quest for self-actualization and transcendence, is truly inspiring. Having the isomorphism between the physical and the mental sketched out in broad strokes is what really earns this book its five stars.
Before signing off, I must comment on some of the negative aspects of the book. There are sections and quotes, which make me question the historical accuracy of the book. This is a minor point and pales in comparison to the book's better qualities. I am not a professional historian, so take the following critiques with a grain of salt. Hoke tries to bill Socrates as an important figure who, upon sentencing, "escaped [the Athenian government's] wrath by suicide." (page 76) A read of Plato's dialogues Crito, Phaedo, the Apology, etc. show that Socrates was ordered to drink Hemlock posioning as his sentence, which he faithfully obeyed (seeing it as a commitment to the democratic process of Athens). This historical fact is extremely important for understanding a large section of Plato's work. Hoke's portrayal of Socrates as a coward escaping punishment through suicide, left a really bad taste upon first reading. The book still has its merit, but a little fact-checking would have prevented this unnecessary blemish.
Finally, I have to vent a little on the all too common popular packaging of just plain false things about quantum mechanics. Mr. Hoke joins in on this saying that a century of quantum mechanics has taught scientists that "the key to objectivity is to be emotionally detached to the point where we don't taint our experiences with projections of personal expectations" (page 84). This statement is true of the scientific method in general, pre-dating quantum mechanics handedly. Hoke, like so many other popularizers tries to bill the idea that somehow the Schrodinger equation includes a variable for the experimenter's mental state, where it certainly does not. Fortunately for all of us, Hoke sticks mostly to what he knows and appeals only generally to science.
Delightfully Enlightening and Indulgently Educational!.......2006-11-13
If you're looking for some "adventurous" reading during the coming cold winter months, you don't have to look further than Jeff Hoke's "The Museum of Lost Wonder." When I was preparing my thoughts about reviewing this book, I kept trying to figure out just where I was going to place this book as far as literary genre is concerned; How to categorize it? -- Where does it fit? Externally, it looks like just another "coffee-table" contribution. But even coffee-table books can be categorized for the most part. This book, however, is almost encyclopedic in its coverage, drawing its information from a vast variety of resources, including philosophy, astronomy, religion, biology, physics, psychology, the arts, ancient alchemy, modern quantum mechanics, and even Eastern intellectual thought. I have decided, therefore, to place this book in the seldom-used literary genre called intellectual "potpourri" (and, yes, there is such a category).
As for me, I'm going to leave it on the coffee table in my living room for quite a while so it can be easily perused by my guests and myself. It will be a coffee-table book in my home, at least for a while, although it is much more than merely another "showpiece." You see, this is a book not meant to be read from cover to cover in, say, one or two or even three sittings. This is a book to be, well, "savored"; think in terms of tasting and appreciating a fine wine or some unusual hors d'oeuvres. The enjoyment of the experience should be spread over time.
I think the best approach to this book is this: pick it up, read the introductory parts, and then skim through it, briefly pondering the excellent (and should I say, "tantalizing"?) artwork offered, and stopping here and there to read some of the text as one's interest is piqued. Then come back to the book now and then, find a section of particular interest, read that section, maybe do a few of the suggested experiments (yes, there are some interesting little adventures here!), and maybe put some of the models together. Models? Oh, yes, this is much more than a book to be read. It is also an "activity" book and, I suggest, mainly for older teenagers or adults (most of the models would prove difficult for young children to assemble, in my opinion). There are seven models that can be put together to illustrate the seven themes (or "exhibit" halls) of the "museum."
And, yes, it is truly a "museum," although not like one most of us are familiar with. The purpose of this museum is clearly stated by the author: "Discover...forgotten things in the world around us. Recover...forgotten things in the world within you. Uncover...forgotten things not in this world at all." There is no doubt that the museum -- that is, the book -- lives up to its purpose. As the author's bio in the back of the book points out: "This is not just a book, but an experience." And that, it truly is. One of the experiences you'll have is being accompanied through the museum, er..."book," by "Gnomon," a cartoonish stick-figure who appears now and then in comic strips or individual panels and seems to function as sometime guide and sometime thought-provoking character.
Each one of the seven exhibit halls has a specific theme, beginning with "Calcinatio" (Hall of Technology), continuing with "Solutio" (Hall of Aquaria), Coagulatio" (Zoological Garden),"Sublimatio" (The Observatory), "Mortificatio" (Mausoleum of History), "Separatio" (Science and Faith), and ending with "Conjunctio" (Gallery of the Arts). Each of these exhibit halls has its own "Muse"; now, if you don't know what that is, you'll have to find out for yourself. Within these informative halls the reader will recognize the likes of famous philosophers, including Plato, Aristotle, and Descartes, some very influential scientists, such as Abraham Maslow and Sir Isaac Newton, as well as discussions of topics both futurific and arcane. How about playing the "Heroic Vacation Game"? How about building a "Carousel of Life" model? How about performing a "sensory deprivation experiment" right at home? These and much more are here in "The Museum of Lost Wonder."
Now, a few words of warning to potential readers -- and these reflect strictly my own personal assessment of the book. If you have a closed mind, limited in its capacity for imaginative thought, this may not be the best book for you (although, I guess it could help open your mind a little if you gave it a chance!). If you are really squeamish about uncomfortable and unfamiliar ideas, you may want to think twice about reading this book (on the other hand, maybe this is just the antidote you need!). And, finally, if intellectual "weirdness" and wandering into "strange" territory will challenge your own beliefs and you're fearful of having to rethink those beliefs, you may want to pass this book by (but, of course, you'll pass up an opportunity to expand your horizons and enhance your life!). So, if you decide to go ahead and experience a trip through this "museum of lost wonder," don't say I didn't warn you.
In conclusion, just let me say that Hoke's book is delightfully enlightening and indulgently educational and the artwork is extraordinary, witty, and, in many ways, downright clever. And speaking of the artwork, which is really the bulk of the book (at least it seems that way), I'm glad that he was the one drawing it all because I wouldn't attempt to take on such a massive project (and it would be interesting to know how much time it took him to draw all the illustrations!). I highly recommend this book to everyone who really enjoys the experience of "wondering," that childlike phenomenon that we adults all too often lose, much to our own regret. This is a thought-provoking, mind-expanding, and thoroughly engaging book and, if you actually do the experiments and assemble the models, you'll get some physical exercise, too! What more could a reader ask for the cold winter months to come?
Book Description
“There are beautiful and wild forces within us.” With these words the mystic, St. Francis, described what ancient traditions believed was the most powerful force in the universe—the power of prayer. For more than 20 years,
Gregg Braden, the best-selling author of The God Code, has searched for evidence of a forgotten form of prayer that was lost to the West following the Biblical edits of the early Christian Church. In the 1990s, he found and documented this form of prayer still being used in the remote monasteries of central Tibet. He also found it practiced in sacred rites throughout the high deserts of the American Southwest.
In Secrets of the Lost Mode of Prayer, Braden begins by describing this ancient form of prayer that has no words, or outward expressions. Then for the first time in print, he leads us on a journey exploring what our most intimate experiences tell us about our deepest beliefs. Through case histories and his personal sharing, Braden explores the wisdom of these timeless secrets, and the power that awaits each of us, just beyond our deepest hurt!
Customer Reviews:
Secrets of the Lost Mode of Prayer.......2007-07-03
This is a permanent addition to my library. Mr. Braden's writing is engaging, inclusive and uplifting. While I did not want the book to end, I am compelled to reread it over and again. And the physical qualities of the book itself are tactile and visual encouragements to pick it up and page through many passages. In a word, inspiring.
Great!.......2007-05-07
This book is very artfully done, makes an excellent gift. He describes the "lost" wisdom in a very sacred way, compared to the - you want to get rich approach - of The Secret.
Give this to your friends.......2007-03-12
This book thoroughly confirmed my belief that our thoughts and attitudes influence and even change our world. It is beautifully explained, and illustrated for me how our preconceived ideas often block us from real perceptions of people and things as they are. To someone on a soul-searching journey to find the eternal answers of who we are, and why we are here, this book may be an AHA!moment revelation. Like all of Gregg Braden's books, it is written in an elegant, simple style, and every word resonates with truth.
What a blessing!!.......2007-03-11
Like all of Greg Braden's books - a true blessing in my life. What I enjoy most about Greg's books is the practicality of his spirituality and how he makes us practical in what spirituality has to offer anyone who wants its benefits in their lives. An enlightening read. indeed.
He's On To Something.......2007-02-22
I finished this book today, and am left with the feeling that there well may be something profoundly powerful about what he is saying here. If anything, it may be dismissed because it is so seemingly simple! We humans tend to like to complicate things. So for me now, it's practise, practise... I can almost feel what this is already -- maybe I'm just a little afraid to try it. I was very intrigued by the idea of not just doing prayer at a proscribed time, but all the time, all day, is your prayer. That's a challenge for focus and transformation if ever there was one.
The book is certainly a beautiful thing visually as well, the images for me served to heighten my feeling of connection to humanity's spiritual journey through eons of our history. This leads to my one complaint, which is that Braden's prose did not equal the poetry of the images, so the book felt imbalanced in that sense. In all though, what he is saying is certainly worth contemplating, and trying.
Average customer rating:
- A Guideline for Other Authors
- A Must for those looking for Truth.
- Amazing, Inspiring!
- For those in seach of understanding.
- Knowlege = Freedom
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The Gregg Braden Audio Collection: Awakening the Power of Spiritual Technology : Beyond zero point; The lost mode of Prayer; The Gift of the Blessing; The Isaiah Effect
Gregg Braden
Manufacturer: Sounds True
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD
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ASIN: 1591792517
Release Date: 2005-04-12 |
Book Description
The Gregg Braden Audio Collection brings together for the first time his revolutionary works - including a bonus CD with all new teachings, available nowhere else. Boxed set includes: Beyond Zero Point - Introduces Gregg Braden's pioneering theory that hidden within the earliest prophecies of the Essenes, Hopis, Egyptians, and others lies a universal and sacred sect of technologies with the capacity to alter the future of civilization. The Isaiah Effect - Bridging new insights into the physics of time with ancient wisdom from the Dead Sea Scrolls, Braden reveals how to harness the awesome potential of both prayer and prophecy to create "the Isaiah Effect" - a transformative tool for healing the planet and ourselves. The Lost Mode of Prayer - Through freshly translated texts of the Dead Sea Scrolls, Braden exposes the inner workings of a potent force for creating profound changes in ourselves and those around us. Plus an all-new 60-minute CD on the practice of prayer and how to give and receive the gift of blessing. Includes a special extended guided blessing exercise.
Customer Reviews:
A Guideline for Other Authors.......2007-09-06
Gregg Braden has delivered several books which basically contain the same information over and over again...
A Must for those looking for Truth........2007-09-04
This is absolutely incredible knowledge that we all need to hear and learn, not only for ourselves but for our children and the world! Gregg Braden is such a good speaker and never offends; he is such a kind and caring person which draws you in so intensely. I couldn't get enough of him. I am reading all he has to offer and anything he has on CD. I highly recommend Gregg Braden to anyone that is looking for truth. He offers scientific facts along with ancient knowledge that had been lost.
Amazing, Inspiring!.......2007-08-24
I loved these CD's, Greg Braddon's explanation on his ideas, research & views was inspiring and really easy to understand. My 16yr old daughter sits in the car with me everymorning on our 2hr drive and listens to them with me... it has opened up her mind to a new understanding about life, hope & the future. We are not religious but very spiritual and I recommend these CD's to everyone, every age ... you will love it!
Sonya
For those in seach of understanding........2007-07-05
I found Gregg Braden in my spiritual quest. His work really helped to provide some of the missing pieces that I had. He examines things like the Dead Sea Scrolls, and other texts. His insight to these pieces has helped to provide me with the logic that I needed to bridge spiritual concepts and real life. I have recently started reading and practising "The Secret." The logic and insight of Gregg Braden compliments other spiritual authors like those of "The Secret", Wayne Dwyer, Neal David Walsh and Ester and Jerry Hicks. I recommend Braden's books to others! This information simply makes sense and helps to provide logic to tie everything together! I have just started using "The Gift of the Blessing." These books/audios truly provide spiritual power! Some of the information is redundant from one book to the next but, it all comes together. These are a "must read" for anyone on a spiritual quest!
Knowlege = Freedom.......2007-05-19
Very informative. I found these CD's full of new information. I found them empowering, yet freeing, leaving me with great hope for mankind. We will change our thoughts, we will change the outcome. Thinking green (ie, Al Gore's movie, "The Inconvienent Truth"), along with futher developing our passion towards global peace and acceptance of each other-We can change the outcome. Awareness+Action=Change. Gregg Braden reminds us that their is a lot more going on here on Earth, than we realize, and "yes", we WILL make a difference, mainly as a result of our day to day choices. We make a difference whether we want to admit it or not!! " Man is What He Thinks All Day;" " Our Thoughts Create Our Reality;" "Think Good and Good Follows". Right now, our choices are manifesting the future of mankind. Gregg reminds us of the power within each of us. "WE WILL CHANGE THE 'OUTCOME', WE WILL AVERT THE MAJOR TRAGEDiES PREDICTED IN THE BIBLICAL TEXT FROM LONG AGO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Amazon.com
Looking back, John Edward now sees the early signs that he was destined to become an acclaimed psychic and medium. "There were times when I knew things I shouldn't have known," he writes. "Simple things like who was coming over, or who was on the phone." He knew events in family history that no one had told him about. He was inexplicably fascinated with television characters that possessed supernatural powers. He'd see auras around schoolteachers and hear voices that whispered true information in his mind. Eventually his gifts expanded into hearing the names of spirits "who'd gone to the other side." Finally, as a teenager Edward began to claim rather than question his psychic abilities and committed his life work to pursuing and learning about his gifts. Now that he has become a renowned medium (appearing on numerous talk shows, including Larry King Live), Edwards has written an entertaining "my life as a psychic" type of autobiography, packed with fascinating true stories. At the same time, Edward offers an engaging self-help book, teaching readers how to visit a medium and even showing seekers how they can recognize and develop their own psychic abilities. --Gail Hudson
Book Description
As seen on "Larry King Live," "The Leeza Show," "Roseanne,"and "Maury Povich"--John Edward's remarkable account of how he came to be one of the most popular psychic mediums of our time. Now with a brand new workbook section written specially for this edition!
His television appearances have made millions of people believe in the afterlife--and in his ability to reach it. Now John Edward's legion of fans can read his remarkable true story and compelling accounts of his most important readings, how they helped heal the scars of grief and gave way to more fulfilling lives for the living--lives where loved ones never cease to love you, and never really die...
In an all-new chapter, written especially for this paperback edition, he also empowers readers to tune in to their own psychic abilities--and read and understand signs of spiritual contact they may be experiencing every day without even knowing it.
* Includes new, first-time-in-print material--the trade edition will be published with an all-new workbook section to help readers tune in to their own psychic abilities
"Compelling...poignant...like James Van Praagh (Talking to Heaven) tempered with the down-to-earth appeal of Caroline Myss."--Publishers Weekly
"Astonishing."--Raymond Moody, Ph.D., M.D., author of Life After Life and Reunions
Customer Reviews:
Good to read if you lost someone.......2007-10-18
I found this book helpful after the loss of my parents.
You may find it enlightening as well.
Still Wanting More Answers!!!.......2007-07-28
For those who are touched by this book, I want you to know that there is something we can't explain. We all have paranormal abilities like John Edward, James Van Praagh, Sylvia Browne, and Char Margolis to name a few. The book is reassuring at times because it makes you feel like you're not alone in this world as some people might perceive us to be weird or strange. The book is about John Edward's biography and is ever evolving psychic abilities. He talks about getting depressed or iritable around negative events. I got this book probably before September 11, 2001 so it doesn't have anything to do with it. For me, I recognized that power and fear when the predictions come true. I'm not so much into contacting the deceased as I am concerned with the future but at the same time, our psychic abilities don't always work to our advantages like getting lottery numbers or picking the right mate. In fact, we can pick for others but we just can't pick for ourselves. John's honesty comes through in his writing and it's an okay biography as well as reassuring that this is not all there is but I want more answers especially about our past lives, our spirit guides, and why we're drawn to certain people. Maybe that could be his next book.
A Great Read!.......2007-07-20
One Last Time was terrific! John Edwards did an excellent job of explaining his gift with the world in a very pragmatic and humorous way. The explanations of the "unexplained", which may have happened to you or those close to you, are sensible and can provide even the most skeptical with a level of comfort not easily found.
fan of crossing over.......2007-04-21
john is a top medium his book is like been in the show well written and a comfort to read as all the others,his personality shines in one last time,i do believe there is more, another book the calling of your true self elizabeth anne bell is another book i could not put down it also rings with truth both well worth reading
Excellent Book.......2007-04-01
John Edward is a remarkable man. I loved this book because it made me feel that those that I have loved and who have gone to the other side are really still here with me.
Customer Reviews:
GOOD BUT COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER.......2006-02-09
THIS BOOK IS FASCINATING, HOWEVER IF YOU DON'T LIKE SCIENTIFIC READING IT MAY BE HARD TO FOLLOW. OTHERWISE ITS A GREAT READ IF ARE INTERESTED IN ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS AND EARTH'S MYSTERIES.
Dissapointed with ending.......2005-11-02
I found the conclusion of the book to be inconclusive and feel that it is not based on any hard science; its the author's opinion supported by sketchy facts, figures and theories from other sources. It's artful and entertaining, but it's not like its going to leave you with the truth of 2012 being the end of the world.
I don't regret reading it, however, and would recommend it to someone who is interested in learning about the subject. It just gives you one more opinion to chew on and ponder. And, I like pondering things.
Futhermore, there is some historical information on the Central American Civilizations of the past, the Mayan calendars, as well as some interesting theories on Sunspot's.
Dodgy..........2005-06-21
The blurb on the back reads "The present world will end on 22 December 2012. So prophesied the Maya 5,000 years ago..." - yet on page 4 the authors indicate that the Maya appeared around 500AD, which by my reckoning is only 1,500 years ago.
Such internal inconsistencies riddle this book, and make it unreliable. On the face of it - and ignoring the 2012 prophecy, which uses some pretty tortuous mathematical manipulations - there is a lot of interesting information here about the Maya, but I'm afraid I just don't know how much I can believe or trust.
I'm sure many people will lap up this book, and simply assume that the "facts" on the Maya must be true because they are written in an authoritative manner, but please keep an open mind - which includes remembering that the authors may be wrong.
Very dissappointing.......2004-09-09
It was implied that the earth's magnetic field reversed 3K years BC. This caused Atlantis to sink and new lands to appear. This scenario would make sense. What doesnt make sense is that according to a geographic magazine (scientific fact), the last time the earth's magnetic field reversed was 780,000 years ago. Moreover, its occurrence is random and not in some sequence deciphered by the Mayan calendar. Assuming the Mayan calendar was true, then what would happen in 2012? The facts are that the sunspots activity align with the Mayan calculations. In a period of years before and after 2012, there will be instances of very few or no sunspots occuring. This will effect fertility and weather patterns but mostly in the equator area. Hence, Mexico, India, Southeast Asia, Africa will be affected. The only reason the rest of the world will be affected is due to the side effect of us polluting the world with CO2 from too much cars and waste dumping, thereby melting the polar ice caps. The sunspot event before and after 2012 will just make things worse. So the doomsayers would come out and point to the Mayan prophecy as applicable to the whole world. As you can see if we did not pollute, North America would not be affected.
I give this book 1-star for the first chapter and explanation of the Mayan number system. I dont agree with the chapter about how images came up when Pacal's tomb cover were superimposed. The fact is that one can superimpose any drawing or try even Michaelangelo's fresco's. By careful delineation, one would come up with weird forms as what the author found in Pacal's about a jaguar? a bat?
Nonsense.......2003-07-09
This book is about coincidences. The authors notice a similarity between certain large numbers in the Maya calendar cycle and their own astrological theories about sunspot cycles. The numbers don't match, but from this "coincidence" the authors conclude that the Maya warned of a cosmic disaster for the year 2012.
The book could have stopped there, but instead it digresses into a sort of personal log of the authors' visits to Mexico, then revisits old material on transatlantic contact, Atlantis mythology, Edgar Cayce, Velikovsky, and other nonsense. Some of the historical material about Mexico is interesting and well written, but is clearly taken from other sources.
Some of the claims are bizarre, such as that the crystal "skull of doom" was used as a magnifying glass in a fire ceremony. Or that the "loops" on the Palenque sarcophagus represent magnetic field lines on the sun, something the Maya couldn't possibly have known about.
The authors' contempt for those with other points of view is annoying. The book that derides Von Daniken, astrologists, and professional archaeologists all at the same time.
The sloppiness about numbers is also annoying, especially since their entire case rests on numbers. The authors cite a "remarkable correlation" between the dates given for the great flood by Plato (9500 B.C), Cayce (10,500 B.C.), and the Maya (11,205 B.C.) These dates differ by over 1700 years, a variation of 15% relative to the present day. Considering that one of the authors claims to be an engineer and a scientist, this is inexcusable.
The Maya civilization is a fascinating and impressive one, and no doubt there is much wisdom we have yet to learn from them. You won't find it in this book.
Book Description
The myth and folklore of ancestral peoples around the world hints at a vast cycle of time, with alternating Dark and Golden Ages. Plato called it the Great Year. Long believed to be a fairytale, there is now new astronomical evidence to show it has a basis in fact. Moreover, because it is caused by the acceleration of our Sun around another star, we learn that the Earth should soon be carried into a region of space that will have a beneficial affect on our atmosphere, nudging mankind into a higher age of consciousness.
Lost Star of Myth and Time weaves together some of the latest archaeological evidence with cutting-edge astronomy to reveal a history of the world that finally fits with myth, folklore and the archaeological record. While this book explores some of the most interesting aspects of a once advanced civilization that covered the Earth, it is really about what happens to the Earth and consciousness as our solar system moves through space in the mysterious motion known as the "precession of the equinox". This astronomical phenomenon has since Newton been attributed to local gravitational forces wobbling the Earth's axis. Lost Star now shows us in no uncertain terms that the Earth's axis does not change orientation relative to objects inside the solar system at the same rate that it changes orientation to objects outside the solar system, meaning precession must be due to our Sun's binary motion around another star.
Chapter by chapter it becomes clear that ancient cultures knew of precession, used it as the clock of the ages, understood it to be due to the solar system's motion through space, and realized this subjects the Earth to a cycle of waxing and waning stellar influences. It is these forces that affect our magnetosphere, ionosphere and indirectly create the larger seasons of the Great Year. As you will see this not only gives cause for a major rethink of human history and potential, but indicates we are approaching a tipping point in the awakening of consciousness.
Customer Reviews:
highly speculative and non-scientific.......2007-09-26
What defines civilization? Is it the magnitude of knowledge, or tools, or transportation, or commodities, or peace, or all of these? Some writers have postulated the easiest method to ascertain a civilization's height is sift through their garbage dumps. There is some predisposition to believe a civilization is more developed if the refuse shows signs of complexity in art or construction technique. Archeologists have sought in vain to find records in the dust bearing the knowledge of deceased civilizations. The best they have found is records of commerce or letters between merchants or rulers.
Walter Cruttenden makes a pretty good case for our sun being a companion star in a binary or trinary system. And he presents some curious research on the finer influence of energy upon living tissue. But the idea of information stored in rocks or the earth's surface stretches credulity. The storage of information involves the imprinting of specific, organized patterns. To date, no one has noticed patterns of any kind (geological phenomena aside) residing or emitted from rocks or soil. I submit that the mark of a truly advanced civilization is it's ability to record and PRESERVE its knowledge for future generations. What would be the point of life if what is learned is carried to the grave? Isaac Asimov wrote an interesting story of a world which self-destructed caused by superstition, each time all the planets and moons occulted the sun. After a great number of cycles some information was preserved, enough that those of learning could disseminate to subsequent generations the discovery of the cause for periodic occultation, as well as the technical knowledge gained since the previous conflagration.
Mankind, in order to survive, must have transportation. The nomadic way of life has never produced a culture or civilization of advanced degree. It may contain a significant body of knowledge, but the passing of that knowledge verbally and by myth are the least effective of tools. The Ancients Walter speaks of may have had some knowledge of mathematics, astronomy, and various technologies, but they certainly weren't highly developed when it comes to technology, nor do they evidence anything of the Calculus we have today.
The Ice Man of 3500 BC may have owned an axe of highly refined tool grade copper, but did that knowledge die with him? Where are the others like it? Today we may not know how to refine and harden copper to that level, but apparently that knowledge was not widely disseminated by the Ancients either.
Did these Ancients levitate all those giant megaliths around like Tibetan monks in meditation? The scientific investigation into Stonehenge shows that those stones were moved by raw muscle-power which was destructive to bone and sinew. The Sumerians may have had beautiful gardens, sewers, tools of metal, medical technique, and the wheeled cart. They also had war. But none of it was as highly developed as we have today. No evidence has come forth demonstrating widespread education, high technologies in metals, glass, oil derivatives, medicine, art, and transportation. All of these advancements over the basic knowledge the Ancients had have happened in less than 200 years. It is exceedingly difficult to overlay this explosive growth with the Cycle of the Ages as Walter presents it. It doesn't fit the gradual cycle curve controlled by an interlaced binary companion star.
We may have lost some of the ancient knowledge of more refined energies, but no civilization of the past can rival the developments in knowledge dissemination and preservation, technology and artistic materials as we have today. Where is the evidence that a Pavaroti could be heard and observed not only in real time thousands of miles distant, but repeatedly as often as desired? Where is there evidence that man has brought back soil from the Moon, along with the technology to transport him there and back? Where is there evidence that the Golden Age of the Ancients had pictures of the surface of Mars, of asteroidal impacts upon Jupiter, of those tiny light sources in the sky really being galaxies of endless number as far as we can see?
The Ancients may have known many things we have yet to discover. The Spinx and Giza pyramid may forever remain a mystery as to how, when, and why they were constructed. But their "Golden" civilization does not hold a candle to the opportunities of learning, mobility, health, and leisure of today. It has been estimated that 70% of all the people who have lived on this earth are alive today. Surely, we do not know the extent of population on the earth back 10,000 years and more. But this merely begs the point: any advanced civilization will leave a trail of evidence indicating that of all advancements, chief will be reliable record keeping. The Egyptians will remain embarrassed over the mystery of the Sphinx and Pyramids. Ralph Ellis can go rooting around the north slope of K2 for the fabled Hall of Records. But the pattern that has emerged to date indicates no knowledge more advanced than we have today lies anywhere on this planet, nor were there ever any people who had greater comforts and self-fulfillment than today. Nor were they able to preserve their "advanced" knowledge against the Decline.
I'll trade the stone commode or bath-house for a modern flusher and sauna in a thermally efficient, heated room. If the Ancients were masters at canals and waterways it couldn't be due to unwillingness to use advanced technology over stone building. Walter claims there is evidence of widespread prosperity, but that is an unwarranted conclusion about a culture based on digs. I'll take the modern instruments used to do cranial surgery (which replaces the entire bone in its original location) over the crude Egyptian trephine any day.
Walter contradicts himself in many places trying to fit the eccentric binary orbit into the gradual loss and accretion of knowledge. He attempts to account for the changes in life span via the precession cycle, without investigating research into the errors in the Bible and his other sources of ancient longevity. It is amazing in one place he can assert that Terra Preta pottery is more than 10,000 years old, yet high tech metals, plastics, glass, and ceramics couldn't possibly last for more than a few hundred years. Archeologists dig up clay inscripted tablets from several thousand years back which are still legible! The obvious conclusion points to the absence of such technologies because nothing like ours has ever existed in the past. To assert that the Ancients figured out how to recycle any advanced metals, glass, plastic and chemicals back into the earth without a trace and learned to live without it is absurd. Nearly in the same breath he points to evidence of metal working discovered inside coal and stone, and stone blocks in an Oklahoma coal mine that survived several millennia. His stroll through the beaches and bluffs of southern California finding assorted trash is hardly equivalent to unearthing evidence of civilization several meters into the earth like Mexico City, the Cave of a Thousand Buddhas, and a thousand other digs.
The main subject Walter overlooks in his presentation is the prevalence of war in all ages. We have not found evidence of any civilization in ancient times without it. Walter also does not mention the Caste systems of India and China which extends back into the Golden Age he so glorifies. Nor does he treat in detail civilizations declining because of catastrophism. People who build with stone (megalithic or otherwise) don't recover from severe climate changes or deluges in short order.
While Walter presents reasonable and cogent research by professional scientists, his own approach is not scientific. Like much of the phony astronomical science of today, Walter has his process backwards, and leads the reader to believe that our world civilization's decline and rise are explained by association of Precession with ancient myth and folklore (ancient "science"). To him it is a forgone conclusion.
His book contains many interesting discoveries. But his speculations, assumptions, and premature conclusions simply do not hold as an explanation for the fall and rise of this planet's civilizations.
Not as good as It could be.......2007-08-08
When I first read the synopsis of this book, I thought this is the book I always wanted to write.
After reading it I can summarize my feeling in just one word: disappointment. This book is about the connection between the cosmic cycles of the traditions and the precession. According to Walter Cruttenden there must be a companion star out-there. Why? First: because there are some astronomical problems with the precession (for more details see: "Binary Research Institute" web-page). Second: this is a chance to give material reason of the ascending and descending ages (golden, silver, bronze, iron). How: via electro-magnetic waves. If the companion stars nears our Sun we become enlightened, when it goes away we fall into the dark age. (Sounds weird?)
The other planet hypothesis is not new, but mostly scientifically unproved. The best theory I have ever read is from Woelfli and Baltensperger. This book is contains some vague predictions about the size and distance of this object, but the Sirius would be the perfect fit (as the book suggests). Only some very new laws of the universe should be discovered, and we will understand the importance of Sirius in ancient mythologies.
Until then I will have time to write my own book.
Anyway, this is not a bad book, it's like a work of Graham Hancock. Terra Preta was the most interesting for me, that would be worth a book on it's own.
Sun has a twin ?.......2007-03-09
I was little bit sceptic when i order this book from Amazon. Lost STAR ? huh, this is ridiculous. So i start reading and page after page it take my attention. I pass whole "Accepting truth" process during first chapters. Author did extraordinary work, collecting those facts/ideas/myths. It is easy to read, easy to understand, so don't be affraid about the flood of facts. Author really know his customers (readers). So everything is served well.
I love part about the "Yugas"( world ages ), but maybe some of the parts are little bit short, i was missing some of the major ideas/facts about the ages. I understand it was not the main line of the book, but for some not well informed readers it might be little bit "vonDaniken" style.
But i really recommend this book to all 2012 scientists and researchers.
A must-have book for any thoughtful reader.......2007-01-10
Certainly one of the best books that I've read in recent years. Extraordinarily thoughtful review of the evidence that indicates that energy provided by the sun and its twin star affects our intelligence. In turn, this cyclical variation in intelligence results in cycles of dark ages followed by golden ages. Words fail me as I try to describe this remarkable book. Most highly recommended.
Lost Star--Dark Star?.......2006-09-08
Walter Cruttenden,
Lost Star of Myth and Time
(St. Lynn's Press, Pittsburgh) 2005
Paperback, xxii+340 pages
ISBN 0-9767631-1-7
Andy Lloyd
The Dark Star
(Timeless Voyager, Santa Barbara) 2005
Paperback, xiv+304 pages
ISBN 1-892264-18-8
Critiqued by Frederic Jueneman
Here is a pair of scenarios, very old ones in many respects, to be sure, but motifs that take the reader on multidisciplinary journeys through space and time, of history and cosmology, and of culture and tradition. Regular readers of such literature will find that all of these groups plow pretty much in the same celestial fields. Notwithstanding, in a somewhat eclectic exposition one author (Cruttenden) come uncomfortably close to what this reviewer regards as new age occultism. But then, don't we all take a lot of things on faith and hope.
Cruttenden himself is a nonprofessional archeo-astronomer who builds and relies on earlier authors, both contemporary and historical, as well as assembling his own cache of mythic material to fortify his case that our Sun is part of a double-star system which orbits one another in approximately the same period as the Precession of the Equinox--a polar retrograde wobble of Earth currently figured at 25,770 years. Moreover, as the most original concept in the book, the author argues that the binary motions and gravitational influence of the two-star system cause the precession itself.
In like manner, science writer Andy Lloyd takes inspiration from Zecharia Sitchin's ancient Babylonian interpretations although with marked reservations, while also delving into myth and alternative science. Yet he generally tends to follow es¬tablishment guidelines in giving credence to his argument for a solar binary system. His major theme is based on the cliff-like Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt of asteroidal objects and comets that drops off rather precipitously beyond some 45 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun--one AU being the Earth-Sun distance--a gap that ostensibly extends several hundred AU to the inner boundary of the the¬oretical comet-filled Oort Cloud beyond.
The Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt was initially proposed in 1943 by the British researcher Kenneth Edgeworth and later resurrected by American as¬tronomer Gerard Kuiper in 1951. This gap is argumentatively considered by Lloyd to be swept out by what might eventually be found to be a so-called brown dwarf star and its retinue of planetesimals, which have yet to be observed.
Such brown dwarfs were first theoretically described by radioastronomer Jill Tartar in 1975 as small, very dense and dim planet-like stars, which are radiating mainly in the infrared. They were called "brown" to differentiate them from the already designated black, red, and white dwarfs, although brown dwarfs were ultimately found to glow magenta to reddish.
Cruttenden's book, on the one hand, despite being replete with physical phenomena and apocalyptic mythology, also attempts to reinforce his earlier mercantile DVD exposé with additional detail from mythic and mystic lore by enumerating and expanding on the four stages of the Yuga ages: The primeval Kali Yuga, typifying the dark age of iron from which we have just emerged in the endless Hindu cycles of time, and our now having recently entered into the Dwapara Yuga, or bronze age, with the increasingly enlightening Treta and Satya Yugas, of the respective silver and golden ages, still some thousands of years ahead in the distant future. Our increased enlighten¬ment is apparently predicated on this approaching Lost Star, which endows mankind with field-induced expanded mental capacity. There are ascending and descending phases of these ages, the divya or half-yugas that comprise something over 12,000 years each, delineating the half-cycles of the equinoctial precession: The rise and fall of mankind's intellectual proclivities.
The Lost Star spends an inordinate number of pages on the significance of these ages on human culture, where a high point in human capacity and competence was reached some 11,500 years ago, and has gone downhill ever since, or at least until the end of the medieval period just a few centuries ago. According to Cruttenden, the lowest point--the Kali Yuga--was from about 700 BCE to around 500 CE; however, no allowance was made for the global renaissance of the 6th century BCE, where religious, philosophical, and intelletual thought burgeoned throughout the civilized world; a flourishing which gave rise to the received wisdom of India. Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece. This may have been an aberration according to his scenario, but the excep¬tion does test the rule.
This is where the two authors differ, in that Lloyd is less enthusiastic than Cruttenden about the mysticism surrounding recorded events in human history. However, both authors do pay tribute to Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend, who themselves had furrowed their pioneering groundwork of mythic lore by highlighting the Precession of the Equinoxes, and who also complained, "It goes without saying that the still more modern habit of replacing `culture' with `society' has blocked the last narrow path to understanding history. Our ignorance not only remained vast, but became pretentious as well."
Both of our authors under review bemoan the fact that astronomical ardor doesn't include many who, either through ignorance or hubris, even bother to consider an otherwise "unknown" or "unseen" massive companion to our solar system in the light of mounting evidence, other than minuscule icy worlds such as the recently discovered Quaoar, Sedna and Varuna, inter alia. But, as we all know, tradition is a very viscous medium.
Late 19th and early 20th century cosmologists, who had studied the perturbations on Uranus and relatively newly discovered Neptune (1846), determined that beyond these planets there was another massive body disturbing their motions; but, the discovery of tiny Pluto in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh didn't account for the expected discrepancy, although Voyager 2 in 1969 supposedly settled the cosmological question by assigning Neptune a greater mass than was previously reported.
Only Lloyd referred to the earlier research of the late Hughes Aircraft mathematician John P. Bagby, assisted by his wife Loretta L. Bagby, who were intrigued by planetary perturbations that seemed to indicate what they termed a Massive Solar Companion (MSC), situated out of the plane of the ecliptic in the direction of Sagittarius. Bagby, who was well known to this reviewer, initially and tentatively proposed this MSC back in 1972 but only formally and obliquely published his results some years later in a study related to earthquake periodicity. However, his investigation seemed to indicate that such an MSC, or perhaps a distributed mass in Lagrangian orbits, might be also located in the direction of Sirius. Bagby postulated Lagrange distributions for several of the orbital parameters, which much like the Trojans in Jupiter's orbit may either lead or lag the gas giant by 60°.
Sagittarius, however, would turn out to be a "star-crossed" option since it is well within our most abundant view of the Milky Way galaxy, which leaves astronomers looking into the headlights of millions of stars that would make finding a dim body among such stellar traffic toilsome at best. The latest IRAS (InfraRed Astronomical Survey) satellite exploration of the heavens showed an excess of 200,000 dim suns within relatively short telescopic range that are available for study. So, where do those who want to look decide to seek such a candidate star? In the other direction, of course, where there isn't quite so much glare. The comparatively open celestial sectors of Orion or Canis Major will do nicely.
Interestingly, one of Bagby's major postulated orbits had a period of 1467.6 years, which is uncannily close to the so-called Egyptian Sothic period of some 1460 years, which makes an enticingly roundabout connection with Sirius. This reviewer had corresponded at length with Bagby over this observation, and subsequently copies of his summary were distributed to his colleagues.
Sirius, in Canis Major, visible in winter months just to the left (east) of Orion in the celestial sphere, turns out to be a candidate "lost" star for Cruttenden's argument, despite its 8.6 lightyear distance and -1.43 magnitude brilliance, making it the brightest nighttime star in the heavens. It is Cruttenden's nominee for a root cause of Earth's precession, because of some residual resonant effect, as well as Sirius' own unique proper motion. It is this singular proper motion, which remarkably is in the direction of our own locale in the galaxy that keeps it almost stationary over the centuries in its annual heliacal rising despite its gradual transit across the constellations.
Sirius has risen heliacally on almost the same Julian date for the past 4000 years, and is currently moving out of Canis Major. Here, however, Cruttenden makes an oblique reference to the calendar reform of Julius Caesar, whereas the Julian calendar used in the astronomical community was devised by Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540-1609), whose own calendar reform was published in 1583, one year after the Gregorian amendment devised by the Jesuit astronomer Christopher Clavius was instituted by Pope Gregory XIII. Scaliger's formula, however, using days instead of years, is called the Julian Day Count--a practice still in use by astronomers today and named after his father, Julius Caesar Scaliger.
Both authors had scrutinized ancient literature, which claimed that in ancient times this star was red in color, which Sirius currently is definitely not. However, up until about 500 AD, observers did record Sirius as reddish in color. If, in counter-argument, it had been something akin to Betelgeuse, which is a bloated bright red-orange star of 0.7 magnitude in Orion, north and somewhat west of Sirius, then sometime in the distant future we may be treated to a shedding of its reddish envelope, exposing a bright white star within.
As an aside, an intriguing point was made by Cruttenden that Sirius' own incredibly dense white dwarf companion, Sirius B, orbits in front of its parent star every 50 years, which it did in 1989 as observed and recorded by Canadians Karl-Heinz and Uwe Homann, and as it did so Earth's daily rotation slowed down by a full second over the course of this transit, returning to normal after the event. If this is found to be verified, then it also appears to suggest that gravitational waves travel at light velocity as well. However, we won't have this particular opportunity again until around 2039.
The Dogon peoples in West Africa had their legend about a massive diminutive and unseen companion of Sirius that had a 50-year relationship with the parent star, supposedly well before it was known to astronomers, according to historian Robert Temple. In the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, our hero has a dream in which he is drawn to a heavy star that cannot be lifted--an indirect reference to Sirius B.
One might also speculate that, by the mechanism of "accretion disk accumulation," the massive gravity of the dwarf Sirius B may have stripped its parent of a conjectured red envelope within own our historical past, fomenting a nova, and revealing the brilliant star we see today. This, moreover, is in contrast and contradiction to what Cruttenden described. We might not expect this of the red giant Betelgeuse, since it doesn't seem to have such a dense companion. But since Sirius does, it leaves open the question: Could Sirius actually have under¬one such a nova event within our own recorded historical past? Say, prior to 500 AD?
Cruttenden also makes the point that the Sun's angular momentum is almost entirely tied up in its planetary family, and argues that this runs counter to known physical laws for a solitary stellar body, but bodes favorably for a binary system where such momentum is focused and normalized with another gravitational source. The period of revolution for our binary is considered equivalent to the Precession of the Equinox, based on the resonant effect due to the angular curvature of the mutually orbiting systems, and which is the crux of Cruttenden's hypothesis.
Others, as UC Berkeley physicist Richard A. Muller, who also opt for a binary star system of our very own, prefer a 26-million-year orbit, because over Earth's geological history there have been periodic upheavals and extinctions coincident with this cycle. This is the "Nemesis" star of media note, although Muller thought that it might be a red or brown dwarf. Lloyd is more modest in his reasoning for a 3600-year orbit, more in keeping with Zecheria Sitchin's scenario, thereby keeping it within the confines of the Oort cloud within our own outer solar system, and sweeping out the void beyond the Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt. (This reviewer may have to rescan some of Sitchin's endless writings to see if something critically important was inadvertently missed.)
Evidence for high-culture ancient civilizations abound in both the Old World and Asia. This is in addition to ley lines, stonehenges of various sorts, earthenwork mounds and pyramids scattered around the globe, and foundations of cities with no apparent prior historic past, such as found in Sumer. And, since the discoveries of Cornell geologist Charles F. Hartt in 1871, such evidence also surfaced in South America. The extremely rich, renewable soil of myriads of scattered pockets of what is termed Terre Preta do Indio (Indian Black Earth) throughout Amazonia, from Bolivia to Venezuela, has made archeologists sit up and take notice. While most of the Amazon basin is infertile "green desert," known as Oxisol, some ten percent comprises this extremely valuable and sought-after productive loam, which is also characterized by the multi-stratigraphic inclusion of abundant ceramic shards that indicate a sophisticated fire-savvy culture as early as 9000 BCE. This is in contrast, for example, to ancient abattoirs found by archeologists around the world, who indiscriminately consider them to be ritual sacrificial sites by primitive peoples who were overly concerned with religious practices.
If ancient Old and New World civilizations had been decimated by some periodic global cataclysms, it doesn't augur happily for Cruttenden's prognostication of the upcoming ages of enlightenment coinciding with the pending approach of another stellar body nearer to our solar system. But notwithstanding, if Cruttenden and Lloyd, and Muller as well, are all justified in their estimations, perhaps we are not merely a member of a binary star system, but conceivably part of a ternary or even a multiple star complex.
The Sumero-Babylonian astronomers and scribes, who had meticulously recorded disasters as they were observed, aren't given much credence by today's know-it-alls, who relegate most all such "myths" to the dustbins of legendary history. The Jesuit scholar Francis X. Kugler, who pioneered the study of ancient "star wars" (sternkampf) did give these ancients some credit, but seems to be ignored except for a few researchers outside the pale of academic science and history. Kugler's two-volume opus, Sternkunde und Sterndienst in Babel ("Astrography and Astralatry in Babylon"--literally, star-mapping and star-worship), did nevertheless question the competence of Mesopotamian astronomers before the reign of Nabonassar in the mid-8th century BCE because of anomalies in their calculations, but before he died left the door open for further investigation. And, Zecheria Sitchin evidently was also influenced by and receptive to these anomalies mentioned by Kugler, resulting in his aggregation of books on the subject, which ideas were later taken up by Lloyd with alternative explanations. Cruttenden is otherwise occupied with Great Cycles over the ages.
Nibiru, of Sumerian myth, is the name of the red star that entered the ancient Mesopotamian night sky, and was equated with Marduk, the god supreme of Sumer. Was this red star the Surya of Sanskrit texts, the Sothis of the Greeks, the Sopdet of the Egyptians, the Al Shi'ra of the Arab world, the Lost Star of Cruttenden, the Dark Star of Lloyd, the Venus of Velikovsky?
There are many more such mysteries to be solved, both here on Earth and in our night skies. And, both Cruttenden and Lloyd have given us something of an awareness of the interdisciplinary aspects of approaching some of these mythic enigmas from widely differing, sometimes opposing, and of course puzzling perspectives. Accordingly, this overlapping critique is basically in consideration of both of these interesting if not persuasive books. However, although each is recommended for their individual merits, this reviewer suggests that each potential reader make up his or her own mind as to which author comes closest to one's own personal inclination.
Book Description
The nursery rhyme begins, "In fourteen hundred and ninety two, Columbus sailed the ocean blue." Less well-known is the line that follows: "…to learn if the old maps were true." How can there be "old maps" of a land no one knew existed? Were others here before Columbus? What were their reasons for coming and what unexplained artifacts did they leave behind?
The oceans were highways to America rather than barriers, and when discoverers put ashore, they were greeted by unusual inhabitants. In Discovering the Mysteries of Ancient America, the author of The Atlantis Encyclopedia turns his sextant towards this hemisphere. Here is a collection of the most controversial articles selected from seventy issues of the infamous Ancient American magazine. They range from the discovery of Roman relics in Arizona and California's Chinese treasure, to Viking rune-stones in Minnesota and Oklahoma and the mysterious religions of ancient Americans. Many questions will be raised including:
What role did extraterrestrials have in the lives of ancient civilizations?
What ancient pyramids and towers tell us about the people who built them?
Are they some sort of portals to another dimension?
What prehistoric technologies have been discovered, and what can they tell us about early settlers, their religious beliefs, and possible other-worldly visitors?
Did El Dorado exist, and what of the legendary Fountain of Youth?
Was Atlantis in Cuba?
What are America's lost races and what happened to them?
Discovering the Mysteries of Ancient America brings to the fore the once-hidden true past of America's earliest civilizations
Frank Joseph is the author of The Atlantis Encyclopedia (New Page Books), as well as a dozen other books on history, prehistory, and metaphysics. He has been the editor-in-chief of Ancient American magazine since its first issue in 1993. He lives in Wisconsin.
Wayne May is the founder-publisher of Ancient American. Laura Lee is the award-winning producer and host of the nationally syndicated "The Laura Lee Show". David Hatcher Childress wrote the best-selling Lost Cities series. Zecharia Sitchin is the author of the best-selling Earth Chronicles series. Andrew Collins is world-renowned for his consistent bestsellers, including Gateway to Atlantis.
Customer Reviews:
Ridiculous conspiracy theories based on facts.......2007-04-29
This book is a compilation of articles that take facts and add conjecture or speculation to arrive at a possible thesis.
The articles in this book are generally based on large leaps of faith which have little or no basis.
The editor, Frank Joseph, is from a historical conspiracy theory type magazine called Ancient American.
The book is a collection of articles from the magazine, printed in book form for a quick buck.
If you looked for this book in your local bookstore, you would most likely find it in the "new age" or "alternative history" section.
It is not possible to read this book as non-fiction because some of it is based on guesswork or patchwork history.
If fact and fiction are mixed, you have fiction, no matter how much fact is involved.
Unless you are a conspiracy theorist or you are looking for a book full of magazine articles of historical fiction, you can probably skip this one.
Some of the stories are interesting, but all are portrayted as journalism when they would more accurately be described as historical fiction.
Authentic Ancient American History.......2007-04-29
Finally, people aren't ignoring the evidence of pre-Columbus voyages to America. This change in thinking has been a long time coming. This book presents some of the most compelling evidences for the voyages and visits. Even skeptics will have a hard time putting this book down. See also: Columbus Was Last: From 200,000 BC to 1492, A Heretical History of Who Was First & The Island of Seven Cities: Where the Chinese Settled When They Discovered America
excellent seller and product.......2007-02-13
Item as described and received in a timely manner... an excellent buying experience!
Discovering Mysteries.......2007-01-03
This is exactly what I looked for. A collection of interesting articles, and among them strong evidences that the Vikings were in America before Columbus. Just what I was looking for. Great!
Be Realistic In Your Analysis..........2006-05-24
Childress' book cites numerous known abberations to the common perception that most relics and antiquities found in North America are of "native" cultural origin, and having these bits all in one place in one book is useful and entertaining. However, the speculation on aliens, portals, and Atlantis-type culture is, as always, tedious. Anyone can speculate and it is a writer's choice on how he or she chooses to speculate. The reader ,however, must be realistic in their analysis and truth behind the writer's speculation. If it is for entertainment purposes, the book and its speculations are wothwhile; if it is for actual information, the book is worth the price to read about the additional relics that have been found in North America that can really question our prevalent interpretations of North American history - however, the speculation on aliens and such is just that...entertainment value only. Early Mankind was a lot more innovative and flexible than people like Childress give them credit for - no use of aliens and portals is necessary to explain the historical evidence that is apparent in the antiquities record.
Product Description
Archaelogist Jonathan Gray stumbled upon something that shocked him!...a whole cache of "out of place" items that should not exist. And they weren't just in one place. There was a global pattern to them. This pattern showed a lost science and technology. That's when he knew someone had to speak up. This content was of tremendous value. -MACHINERY: Did you know that the Egyptians bored into granite rock with drills that turned 500 times faster than modern power drills? -ANCIENT AMERICA: Did you know that a Chinese mapping survey of North America in 2200 BC described a sunrise over the Grand Canyon, black opals and gold nuggets in Nevada, and seals frolicking in San Francisco Bay? This is the most amazing archaeology book you'll ever see! Dead Men's Secrets is an assemblage of astonishing discoveries..... A lost super science emerges from the sea floor, jungle and desert sands of our planet... over 1,000 forgotten secrets. It will SHOCK you. SEE this world as you've never seen it before. DISCOVER answers you never had. GAIN a new enjoyment. HAVE FACTS at your fingertips to amaze your friends.
Customer Reviews:
Dead Men's Secrets - An Overlay.......2007-09-18
This book provides a pragmatic view of the history of mankind and makes it main points within the first ten chapters (albeit short chapters). A historical timeline of mankind's progress on page 38 or so, an assertion by the author, is something that can be easily overlooked or dismissed, but is well worth studying and thinking about.
With the idea that mankind is struggling back from it's glorious past, it is not hard to imagine that societal structures like the church, ruling families and elected gov'ts, can(and probably did) withhold information of a previous high civilization, so as to retain power or guide society in certain directions; and at least the author brought this idea out and put it to paper for us all to ponder.
P.S. After reading this book, I find myself looking extra carefully at museum artifacts and routinely dismiss archeology articles citing we were half wits, fumbling around in caves, me cold, me find mate...ugh ugh (this still happens today but only after 5 or 6 beers at the local pub!).
Dead Men's Secret's.......2007-08-10
This book is the most complete book I've read so far on out of place artifacts. I gave it 4 stars due to a few spelling errors but it covers the so called out of place artifacts the world over. However if you have an evolutionary world view this book will probably give you nightmares.
Book.......2007-05-27
It had a lot of interesting ideas and info, but with out much actual evidence it wasnt that great a read. There was really no detal to any of the items brought up.
gives no info.......2007-05-06
for a book on discoveries, it gives almost no information on them. it simply lists supposed discoveries. exactly where, exactly when, and by whom? who knows? this book doesn't tell you. it's a real disappointment.
Interesting -- but skims the surface.......2006-08-17
Interesting -- but skims the surface
This book is mostly brief references to historical anomalies and odd findings of past civilizations. The actual references for the sources of the book are lacking detail, which takes away credibility.
The majority of the book is complied as a few paragraphs at the beginning of a chapter followed by a list of items which are suppose to back up the authors contention that a civilization much greater in technology than our own once inhabited the Earth.
Time might better be spent reading "Ancient Man: A Handbook of Puzzling Artifacts" by Wm. Corliss or "The Hidden History of the Human Race" by Cremo and Thompson.
Overall entertaining if you are looking for light reading on the topic of historical anomalies.
Average customer rating:
- At last, a book for BOTH Democrats and Republicans!
- Fun read, scathing for both parties
- Snap!
- Hard to Swallow
- Fun with Goldberg
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Crazies to the Left of Me, Wimps to the Right: How One Side Lost Its Mind and the Other Lost Its Nerve
Bernard Goldberg
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0061252573
Release Date: 2007-04-17 |
Book Description
In his runaway bestseller BIAS, former CBS News correspondent Bernie Goldberg took us behind the scenes and exposed how the liberal media distort the news. In 100 PEOPLE WHO ARE SCREWING UP AMERICA, Bernie took on the villains who are doing their best to cheapen our culture and wreck our country.
Now, in CRAZIES TO THE LEFT OF ME, WIMPS TO THE RIGHT, Bernie speaks for the millions of Americans who are saying: Enough!
Enough of the leftist lunatics like Rosie O'Donnell who think "Radical Christians" – whatever that means – are "as big a threat to America as Radical Muslims." Enough of the hyperbolic liberal rhetoric comparing Bush to Saddam, Abu Ghraib to the Stalinist gulag, and Mel Gibson to Hitler. Enough of the military–hating crazies who run San Francisco. ("Just what this country needs," Bernie writes, "a city with Rice–A–Roni and a foreign policy.") Enough of the hyper–partisan, ultra–PC liberal media, which often seems more sympathetic to the "victims of humiliation" at Abu Ghraib than to our troops who are dying at the hands of Iraqi fundamentalists.
And enough, too, Bernie declares, of the wimps on the right –– the gutless wonders who don't have the courage to stand up for their own principles. Enough of their pandering, trolling for votes, and outspending the Democrats.
Conservatives still believe in important things, Bernie argues, but the jury is out on the Republicans. The 2006 election was a wake–up call, and Bernie warns: If the wimps on the right fail to regain their courage, recover their principles, and reclaim their sense of fiscal responsibility, the crazies on the left just might win the White House in '08.
Customer Reviews:
At last, a book for BOTH Democrats and Republicans!.......2007-10-11
Some folks think I'm a liberal Democrat, but the truth is that
I try to look at all sides of an issue--and even vote Republican
at times . . . consequently, I find myself reading books
that represent all viewpoints of the political spectrum.
Bernard Goldberg is an author I've read and enjoyed in
the past . . . his BIAS got me thinking, always a good
sign, and I found it a fair treatment of how news is presented
by the media.
In his latest effort, CRAZIES TO THE RIGHT, WIMPS TO THE
RIGHT, Goldberg comes
through again . . . he skewers both political parties, as evidenced
by the book's subtitle: HOW ONE SIDE LOST ITS MIND
AND THE OTHER LOST ITS NERVE.
Though Goldberg was initially Democratic, he became
Republican . . . yet what's so great about his writing is that
it is actually quite balanced and doesn't leave you with
the impression that he is doing a hatchet job, in that
what he says presents a factual basis for many
of his opinions.
For example, I liked this one example:
* In another election, San Franciscans voted--60 percent to 40
percent--to ban military recruiters from their public schools.
Funny, I thought liberals were the ones who were always telling
us that "choice" is a good thing. I guess that only applies to
abortions; not to choosing whether or not you want to let students
listen to a military recruiter talk about a career with the army, navy,
air force, or marines. And even though the vote is "only"
symbolic--officially, it's nonbinding--it does tell us how these people
feel about being citizens of the United States of America.
In addition, I liked his use of humor [inventing a proposed new game
show] to drive home a serious point:
* Okay, one senator down, ninety-nine to go. Bob Barker opens the
drum door again, reaches in, and pulls out another name. This
time he announces to the audience, "Robert C. Byrd"-a politician
who, not for nothing, has been given the name "King or Pork" by
Citizens Against Government Waste. You see, everything in West
Virginia is named after Robert Byrd. Everything. And guess who
paid for all of it? You did!
In case you're wondering just where your money went, here's a
very short list of the pork Byrd brought home. There's the Robert
C. Byrd Expressway, the Byrd Aerospace Tech Center, the
Robert C. Byrd Federal Courthouse, the Robert C. Byrd Industrial
Park, the Robert C. Byrd Institute for Advanced Flexible Manufacturing,
the Robert C. Byrd Bridge, the Robert C. Byrd addition to the lodge
at Oglebay Park, the Robert C. Byrd Library, the Robert C. Byrd
Hilltop Office Complex, and about a million more Robert C. Byrd
Projects that would require a lot more pages to list.
Lastly, although I didn't find myself agreeing with all his
points, many of th
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