Ancient Mysteries,   ISBN:9780345434883

Customer Rating: 

I must admit Im a big fan of History's Mysteries and Love to read all kinds of "opinions" about them. I am open minded to all possibilities and this book has kept me on the treadmill for over an hour at a time because its well written, enjoyable to follow and thought provoking.

That being said..the authors put a lot of emphasis on details (no matter how small) to dispute some tomes that have garnered vast amounts of readership. The lambasting of Graham Hancock for instance....while he does seem to go out of his way to make grand suppositions in many of his books, he is as thought provoking as those whose "opinions" make this book so wonderful to read and enjoy.

But the tone of this book makes one believe that the authors are very focused on actual details which, more often than not, seem to refute just about every author's other writing.

On page 103 Paragraph 2 final 3 lines I was struck with how opinionated the authors were:

"A few decades later, another portent in the sky, most likely a comet, led the Magi to the birthplace of a great leader of a very different kind."

This story is a story that relies totally on FAITH...anyone doing any kind of actual historical research on the birth of Jesus will be left with very little (IF ANY) in terms of fact.

So with this one sentence, the authors fall into the same genre of those they so willingly decry in this book.

Once again....fun read...lots of good materials....but dont make the mistake of believing they are not "opinionated" rather than simply reporting!

Customer Rating: 

The chapters follow a general pattern in which the authors present the most inventive & appealing of "crackpot" theories and then examine the actual evidence to see where it leads. Quite often the mysteries remain unsolved, but usually the fun speculative explanations completely fall apart along the way. This book debunks without being smug or insulting. Not only was it educational, it was genuinely fun to read.
Here is the first intelligent rebuttal to Graham Hancock's theories, which have gripped my imagination since reading _Fingerprints of the Gods_ a decade ago. I knew Hancock's ideas were generally dismissed by the scientific community but never knew WHY until this book explained how flimsy his evidence and how flawed his reasoning was. Why was this information so hard to find? Why did it take so long for somebody to write a popularly accessible book dealing with these subjects from a rational, scientific viewpoint?
Hancock is not 100% disproven by this book, but many of his major theories are undermined, casting serious doubt on his conclusions. I'd call this book necessary reading for anyone who was captivated by _Fingerprints of the Gods_ or _The Message of the Sphinx_. You need this valuable perspective from the "other side" of the debate.

Customer Rating: 

This is THE book exploring, from an open-minded and rational perspective, all those historical mysteries that are touched on in tv specials, tabloids, and other pop culture venues but rarely discussed in depth.



Perhaps most importantly, this book credibly debunks outlandish theories of alien contributions to human culture by showing that primitive societies were capable of all the magnificent feats attributed to them, including the construction of the pyramids of Giza, the scratching out of the Nazca lines, and the erection of the stone heads at Easter Island. It also finds no real evidence for the existence of ley lines and makes quick work of the entire idea that there was ever an Atlantis.



But the banaltiy of discovering that such accomplishments as the pyramids were achieved by mere humans is compensated for by the novelty - at least to the average reader like myself - of theories postulating, for example, that meteorite activity was resposible for the destruction of Old Testament cities, or that an ancient Roman army may have settled in China. The authors' contention that there is too much reliable, anecdotal evidence for the scientifically minded to dismiss the idea of reincarnation out of hand was perhaps the authors' bravest single conclusion.



I have only two critiques of this book, and while they are minor, they prevent me from giving it a full five stars. For one, I was irked at the authors' occasional impulse to genuflect, albeit slightly, to the gods of political correctness. For example, the incredulity that European explorers expressed at the idea that the ancestors of the primitive, South American tribes living in the area of magnificent, pre-Inca ruins could have built such wondrous structures is described as mere, unforgiveable racism. Yet no accusation of racism is made when discussing how Europeans unjustly credited non-European cultures (such as Persians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, Egyptians and the mythical Atlanteans) with building ancient European monuments--despite the fact that these Europeans plainly stated that the primitive tribes inhabiting Britain at the time of the construction of Stonehenge, for example, could never have achieved such an undertaking. Why the double standard?



The section on the Amazons was fascinating, but also suffered from political correctness. The authors provide good evidence that ancient tribes living on the Russian steppes contained a signficant number of female warriors. In some areas, female skeletons were found in up to 20% of all "warrior graves." Yet this by no means implies a matriarchal society, and while the authors are careful to point out that an all-female warrior society most likely never existed, their off-the-cuff suggestion, at one point, that the women in these tribes may well have been in charge flies in the face of everything we know about ancient societies. The probable existence of a significant minority of female warriors is not enough to support such a provocative claim.



Finally, I was annoyed that the authors took time to argue that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not homosexuality but inhospitality. I have no personal investment in the traditional interpretation of the Biblical text, and seeing as to how the authors' seem to truly believe that a misunderstanding of this story has led to centuries of unjustified discrimination against gays, I sympathize with their desire to set the record straight. Regardless, if I want theology, there's a whole other section of the book store for that.



My second issue with this book is that parts of it are dated. The cocaine found in some Egyptian mummies has been explained since this book's publication as residue from a related, Old World plant used in the embalming process. There is no need for a trans-Atlantic drug trade stretching back tens of thousands of years. To the authors' credit, they predict this finding, but this doesn't change the fact that the whole section is a waste of time for the reader. Nevertheless, as science progresses such revisions are inevitable, and until someone writes a better book - or the authors' themselves update this one - this remains the book to read for those fascinated by the ideas of ancient mysteries and wanting a non-dogmatic, scientific scoop.

Customer Rating: 

This book sees through several ancient mysteries, all well known to the literate public, from a very carefully open minded and neutral standpoint. Obviously well researched, you can find several theories backed by evidential information to each topic presented in the book; from the beginnings of the Atlantis legend, to the origin of Dracula. Perhaps the best book to obtain general information about a wide variety of ancient mysteries. If you are at all interested in reading this book, I recommend you find this book at your local bookstore to read the acknowledgement pages at the begining, as well as to compare your prices. You will see the kind of effort that was put into the exceptionally wide and enlightening perspective over the given topics the authors have to offer. The amount of information you can find for each topic in this book is amazing, even encyclopedic in scale. Judging by the author's insights towards other works of the same genre, this book is much more credible for its facts, making it more significant as informative literature. You can get all sides to one topic, and nothing is stated to be over-concluded so you are given the benefit of a doubt, while shown a window for truth. I can ensure that it will be a fun read.

Customer Rating: 

This was a very interesting read, untill you realize that the authors have turned this book into a platform to slam Graham Hancock's research in almost every other paragraph. For the theories and subjects to supposedly be approached with an open view, you can bet the money you spent on this book that the authors will take an opposing view to anything Hancock has written. The space that could have been filled with interesting points and observations are instead filled with repetitious slams against Hancock and anyone who may support his theories and oppinions. It would make a great read, if you care to muddle through the finger pointing and biases twards others research.