Rating: 
Summary: Still believe in Darwin?
Review: Now when "the Hobbit", i.e. Homo Floresiensis, was discovered, now when even the official archaeology and paleoanthropology accept the fact that some 30 to 50 thousand years ago there existed (and co-existed) at least (at least - since we know those "hobbits" were around Indonesia islands as recently as 12 thousand years ago) three human species: Homo Sapiens, Homo Neanderthalensis and the Ngandong Homo Erectus (the Asian branch of Homo Erectus), does still the human evolution look to some as something strictly linear and so much gradual? Does still anyone believe in Darwin, an evolution, and simplistic linear models?
The answer is yes, many still do, since it always takes time to know and get used to something new that at times contradict a widely accepted scientific dogma.
The book by Cremo and Thompson is never a panacea or the answer to all the questions about human origins. It is rather just a good chance to start thinking of man's past a little more freely, a little less standardly.
And while the great antiquity of man (leaving aside the "devolution") may still be left as a big question to many (and a matter for a further investigation to others), the idea of the co-existence of different human species in the remote and recent past has been proved to be true already.
This century will, hopefully, bring much more discoveries concerning the human origins and history. It will never take long for most of us to understand that man, just like any other animal, in the process of the evolution should rather have followed the very same general trends (some of which are still not understood by science) that were taken by thousands and may be millions of other animals' species. And if it is difficult to imagine a linear model of evolution (anda single-species existence) of a bird, or a mammal, or an insect species, then it should be as much difficult to see a single line of man progress and believe that only one human species must have existed at a time.
The reality is much more striking and unexpected than the ideas developed by the authors of "Forbidden Archaeology". Even the H.Floresiensis case clearly shows that we can easily find so much new and unknown only fifteen feet underground: now we know that a human species being isolated, just again as any other animal, may evolve in unpredictable courses, and, what is more groundbreaking and almost heretical, a brain size (considering the minimal brain capacity of "the Hobbit") does not matter in terms of doing anything intelligent.
More news form modern archaeology and we find out that even official representatives of the science start to finally put humans in North America at least 50000 years ago, which is, to say least, just revolutionary.
More news about human's history, more news about us. The best one is we get wiser, we tend to quit being narrow-minded and scared of the new.
Rating:
Summary: A Unique and in-depth study of an "Untouchable" Subject.
Review: Oh, if only we could see all the data generated by Scientists! But alas, that is never the case. Especially in regions governed by the Ivory Tower. Publish findings that will help you keep your job...and discard all else. Well, this book is but some of the items from the discard pile. It will make you think and open your eyes. Maybe give you a headache too, but don't say that I didn't warn you!
Rating:
Summary: Makes a Great Reference Book
Review: Read this book from cover to cover and it did take some effort.
For those interested in the evidence of man's past this book is well worth it and a must read. It will open your eyes. The ammount of evidence presented in this book is astounding yet many in the field are most likely unaware of it, what a shame. My question for the author is this: Many sites are documented in this book,will you support further explorations at these sites with proceeds from your lectures and publications.This is what needs to happen and should be the result from this book. I hope professionals in the field who read it will be spured on to continue the work of the these past seekers of truth. The science of man's development is still in it's infancy and this book merely points to the fact that there is still much to learn. My thanks to the author and this work.
Rating: 
Summary: The Controversy is what's really interesting.
Review: Remember Gary Larsen's "Far Side" cartoon of the scientists dropping everything and running outside when the Good Humor truck comes by? We tend to think of scientists as beyond reproach - but they're not. They're just as emotional and jumpy as the rest of us, especially when their pet doctrines get called into question. In Science the drill is to glom onto the accepted belief system and hang on for dear life. God forbid some punky upstart like Fritjof Capra should come along and write a smart-alecky book about how Vedic texts described the same tenets as Quantum Physics a coupla thousand years ago. Or Rupert Sheldrake would have the nerve to point out that the DNA emperor has not clothes. Howls of derision. Calls for book burning in the journal "Science". Yellink und screamink. Now I don't think it takes 900+ pages to make a point. Probably 150 would have been adequate to get everybody's bowels in an uproar. The 2-cassette audio abridgement seems to do a pretty good job. As far as the actual validity of the overall argument - who knows? The evidence proposed is probably just as valid as the official party line. It is important to remember that all scientific revolutions go through pretty much the same drill: Scorn and derision towards those presenting novel or contrary opinions, followed by fear, panic and banishment of those individuals when it begins to appear that empirical data is supporting the new theories, then total abandonment of previously cherished notions, accompanied by jumping on the bandwagon with abandon while announcing that they'd been supporting the new idea all along. So it's really the process that's important here. Hey, sit back and enjoy the show!
Rating: 
Summary: Forbidden Archeology - A Hidden Agenda or a Critical Review
Review: Since the Authors, Cremo and Thompson, gathered, compiled and analyzed such a large quantity of material from many diverse sources, I was initially excited about the book. However, as I read their book and referred back to some of the primary sources cited, I found that, at best, material was frequently taken out of context, , or, worse, the Authors ignored critical, supplemental material. For example, the Authors make early reference to the distal end of a humerus (KNM-KP 271) that was recovered from the west side of Lake Turkana in Kenya, at the Kanapoi site. The Authors went on to quote from Henry McHenry's early work that the Kanapoi humerus was "barely distinguishable from the modern Homo," thereby suggesting that modern humans were at least 4 million years old. However, other researchers (Patterson and Howells ) in addition to McHenery note that "it is difficult to identify the family from the distal end of the humerus [alone]," and that, in general, scientists are not able to distinguish between human and chimp populations based the humerus alone. Subsequent research (prior to the release of the Author's book) by Meave Leakey has shown that the remains in question belong to Australopithecus anamensis not Homo sapiens. While the above is but one example, I found that as I read further into Forbidden Archeology, I frequently had to go back to the original citations in order to get a "true," "uncolored" view of what information was actually presented in the primary sources. Given the fact that both of the Authors are members of the Krishna Bhaktivendanta Institute "that studies the relationship between modern science and the world view expressed in the Vedic literature," one begins to suspect the authors might have an agenda that "colors" the findings presented in their book. The more I read, the more it became obvious to me that Forbidden Archeology serves better as a bibliography than as Johnson suggests a "complete review of the scientific evidence concerning human origins."
Rating:
Summary: Creationist Claptrap
Review: The blurb says it all. It is written by someone who doesn't understand science nor how it works. It also ignores evolutionary research for the last 150 years.
Rating:
Summary: the truth everyone should know
Review: The book by Michael A. Cremo and Richard L.Thompson has appeared to be an eye-opener for me, as much as it probably is for many other people who give a thought to human origins problems and history of the society, civilization and the planet in general. Not everything is that plain and straightforward as the mainstream science including official archaeology, anthropology, paleonthology always wants us to see it. There is an official science theory, and there IS a lot of evidence of the alternate reality, since there are signs and physical evidence (always, at least for a couple of centuries, avoided by conservative scientists) of human presense in the very remoted past. Michael Cremo and Richard Thompson have brought the facts, the hard evidence and the ideas based on them into the light, and one can not overvalue that. The book has rather had a double impact - first, the authors showed to the public the hidden truth that is striking, much impressing, but based on the facts; second, they inevitably make us realize how unbelievable the position of the modern science is - "don't trust your eyes, trust my theory" is what may best be a slogan of those "real" scientists. The second part of the "impact" is rather most important - one more time a reader has a chance to see how a modern science can be an obstacle on the way of the general scientific progress, how a widely accepted theory can prevail over the logical and really scientific approach, how an established scientific society can hide or destroy the evidence that opposes the official views only in the name of pure officially supported theory. That is hardly a 20/21 century science, that is something different, and, unfortunately, the samples of this strange "something" is everywhere - in Egyptology, Anthropology, etc. In very short, the book is incredible reading that really makes us believe we are a little older than we are supposed to be according to 99% of other books. That is a rare case when you can stop and think a little of our past, our present, our science and our society. The real science could only wish the number of the books like this would grow.
Rating: 
Summary: Missing facts
Review: The book doen't mention Fred Spoor, a famous scientist whose work in the early 90's showed that the ear canals of all modern humans are rather different than the ear canals of the extinct Neanderthals. Since the ear canal actually controls the ability to walk upright (to a large degree) this shows that Neanderthals most likely walked upright differently too but very differently than us modern people. The ear canals of the also extinct homo erectus show that like us it too was an upright walker and certainly not a giant gibbon (an animal the authors of this book seem to want us to believe erectus was). Since the revised version of this book was made in 1996 (or the most likely earliest at least 1995) I do not know why they didn't make a mention of Spoor and the ear canal studies he proved.
Rating:
Summary: Darwin
Review: The only thing evolving in reference to the theory of evolution is the theory itself
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating evidence that questions modern scientific theory
Review: This book is a compilation of scientific discoveries that have been shuffled off into a closet or ignored because they call into question modern scientific theory even though some were for a time accepted by the scientific establishment. From human footprints and skeletons estimated to be millions of years old to evidence of human habitation far older than science is willing to admit, the authors gather these and many more bits of evidence that demolish accepted evolutionary theory. The book's only drawback is its length and sometimes dry explanation of discoveries and why they are valid. In fact, the reader can sometimes be forgiven for thinking he/she is reading a textbook on archeology. However, this weakness is also a strength in that the reader will see that the discoveries listed aren't included willy-nilly but rather have strong reason to be considered as valid scientific evidence. Indeed, the authors allow noted scientists who were connected to the time when the discoveries were made to do the explaining which makes the book all the more stronger. The book also raises the disturbing question (a question asked by Charles Hoy Fort decades earlier) about the scientific community really being willing to entertain all evidence, even that which conflicts will dearly held theory.
|
