Rating: 
Summary: Time to OPEN YOUR EYES
Review: It's hard to swallow for most. But EVERYTHING YOU'VE BEEN TAUGHT ABOUT ANCIENT HISTORY IS A LIE.Grahm Hancock only touches the surface of what is starting to be known about the Ancients. The Great Pyramid was not designed by the Egyptians. Several great minds in the past 100 or so years have stated it. Now great minds like Hancock are proving it. Pick up a copy of 'Secret of the Great Pyramid' by Sollog from 1995. He and Hancock are the foremost great minds proving we've all been lied to about our 'history'. OPEN YOUR EYES This book will help you.
Rating: 
Summary: Fatally flawed, but interesting
Review: The author of this book makes two main mistakes: 1. He starts with a conclusion. In a violation of the scientific method, Mr. Hancock begins at the end; at the start of his work he has already decided that the Earth was home to a civilized people (from Atlantis?) millenia before current data suggests. He then distorts evidence to "prove" this thesis in much the same manner that Creationists distort data to prove their absurdities; by only allowing for one explanation for any apparent anomaly. 2. Ethnocentrism and out-dated Anthropology. Hancock's work is also tainted by his acceptance of a cultural fallacy: That civilized life is the easiest, most "advanced" form of human social existance, and that it is a goal that all humans work toward, adopted by food-foragers as soon as they are given the oppurtunity. However this concept of unilineal evolution has been disproven over and over again, starting with Marshall Sahlins' 1972 book "Stone Age Economics." This puts the lie to phrases used by Hancock such as "golden age of agricultural plenty" and reveals the real (but perhaps unconscious) purpose behind the book as an attempt to explain why, since civilization and intensive agriculture are so wonderful, fully modern humans existed without them for 100,000 years. Despite these very serious flaws the book does raise some very interesting points, such as the apparent evidence of water-erosion on the Sphynx, and (most interesting) the apparently ancient map detailing an ice-free Anartica. Unfortunately, the serious problems detailed before cast a shadow over the credibility of the entire work, which makes me much less able to readily accept these enigmas, which would be very intriguing in a different context. However they are enough, combined with Fingerprints of the Gods well-written and very readable presentation, to lead me to give this book 2 stars instead of one. Readers are advised to take everything Hancock says with a very big grain of salt.
Rating:
Summary: Read and learn!
Review: The reason I recommend this book is that I learned more from reading it than I have learned anywhere else. The wealth of information is astounding and exciting. I learned about geology, archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, astronomy, astrology, construction, navigation, erosion, and on, and on. Hancock may not have hit on the absolute truth, but if you want a stimulating read that will leave you full of questions and eager to learn, this is the book for you. I was one of the spoon-fed masses who had been exposed to nothing but conventional history and this book opened my mind to wonderful new possibilities. I am a history teacher and because of this book, many of my assumptions were turned upside down. There is something new under the sun!
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