Rating: 
Summary: I Have Not Read this book, but do know how to read Genesis 6
Review: I am quite disgusted not very much at the people who are saying that the Bible declares the flood was global who are not Christians, but the Christians who declare the flood was global! This is just an interpretation that stuck over the years! Josephus , the great Jewish historian, correct me if I'm wrong, hinted that he beleived the flood might have been local. If someone does this with no scientific presupositions, maybe the theory is legit. Second of all, because the bible says all the earth does not mean a thing since the the hebrew word Terra, from which they interpreted earth from can also be translated as land, or a part of the earth that is refered to as a whole. And when it says it covered the mountains, the hebrew for mountains can be translated as foothills or hills. And the phrase "under the whole heavens" is simply a term used to describe what Noah saw. The phrase is used numerous places in the rest of the bible, only refering to a localized area, just being the "World" talked about at the time. For more information why the bible doesn't declare a global flood go to [...]. Now I hope this solves a problem and prevents anyone else from saying the flood was global because the bible says it is. In fact, on the website i gave, there is a complete translation from the same hebrew words that all the the other interpretations came from that completely gives us a localized yet probably universal (I don't doubt very much that the bible says it killed all people except Noah and his family). Thank You. Sorry that this wasn't about the book, but I felt this point needed clarification.
-Mark
Rating: 
Summary: Authors changed their mind about the sudden flood
Review: I have not checked the many previous reviews but for the record need to point out that, drawing on new evidence, the authors retracted their concept of a "catastrophic flood" for the Black Sea. Newer evidence showed that the intrusion of Mediterranean sea water into the Black Sea took place over a longer time frame from about 10,000 years before the present. Nevertheless, the authors provide a lot of good background, both scientific, archeological, and scriptural. I would have given the book 5 stars earlier.
Rating: 
Summary: A fascinating, albeit controversial, book
Review: In 1970, Bill Ryan, a geologist on Glomar Challenger, was working with a team to extract core samples from a variety of sites in the Mediterranean Sea. What they found countered all expectations they had previously developed. What they found was indication that the Mediterranean had experienced periods of extreme drought followed by a rapid saltwater flood. Working with Walter Pitman, an oceanographer, they began to develop explanations for the evidence they were uncovering. In a conversation with some colleagues on their work, it was jokingly suggested that this might be Noah's Flood. The Mediterranean flood was too long ago for any human to have witnessed it and passed it down in oral legend. But that got them thinking . . . Could there be another source for this story? Noah's Flood presents an interesting tale of the voyage of discovery that Ryan and Pitman found themselves on. In their investigations, they discovered a possible [probable?] source for story of Noah, indeed for the all the flood legends known through history. Of course, for those of us who grew up immersed in Western culture, the story of Noah is the most well-known and the most compelling; however, it's not the only flood story in history. Written in an engaging style, Noah's Flood begins with a summary of other searches for evidence of Noah, continues through the work of Ryan and Pitman, and ends in a potential reconstruction of the flood itself. Have we found the Flood? The authors present convincing evidence (convincing for me, anyway); however, they've created a storm of controversy in other circles (take a look at any journal on creation science, for example). For me, this forms a piece of other research (like the consistency of Indo-European languages, or some of the discussions on development in ???'s book, Guns, Germs, and Steel) that just seems to fit. For others, it flies in the face of the literal evidence of the Bible (and if you believe Thomas Kuhn's thesis on the change of paradigms, Ryan's and Pitman's book certainly won't change anything). As in all things, you'll need to read it and decide for yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Away all boats!
Review: In NOAH'S FLOOD, oceanographers turned authors William Ryan and Walter Pitman propose an alternative scenario to Noah's tempest in a teapot.
With the help of other scientific disciplines - archeology, linguistics, geology, climatology, biology, paleoanthropology, paleography, paleontology - Ryan and Pitman hypothesize that the Great Flood tale in the Book of Genesis, as well as similar myths in older cultures, actually had as its source an apocalyptic flooding of the freshwater New Euxine Lake around 5,600 BC when the Adriatic, 500 feet above the lake, broke through the Bosporus isthmus and poured seawater into the former at a rate of ten cubic miles per day for at least a year, raising the lake's level six inches per day over that period, and forming the present-day Black Sea over perhaps two years. The water bill for that one must have been astronomical; don't try this at home.
The authors argue their case methodically. First, they describe a proven precedent, i.e. when the Atlantic breached the junction of North Africa and Spain at Gibraltar roughly 5 million years ago to flood a vast desert and create the Mediterranean. Second, they present data derived from underwater sonar scans and seabed core sampling that give evidence of a Black Sea basin that was originally a glacial melt-water repository, which subsequently shrunk through evaporation until it was those hundreds of feet below an Adriatic Sea swelling (like the rest of the Earth's oceans at the time) with that same glacial runoff. Third, they postulate the nature of the human residents that bore witness to the inundation of their lakeside homes and fields and subsequently fled towards all points of the compass to higher ground. And, more importantly, how the collective memories of the event were preserved and transmitted down through subsequent centuries in oral and written tradition. How far did those refugees flee? Amazingly, Ryan and Pitman have them and their immediate descendents traveling as far west as Paris, as far south as Egypt, and as far east as Chinese Turkestan.
The book included a few small maps, which were adequate, and some scattered drawings, some apparently based on photographs, that were pretty much useless as illustrative aids.
NOAH'S FLOOD is a fascinating and convincing exposition, especially if you don't take the Bible's Noah as "gospel" and you haven't been exposed to any other scientific explanation of the event. (I don't and haven't, and don't intend to ponder further an ancient people's mad rush to the boats. One credible explanation is satisfying enough. I'll leave the controversy surrounding the Ryan-Pitman theory to the theologians, historians, and scientists, who have turf to defend to the death.)
Rating:
Summary: Appears as if a flood happened
Review: It appears as if a flood of the Black Sea region happened. Robert Ballard, the discoverer of the Titanic, recently found evidence of habitation 300? feet under the Black Sea. This book provides the interesting story of the theory that a former lake under the Black Sea was flooded by the Mediterranean Sea. This flood could have provide the basis for the flood mythology in many cultures including the Deluge in the Bible. While likely, the Deluge will be difficult or impossible to prove without a doubt. I believe this book is best used from a scientific standpoint and not as proof for a religion. Yet, many parts of the Bible appear to be supported by recent archaeology. The section of the book that describes a diaspora of the peoples that lived on the shore of the former lake is more difficult to prove. I read this book in conjunction with the Mummies of Urumchi by E. J. W. Barber, Elizabeth Wayland Barber. I found them complementary on the subject of the Indo- European language group in Western China. To ever prove something such as this diaspora requires the combination of linguistics with archaeology among many other disciplines. While the authors are not experts in those fields, I applaud them for attempting this study. Science more and more requires a consilience of disciplines. I recommend this book as a thought provoking book.
Rating: 
Summary: An epic adventure within an epic's origins
Review: Near the end of their chronicle of the discovery of the catastrophic Black Sea flood, authors Pitman & Ryan quote another researcher's wonder at the power of the oral tradition. The quote, from Albert Lord's analysis of the Trojan War epic, speaks to Pitman's and Ryan's research and their part in the oral tradition.
In truth, the story of the Black Sea covers more than plate tectonics, glaciation, human evolution or ten cubic miles of water flowing through a narrow channel in less than a day over seven thousand years ago. The neat trick with this book is that the authors have managed to include all that and more.
There are really two stories here. One is about the evolution of the human species from the Pleistocene to the present day, told in scientific language with scientific explanations for the actions & discoveries of the story's scientific participants. The other story is an epic tale of crafty researchers, cooperating scientists, story-tellers, myths and legends, told in skillfully written & documented prose that sweeps the reader along in the current of human successes, failures & terrors.
Beginning with Rawlinson's work in 1835 on a monument in Persia, Pitman & Ryan weave the reader through a fabric of time that is, as Lord is quoted saying, a past "of various times . . . assembled into the present performance." Using this motif, the authors introduce themselves only as two participants in a story of discovery, narrated by a fictive bard who is present only in the words. However the authors' parts in the discovery of the Black Sea flood event deserves respect. Meanwhile they have written a book that shows the respect they have for all who have been part of the story. Most importantly, they also have not forgotten the story itself.
In the final chapters Ryan & Pitman review the Black Sea's effect on history from the geological, genetic, linguistic and archeological evidence. They then compare this evidence with the numerous universal flood legends. Ryan & Pitman show how the power of the historical and geological event that created the Black Sea is the power behind the oral tradition. They then close the last chapter with the final lines of the story of Atrahasis: "I shall sing of the flood to all people! Listen!"
Most intriguing of all the information in this book is a dedication that includes a quote from the Gilgamesh epic. The dedication reveals the epic nature of the science and the mythos involved the Black Sea. It shows the sensitivity that the authors have for a legend and event that made humanity the species smart enough to wonder why and sensitive enough to pursue the wonder of life itself.
Whether you're interested in the science or the myth, Noah's Flood is a marvelous read. Clearly written, scientifically concise, sensitive to the human heritage in the rise of agriculture, language & story, it is worth the time you'll take in reading it. And you'll gain a sense for timeless wonder of the story within the words.
Rating:
Summary: Not as Earth-shattering as I thought
Review: Near the end of their chronicle of the discovery of the catastrophic Black Sea flood, authors Pitman & Ryan quote another researcher's wonder at the power of the oral tradition. The quote, from Albert Lord's analysis of the Trojan War epic, speaks to Pitman's and Ryan's research and their part in the oral tradition.
In truth, the story of the Black Sea covers more than plate tectonics, glaciation, human evolution or ten cubic miles of water flowing through a narrow channel in less than a day over seven thousand years ago. The neat trick with this book is that the authors have managed to include all that and more.
There are really two stories here. One is about the evolution of the human species from the Pleistocene to the present day, told in scientific language with scientific explanations for the actions & discoveries of the story's scientific participants. The other story is an epic tale of crafty researchers, cooperating scientists, story-tellers, myths and legends, told in skillfully written & documented prose that sweeps the reader along in the current of human successes, failures & terrors.
Beginning with Rawlinson's work in 1835 on a monument in Persia, Pitman & Ryan weave the reader through a fabric of time that is, as Lord is quoted saying, a past "of various times . . . assembled into the present performance." Using this motif, the authors introduce themselves only as two participants in a story of discovery, narrated by a fictive bard who is present only in the words. However the authors' parts in the discovery of the Black Sea flood event deserves respect. Meanwhile they have written a book that shows the respect they have for all who have been part of the story. Most importantly, they also have not forgotten the story itself.
In the final chapters Ryan & Pitman review the Black Sea's effect on history from the geological, genetic, linguistic and archeological evidence. They then compare this evidence with the numerous universal flood legends. Ryan & Pitman show how the power of the historical and geological event that created the Black Sea is the power behind the oral tradition. They then close the last chapter with the final lines of the story of Atrahasis: "I shall sing of the flood to all people! Listen!"
Most intriguing of all the information in this book is a dedication that includes a quote from the Gilgamesh epic. The dedication reveals the epic nature of the science and the mythos involved the Black Sea. It shows the sensitivity that the authors have for a legend and event that made humanity the species smart enough to wonder why and sensitive enough to pursue the wonder of life itself.
Whether you're interested in the science or the myth, Noah's Flood is a marvelous read. Clearly written, scientifically concise, sensitive to the human heritage in the rise of agriculture, language & story, it is worth the time you'll take in reading it. And you'll gain a sense for timeless wonder of the story within the words.
Rating:
Summary: Good research but faulty conclusion
Review: Ryan and Pitman do a terrific job of developing and presenting the evidence for the flood of the Black Sea region about 7000-7500 years ago. However, it's a stretch for them to extrapolate evidence for the flood of the Black Sea into the Great Flood. Evidence for the latter as a world wide event reaches far beyond the shores of the Black Sea. As the 'Ice Age' ended, during several thousand years the ocean level rose 400-600 feet. Recent submarine archaeological finds off the coast of India and in the Caribbean indicate that the Black Sea was not the only vicinity whose population became displaced. There are in excess of 200 megalithic sites under the Mediterranean, and roads leading away from sites on Malta go straight under the sea. Other undersea sites include those off the coast of Denmark and Germany. Like the Black Sea, the Baltic was also once a fresh water lake, and likely flooded in much the same way and at the same time. To be sure, refugees from the Black Sea region resettled in what is now Turkey, as well as in every other direction from its former shores. From what is now Turkey, elements of that culture migrated southeastward into Mesopotamia to found the civilization of Sumer. The archaeological record demonstrates that. In Ancient times, Phrygia (north central Anatolia, now Turkey) vied with Egypt for the distinction of being the oldest civilization, and Phrygia eventually won the argument (on flimsy grounds). Geographic evidence embedded in the Bible's Garden of Eden story points to the Zagros Mountains in the same region for its origin. As for the Great Flood, its likelier cause was a comet or asteroid impact about 11,200 years ago. The physical evidence all over the planet suggests that. If we look at ice core samples from Greenland and Antarctica, for example, the Younger Dryas demonstrates a warming spike at that point in time, then a re-freeze from the nuclear winter wrought by the impact event and then gradual warming and melting over several thousand years to produce the rising sea levels that flooded coastlines worldwide, including that of the Black Sea. (A lot more evidence points to 11,200 years ago as well. It also coincides with a mass extinction, including more than half of the large mammal species in North America, for instance. DNA research shows a genetic bottleneck at this point among the human species, indicative of a vast temporary diminishment of the human population worldwide. There are a dearth of archaeological human occupation sites around the world at this point and for several hundred years following. Geophysical evidence in North America, India and Egypt demonstrates sand superheated into glass in a fashion normally unknown in nature. A large crater 600 mi. x 750 mi. lies at the bottom of the western North Atlantic, the remnant of the primary impact site(s). The Carolina Bays comprise over half a million smaller crater remains scattered all over North America, in a pattern from Alaska to the southeast U.S., with greatest concentration in the latter region. Erosion analysis dates them to that point in time as well.) Read the book. It contains a lot of valuable information. Bear in mind, though, that it is just one part of a much bigger story.
Rating:
Summary: Okay biology, bad history
Review: The authors seem to know their marine biology, but less about archeology. No details in the Gilgamesh or Noah stories (40 days rain, doves, mountains of Ararat, animals on an ark, only survivors, etc.) correspond necessarily to a Black-Sea-rising scenario; the stories fit just as well with other floods, from later times and closer to Sumeria. Besides, even in the best examples of bardic retelling (the Trojan War and Kosovo) the distortions after 600 years make the original event almost unrecognizable, but the period between the Black Sea flood and the first known writing of the Gilgamesh epic is closer to 4000 years. In fact the authors would have done better to claim that the Black Sea flood is the source of the Atlantis legend, since at least they would have had a single detail on their side (Servius's statement that the Bosporus was sometimes called the Pillars of Heracles). I mention that only to show how easy it is to derive a Stunning Speculation from a single fact, like "Black Sea flood". Since they can't show why the Black Sea flood should be Noah's flood, the sensationalist title and jacket are deceptive advertising. The redeeming feature is that the Black Sea flood by itself was an interesting story.
Rating:
Summary: Good Research
Review: The research involved in this theory is quite excellent and intriguing. I quite enjoyed reading of how they came to this theory of the Great Flood actually being the result of the Black Sea being flooded from the Mediterranean. As the story of the flood is to be found in many different cultures -- including Navajo culture -- there must be some basis to the flood story. This is quite plausible.
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