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3.08 AVERAGE
3.08 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
It opens up with statements that I know to be false. I tried to be open minded but kept finding things to refute.
This book intrigued and repelled me for a very long time.
Intrigued because it had obvious appeal of unknown,attractive subject but the covers were so gaudy,tasteless and sensationalistic that I had impression this would turn into some silly rambling about cosmic plots against everybody and everything on earth. Than after months of world traveling,this book popped out in my local bookstore and I decided this was the sign: if it follows me from South Africa to my own corner of Croatia,it is obviously looking for me.And boy,it turned out to be so interesting and thought-provoking that I gulped it in two days,promising to my self it should be re-read again more carefully.
First,author asks us to forget about scientistic approach to life and return to ancient,superstitious way of looking at the world around us,with angels,fairies,demons and nature closer to us.This was interesting enough and surely it takes some time to turn one's head around it but it works fine. Instead of going for some silly New age rambling,Black than continues to explore centuries of history and how human race searched for universal answers about meaning of life,where do we go,why are we here and afterlife. Along the way he explores myths,religions and cults,often showing amazing knowledge of the subject,throwing tantalizing informations about everything from Mandrake men to Pyramids to Solomon's temple and legends about Green man - it truly makes one's head spinning and there is nothing sensationalistic about the book.
Perhaps its author's gentle way of writing (he fits somewhere between Richard Dawkins and Graham Hancock, and this is my highest compliment) enchanted me and subject was surely fascinating,but I must admit the pleasure was also partly because at the very start I decided not to take this book literally as a gospel truth but as interesting entertainment and surely there were moments where I know this is all a bit stretch but it kept me reading nevertheless. There were also many other moments (like chapter about Cagliostro and Count de St Germain) where I literally forget to breath,so absorbed I was in the story. And the theory about life on earth (minerals-plants- animals-humans) sounds very interesting to me.
I am aware that there are probably many who had different expectations from this book and wouldn't like authors theories,but from my purely subjective point of view it turned far better than I expected and I enjoyed it very much. In fact,it must be one of the best books I have read recently!
Intrigued because it had obvious appeal of unknown,attractive subject but the covers were so gaudy,tasteless and sensationalistic that I had impression this would turn into some silly rambling about cosmic plots against everybody and everything on earth. Than after months of world traveling,this book popped out in my local bookstore and I decided this was the sign: if it follows me from South Africa to my own corner of Croatia,it is obviously looking for me.And boy,it turned out to be so interesting and thought-provoking that I gulped it in two days,promising to my self it should be re-read again more carefully.
First,author asks us to forget about scientistic approach to life and return to ancient,superstitious way of looking at the world around us,with angels,fairies,demons and nature closer to us.This was interesting enough and surely it takes some time to turn one's head around it but it works fine. Instead of going for some silly New age rambling,Black than continues to explore centuries of history and how human race searched for universal answers about meaning of life,where do we go,why are we here and afterlife. Along the way he explores myths,religions and cults,often showing amazing knowledge of the subject,throwing tantalizing informations about everything from Mandrake men to Pyramids to Solomon's temple and legends about Green man - it truly makes one's head spinning and there is nothing sensationalistic about the book.
Perhaps its author's gentle way of writing (he fits somewhere between Richard Dawkins and Graham Hancock, and this is my highest compliment) enchanted me and subject was surely fascinating,but I must admit the pleasure was also partly because at the very start I decided not to take this book literally as a gospel truth but as interesting entertainment and surely there were moments where I know this is all a bit stretch but it kept me reading nevertheless. There were also many other moments (like chapter about Cagliostro and Count de St Germain) where I literally forget to breath,so absorbed I was in the story. And the theory about life on earth (minerals-plants- animals-humans) sounds very interesting to me.
I am aware that there are probably many who had different expectations from this book and wouldn't like authors theories,but from my purely subjective point of view it turned far better than I expected and I enjoyed it very much. In fact,it must be one of the best books I have read recently!
Interesting - need to keep an open mind (and also put up with the occasional typo!) but a rewarding read. Not a conspiracy book, rather a different way to view our 'progress'.
An interesting book, but there is so much information to take in, I had to flip back some times to read certain parts again, also because the story jumps from one item to another.
Actually I did not quite read this book. I had to give up. No references makes it hard to take the claims seriously and makes the whole venture dubious, and the statement that everybody from Plato and on are initiates without explaning how and into which Mysteries made me toss it away.
informative
slow-paced
I thought the premise of this book was slightly more interesting than the book itself. But overall I enjoyed this book. It seems like it's directed to a very specific audience, as the text and concepts itself are very different than conventional books. Mr. Booth used a very intelligent vocabulary and some of the ideas proposed are ones that would not be readily accepted in some parts of society today.
What I liked about this book was reading about all the similarities between all the world cultures, religions and empires. I didn't start putting this stuff together until a few years ago (ah, college), and there were a couple of things that completely surprised me. But once I thought about it, realized it made sense.
The ideas proposed in this book are interesting enough to me to want to further explore some of them, but I wouldn't take them all on merit. There were several passages and stories that I wished had a more obvious connection or references.
My bottom line is: take this book with a grain of salt. It's definitely an interesting and sometimes challenging read. There are enough points that I'd like to discuss, so I'm asking my husband to read it.
What I liked about this book was reading about all the similarities between all the world cultures, religions and empires. I didn't start putting this stuff together until a few years ago (ah, college), and there were a couple of things that completely surprised me. But once I thought about it, realized it made sense.
The ideas proposed in this book are interesting enough to me to want to further explore some of them, but I wouldn't take them all on merit. There were several passages and stories that I wished had a more obvious connection or references.
My bottom line is: take this book with a grain of salt. It's definitely an interesting and sometimes challenging read. There are enough points that I'd like to discuss, so I'm asking my husband to read it.
The lack of footnotes/citations really let this book down considering the topic at hand (and the author just giving random quotes by various people without even mentioning the book they're from annoyed me to no end). What saved it was the 4/5 page selected bibliography in the back but I don't really plan spending the next 20 years reading said all of those books just to see how correct this one book is.
With that said, the book gives an interesting account of the alternate history of the world.
With that said, the book gives an interesting account of the alternate history of the world.