History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View

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hard to see
Sweeping societal/cultural insights by astrological events. And happening now.
on the far side...
Where do these concepts come from?
Wordmongering

Cosmos and Psyche: Intimations of a New World View
Richard Tarnas
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0670032921

Book Description

Richard TarnasÂ's The Passion of the Western MindÂ—acclaimed by leading voices in philosophy, religion, psychology, and historyÂ—sets the stage for this major work, thirty years in the making, that dramatically reframes our understanding of the universe in the light of extraordinary new evidence.

Cosmos and Psyche is the first book by a widely respected scholar to demonstrate the existence of a consistent correspondence between planetary movements and the unfolding drama of human history. A vast and impressive body of evidence illuminates patterns of meaning and precise correlations between the universe and the world of human endeavor. With meticulous detail, Richard Tarnas takes us on a journey that begins with the ancient Greeks and culminates in our own era and its transformative potential, putting into perspective these chaotic, tumultuous timesÂ—from the sixties to September 11, 2001Â—and pointing the way towards the future.

In terms of planetary cycles, our present moment in history is most comparable to the period five hundred years agoÂ—that era of Â“extraordinary turbulence and creativity,Â” the High Renaissance. Not since Copernicus conceived the heliocentric theory has the human community faced such a profound realignment of the way we think. Readers of every persuasion will be impressed by the vast canvas here, the wealth of research and analysis, and the profound conclusions that may be drawnÂ—conclusions that reunite religion and science, and restore a transcendent dimension to the universe.

Customer Reviews:

hard to see.......2007-10-03

Poor quality printing. Content material seemed fasinating but I could not read this book. I had trouble reading this print since there was not enough contrast between page and ink.

Sweeping societal/cultural insights by astrological events. And happening now. .......2007-09-28

Insightful and dense read on the significance of astrological events noting the timing of sweeping social and cultural upheaval, revolutions, renaissance and change. And 2007 marks the beginning of another great opportunity to be part of bringing the best of change that can happen to make the world better. A must read for astrologers and those who wish to be inspired to be part of our own renaissance.

on the far side..........2007-07-23

GNPR 69b: The Real Blockbuster Book!
As well as the Harry Potter book is selling, I think the real Blockbuster book of the summer is Paul Tarnas' new book, "Cosmos and Psyche." If you, one of your children, or one or more of your grandchildren has taken a "History of Civilization" course in College in the last fifteen years, chances are the text for the course was Tarnas' remarkable book, "The Passion of the Western Mind." Having taught various such courses over the years, I was bowled over a few years ago when Joe McGrath used the book for a year-long course I took at the U. of Arizona SAGE program. The book does a brilliant job of highlighting how the two streams of modern western civilization, Hebraic religion and Greek rationalism, met, and cross-fertilized each other, and in some real sense gave rise to what has become modern western culture. The book sold more than 300,000 copies, and in an age of abundant new text books, has managed to outsell all its rivals.
All the more stunning is Paul Tarnas' long-awaited new book, "Cosmos and Psyche." It is not merely a follow-up to the previous book, it is the summary of Tarnas' own work over the past thirty years on the interaction between the external world, the cosmos, and the internal world, the psyche. Tarnas accurately describes the aftermath of the Copernican revolution as generating a "disenchantment" of the world, as the world was seen as mechanical instead of animated, impersonal and material, instead of inhabited by some kind of spirit.

Now, as one might expect, Tarnas offers a remedy for overcoming that disenchantment, that distancing of self and world, that the scientific revolution brought about. But prepare yourself for a shock. This scholar, with outstanding credentials and a huge following, claims the way to overcome this breach between self and world, can take place only by rehabilitating the much disgraced science of astrology. Not the newspaper or fortune teller version of astrology, he says, but the real astrology, that which was subscribed to by the likes of Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy, Plotinus, Thomas Aquinas, Dante, Kepler, Goethe, Yeats, and Jung. Yes, C.G. Jung, the founder of that "depth psychology" that Tarnas says is the one true royal road into understanding the subconscious.

Tarnas' opening quotation, in the attempt to document his case, comes from Jung: "Our psyche is set up in accord with the structure of the universe, and what happens in the macrocosm likewise happens in the infinitesimal and most objective reaches of the psyche." Tarnas claims the works of Jung alone give us an acceptable alternative to the blunt materialism proclaimed by the likes of the physicist Steven Weinberg: "The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it also seems pointless." What Jung and the astrological tradition offers is the antithesis to the godless theme of the materialistic evolutionists like Jacques Monod: "Man knows at last that he is alone in the universe's unfeeling immensity, out of which he emerged only by chance."

Unless we return to the wisdom of the astrological tradition, Tarnas claims we risk negating the spiritual dimension of the empirical universe, and thereby lose "any publicly affirmable ground for moral wisdom and restraint." Tarnas again turns to Jung for support: "We have not understood yet that the discovery of the unconscious means an enormous spiritual task, which must be accomplished if we wish to preserve our civilization." No mean task this, but the very preservation of our civilization!

A central tenet of Jung's depth psychology is the experience of synchronicity, those apparently incredibly unlikely simultaneous events, that had less than a one in a million chance of happening at the same time, --like meeting your long-lost lover at the train station, or having your lucky number show up when you really need the money. It is the experience of such synchronicities that turn skeptics into true believers, as happens with physicist Victor Mansfield: "I have encountered too many synchronistic experiences to ignore them. Yet these surprisingly common experiences pose tremendous psychological and philosophical challenges for our worldview. They are especially troubling experiences for me as a physicist trained within the culture of scientific materialism."

Even the committed skeptic would be brought up short by the journal entry of C.G. Jung: "My evenings are taken up very largely with astrology. I make horoscopic calculations in order to find a clue to the core of psychological truth. Some remarkable things have turned up..."

Given this background, Tarnas says he turned to the study of the astrology practiced by the likes of Kepler and Newton, which brought him to this conclusion: "The coincidence between planetary positions and appropriate biographical and psychological phenomena was in general so precise and consistent as to make it altogether impossible for me to regard the intricate patterning as merely the product of chance."

So what conclusions does Tarnas reach? "Together with many colleagues and students, I have now steadily pursued this research for three decades. What I have found far surpassed my expectations. I have become convinced that there does in fact exist a highly significant--indeed a pervasive--correspondence between planetary movements and human affairs, and that the modern assumption to the contrary has been erroneous."

Personally, I am left speechless. When I picked up this book, the last thing I expected was an ardent defense of astrology, however far removed from the newspaper horoscopes, and however authoritatively documented with quotations from Plato and Aristotle, Plotinus and Aquinas, Galileo and Kepler. So I pose this question to you: are you open-minded enough to want to read the "evidence" that Tarnas offers, or do you dismiss such reflections as simply beyond the pale of the possible? Would you regard as credible someone who told you your birth chart could predict the climactic events of your life, or that planetary conjunctions decisively influence your most important decisions?

As I always say, tell me what your first principles are, and I will tell you what your most logical conclusions should be. My mind is simply boggled by the fact that a scholar of Tarnas' eminence should propose astrology as a legitimate science, or that he should conclude this remarkable book with a chapter entitled: "Observations on Future Planetary Alignments." I take this to be one of the most paradigm-breaking books I have ever read, for I take the basic thesis to be completely nuts. And yet, that a scholar of this eminence would appear to be so completely convinced....

Where do these concepts come from?.......2007-05-21

For an astrologer, a new book on mundane astrology is already an event. The use of planetary cycles in mundane astrology is traditional, the astrologers of the past used especially the Jupiter Saturn cycle and the zodiacal sites of their conjunction.
On the other hand, the use of planetary cycles of transsaturnian planets has been extensively used and developed since 1970 by the french astrologer André Barbault, who reintroduced also the astrology of Morin de Villefranche in France (published by AFA) . Certainly, Richard Tarnas has written a best seller with the passion of the Western mind: he published also an interesting booklet on Uranus.
Unfortunately, this document doesn't hit again the target. Good references to the work of Barbault are lacking, altough Barbault developed the theory of planetary cycles in a deeper and more convincing way. Did Richard Tarnas really ignore this work? Does Richard Tarnas has a real good understanding of mundane Astrology? Not sure... Furthermore, the number of pages could be reduced by half. There are too many repetitions in the book, they hamper a good undertanding of the key concepts. Written for non astrologers, Richard could now extend his study and deliver a real and usable book of mundane astrology for propfessionals...

Wordmongering.......2007-05-15

After carefully reading about the first hundred pages of Cosmos and Psyche, I concluded that an in-depth reading wouldn't repay the time invested, and began to skim. There are several reasons for this.

One reason is that Richard Tarnas is a wordmonger, in several senses. First, he uses words impressionistically, so that many of his sentences do not yield a precise meaning even when closely analyzed. Second, he is extremely fond of stringing together clause after clause. An example (p. 77): "The range of correspondences between planetary positions and human existence is just too vast and multidimensional -- too manifestly ordered by structures of meaning, too suggestive of creative intelligence, too vividly informed by aesthetic patterning, too metaphorically multivalent, too experientially complex and nuanced, and too responsive to human participatory inflection -- to be explained by straightforward material factors alone." Others may consider such prose "lucid", but I don't.

However, if I had felt that Tarnas had something important to say, I would have plowed through his vast tome. And so we come to the main reason that I largely gave up on the book: his attempt to rehabilitate astrology for the modern mind is preposterous. Of course, given his vague writing style, it isn't clear exactly what he is claiming, and he hedges his bets with numerous qualifying phrases. He admits that astrology cannot be used to predict specific, concrete events; instead, one has to interpret history in terms of archetypes. And don't forget that archetypes can manifest themselves in numerous ways (p. 132): "Many diverse factors appear to play determining roles in shaping how an archetypal complex is concretely embodied: cultural, historical, ancestral, familial, circumstantial. To these must be added such factors as individual choice and degree of self-awareness, as well as, perhaps, karma, grace, chance, and other unmeasurables." In short, anything can happen.

In the end, Tarnas's correlation of historical events with astrological archetypes is purely semantic, and therefore highly subjective. Although Tarnas claims that an archetypal interpretation can provide a "wealth of insight" (p. 168) or help historical events become "intelligible" (p. 169), any attempt to impose an archetypal pattern on historical data will in fact narrow, not broaden, one's receptivity to different interpretations. And is it really to be believed that researchers could never understand a grouping of historical events and the connections between them without having an archetypal pattern to work from? How could knowing a single astronomical datum (e.g., Uranus and Pluto are aligned) make the connections more intelligible?

There are some reviewers who believe that, decades from now, Tarnas's book will be heralded as a watershed in human thought. I believe that his book is representative of the superstitious thinking that still lingers on. Is Tarnas really any different from those who pore over the quatrains of Nostradamus or delve into Bible prophecy?

Postscript

In the early part of the twentieth century, a Russian by the name of Alexander Chizhevsky worked up an elaborate theory on the causation of many human phenomena, including wars, revolutions, epidemics of disease, and so on. He amassed an enormous corpus of material in support of his theory that solar activity is the primary influence, and attempted to show correlation with the eleven-year solar cycle. I have a copy of one of his books (in Russian), and it is replete with tables of historical events, charts of epidemics, etc. Thus Chizhevsky and Tarnas have put forward incompatible theories, while each claims to have persuasive evidence. I wasn't persuaded by either one.

The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need, New Edition

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The Only Astrology Book you'll ever Need
For better or worse it is ALWAYS right!
Very Helpful
The title says it all
Lives up to the title

The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need, New Edition
Joanna Martine Woolfolk
Manufacturer: Madison Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1568332319

Book Description

This blockbuster guide to understanding astrology includes planetary charts for anyone born in between 1900 and 2100, along with insights astrology offers regarding personal relationships and emotional needs.

Customer Reviews:

The Only Astrology Book you'll ever Need.......2007-09-30

This is a fantastic book. I have already constructed charts for some of my friends and interpreted it for them. the book's interpretation of the natal chart is very thorough and unbelievably accurate. The book also provides deep insight and descriptions of how astrological interpretations work that is insightful into the deeper meaning underlying this cosmic tool.

For better or worse it is ALWAYS right!.......2007-08-23

This book is SO on! With any new relationship I check to see what the book predicts and for better or worse it is always right. Maybe I should pay more attention to what the book says and it would save me some time and heart ache ;) The title says it all really.

Very Helpful.......2007-08-23

I already knew the basics of Astrology, but this book and program has helped me a lot. Even my husband, who is very knowledgeable about Astrology, found it quite informative and easy to use

The title says it all.......2007-08-13

I had the original version of this book that was purchased for me at a used book store and I used it to death. When I found that there was an updated version with an interactive CD ROM, I had to have it, and it's wonderful. The CD ROM makes the whole chart experience so easy with page by page reference so that you can go right to the page that involves the person's chart you're working on. It really is the only astrology book you'll ever need. It has everything, and it's so easy to use and understand. I recommend it for anyone new or experienced in the world of astrology.

Lives up to the title.......2007-07-26

I received this as a Birthday gift a few years ago. Having glanced over the tripe presented within, I soon decided that it probably IS the 'only' astrology book I'll ever need. Four years on and I have still not been struck with an urge to seek additional counsel...

The Cosmic Code: Book VI of the Earth Chronicles

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The Cosmic Code
The Cosmic Code
Misunderstandings and baseless assertions Ahoy!
Excellent Companion
Worth reading

The Cosmic Code: Book VI of the Earth Chronicles
Zecharia Sitchin
Manufacturer: Harper
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0380801574

Amazon.com

One of the charms of Zecharia Sitchin is his tendency to take ancient writings as fact as opposed to myth. For example, according to clay tablets discovered by archeologists, Gilgamesh, a king of ancient Sumeria, was punished by the gods for raping female subjects on their wedding day--a particularly naughty, though not uncommon, pastime of ancient royalty. Snickering, the tricky gods created a double of him, which, as you can imagine, created havoc in the king's life. Some time later, directed by his goddess mother, Gilgamesh walked with his double to Lebanon to attain immortality. Sitchin ponders that perhaps the double had superhuman strength and en route built a second Stonehenge discovered in the Golan Heights by Israelis during the 1967 Six Days War. Hmmm. As Sitchin concedes, there's really no way to tell who actually built this hoary structure, but the in-depth archeological and historical research gathered here to support his musings concerning an extraterrestrial secret code to construct humankind is fascinating beyond belief. --P. Randall Cohan

Book Description

Many thousands of years ago, a race of extraordinary beings guided the evolution of life on Earth -- determining the existence and nature of mankind as we know it today. All powerful, all knowing, the proof of their genius is apparent in the mysterious monoliths at Stonehenge, and in a strange but highly significant sturcture of concentric stone circles in Israel's Golan Heights -- both requiring sophisticated astronomical knowledge. Teaching man to look to the heavens, they bequeathed to us the Cosmic Code.

The newest entry in a carefully researched multivolume series tracing the creation and motivation of mankind, this book identifies the turning point in our species' delicate balance between the demands of destiny and the vagaries of fate. From deep inside ancient Sumerian texts that predate even the Bible, Zecharia Sitchin dares to reveal the nature of prophecy and historical truths that have long been obscured by disbelief and misunderstanding: the code used to construct our kind by master builder from the stars.

Customer Reviews:

The Cosmic Code.......2007-03-09

If it is written by Sitchin then you should read the book. If he is just 50% right it stands as Awesome.

The Cosmic Code.......2007-01-12

Another great book by Zachariah Sitchen, I have read all eight books of his Earth chronicles and they are all very mind boggling.

Misunderstandings and baseless assertions Ahoy!.......2004-08-18

For all those praising the academic/scholastic merit of this work, yours must have a detailed references section that the one I picked up seems to lack. I would give him a D- and a "See Me!" had this had shown up on my desk. Someone should point out to him that evolution has no direction, as if we were destined to get to this point and are no longer evolving. Be careful of the plethora of misunderstandings and baseless assertions that can destroy a person's capacity to think about humans at all scientifically, historically, or otherwise. If you're incredulous of my own assertions, please research anything in Sitchin's works. You will have done more research than he likely did, and could even cite it. Don't take one sourceless book's word for it! You'll find planet X (Tiamat?) prophesies, space stations made of rocks, and millions of years of evolution very slightly co-opted by extra-terrestrials less believable than you once did. There are, after all, enough actual mysteries in the world. We don't need another convoluted theory that creates far more problems than it solves. It's no fluke that these books have made no waves in challenging any anthropological or historical constructions of earlier periods of humanity, areas of knowledge that are constantly modified by actual scholarship. It's also no fluke that these books are marginally profitable, and they keep being released, expanding upon the baseless foundation with even more baseless structure rather than defending the indefensible first works. As far as I'm concerned, if he's one of the few who can decipher those texts, he's abusing his position for financial gain, and could easily be ousted in the genre by a legitimate scholar.

Excellent Companion.......2002-05-03

Waiting for Sitchin's new books, is like waiting for the next Episode of Star Wars. It just can't come soon enough. This is an excellent companion volume to the Earth Chronicle series and sheds additional light. The more you read, the more you ask; Are we more like the Anunnaki or are they more like us? Good book!

Worth reading.......2002-01-06

If Sitchin's Annunaki theories is what you like reading this book is just like his other books. This is a recap on his interpretations of ancient Sumerarian writtings.

Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing "Hoax"

Average customer rating:

Bad Astronomy and Good Insights
Some Bad language in Bad Astronomy
put up or shut up
Great book for us non-astronomy experts
Astronomy for the masses

Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the Moon Landing "Hoax"
Philip C. Plait
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0471409766

Book Description

Advance praise for Philip Plaits Bad Astronomy

"Bad Astronomy is just plain good! Philip Plait clears up every misconception on astronomy and space you never knew you suffered from." âStephen Maran, Author of Astronomy for Dummies and editor of The Astronomy and Astrophysics Encyclopedia

"Thank the cosmos for the bundle of star stuff named Philip Plait, who is the worlds leading consumer advocate for quality science in space and on Earth. This important contribution to science will rest firmly on my reference library shelf, ready for easy access the next time an astrologer calls." âDr. Michael Shermer, Publisher of Skeptic magazine, monthly columnist for Scientific American, and author of The Borderlands of Science

"Philip Plait has given us a readable, erudite, informative, useful, and entertaining book. Bad Astronomy is Good Science. Very good science..." âJames "The Amazing" Randi, President, James Randi Educational Foundation, and author of An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural

"Bad Astronomy is a fun read. Plait is wonderfully witty and educational as he debunks the myths, legends, and 'conspiracies that abound in our society. 'The Truth Is Out There'Ã-and it's in this book. I loved it!" âMike Mullane, Space Shuttle astronaut and author of Do Your Ears Pop in Space?

Customer Reviews:

Bad Astronomy and Good Insights.......2007-01-29

PERSPECTIVE: physician with an interest in astronomy

It's interesting to look at the American educational system to see exactly how much basic astronomy and space science is not taught, or at least, not taught well. Asking the average person to explain why we have tides or why the sky is blue is bound to elicit answers that vary from the slightly off to the ridiculous. One could argue that having a grasp on these most basic of "why's" isn't needed for our daily lives to proceed - the truth is, its embarrassing how much many people not only don't know, but also don't care, about how our planet and our solar system really work... and then easily believe frankly inane "ideas" such as how Venus split off from Jupiter 3,000 years ago, or that the Apollo moon landings were a hoax.

Like Sagan and Gould before him, Phil Plait has the amazing gift of being able to easily explain potentially confusing scientific concepts with such simplicity and wit that anyone, regardless of their level of education, can understand them. His writing is easy and conversational, and this book is a joy to read. He enhances some points with a modest number of clear illustrations. Furthermore, he is very forthright about where he himself has been wrong in the past, and is more than eager to explain why - an important trait notably missing from the non-scientists whose work he discusses.

Topics covered include misconceptions concerning the earth itself (balancing eggs on the equinox), the solar system (tides, seasons, moon phases), and the galaxy (star observations, meteorites, planetary alignments), as well as non-scientific errors, both deliberate and sincere (moon landing hoax, astrology, creationism), and common astronomical fallacies in movies.

FINAL WORD: A HIGH five of five stars. Necessary for everyone (and I mean everyone) to read, and doubly so for educators from early grade school to post-graduate level.

Some Bad language in Bad Astronomy.......2006-11-14

I bought this book for my 14 year-old nephew. I wanted to preview it for my 9 year-old daughter. In flipping through I did find one expletive on page 103 (opening sentence to chapter 11), but the story is funny, so I will just black it out. I think some of the chapters would lose my daughter in comprehension. I'll wait a couple of years for her copy.
Here is an except from the final paragraph of chapter 8: "Finally, in this section we'll travel back in time and space to where it all began, the Big Bang. Something about contemplating the beginning of everything twists our already tangled minds, and descriptions of the Big Bang usually confuse the issue more than unravel it. The irony of the Big Bang, I suppose, is that it is even odder than our oddest theories could possibly suppose."

put up or shut up.......2006-08-12

Oh my!land sakes the flag moves! What does it all mean? Maybe the moon really does have an atmosphere, but we didnt find out for sure until we actually landed got out put up the flag and low and behold, a breeze made the flag flap! Does this mean that we didnt go to the moon? No what it means is that sometimes just because we have a theory about something regardless of what it is, does not mean that our theory was right to begin with. Sometimes our professionals leading the charge dont want to admit that they were wrong about something, so they just leave us to believe the original theory even if their theory turns out to be wrong. As far as the moonhoax promoters go, put up or shut up. There's an obscure piece of moon jumping footage that is hard to find, but it is out there that is from the apollo 11 moon landing. When Neil Armstrong goes to get back in the lem, he stands flat footed on the lem pad grabs the ladder with both hands, bends his knees and jumps straight up and lands on the 3rd step which is about 4 1/2 feet above the lem pad. The greatest recorded vertical jumps in the last century were only 42 an 44 inches. get out your messuring tapes right now and do a standing vertical leap and see how high you get. Now after you do that put a back pack on that weighs about 75 pounds. Now put 25 pound ankle weights on, 1 for each ankle. now your ready to try and duplicate Neil Armstrongs "1 giant leap" if you or maybe the great "AIR JORDAN" cant get as high as Neil did, "54" inches, then maybe its time to accept the fact that "YES "we did go to the moon, now GET OVER IT! OH while you still have the back pack and leg weights on, try and duplicate John Youngs "JUMP SALUTE" just the way he did it, with only just slightly bending the knees. He got about 18 or so inches off the lunar surface. If you cant duplicate these jumps or cant find a basketball player or a high jumper to get anywhere close to Neil Armstrongs "54 inch" vertical jump, thens its time to close the books on the moon hoax theory, because we did indeed go to the moon, but they found out that the moon was already occupied and the astronauts were not well received. This is why we've never gone back to the moon and thats what all the cover up is really all about. Yes there is life out there and our closest neighbors are not light years away, but are right up there on the moon not wanting any part of our violent behavior to influence their world in any way. So we were told to get off the moon and dont came back. WARD FRAZIER U.S. ARMY PROJECT M.A.R.S MINDCONTROL SURVIVOR 1984-1986 GREENSBURG INDIANA.

Great book for us non-astronomy experts.......2006-02-02

I bought this book expecting to read the usual stuff about why some people think that the moon landing was a hoax and how astrology doesnt really work (as explained on the cover). But i was suprised to learn about so many things that I actually thought really did exist in the world of astronomy. I really did think that the water spun in a different direction in australia, and that the sky was blue because thats what a lot of oxygen looks like and many other things that turned out not to be true. Many times i thought "oh what! that isnt real!?"

There is also a nice section that takes delivers a blow to the creationists and their wacko claims.

I highly reccomend this book to anyone curious about astronomy and anyone that wishes to learn about all the ailment of bad astronomy that you never knew you suffered from.

Astronomy for the masses.......2006-01-02

The average American knows more about what Julia Roberts eats for breakfast than what the Coriolis effect is, and Dr. Plait thinks that should change. I think this book should be mandatory reading for anyone remotely interested in astronomy and/or science fiction. His website is just as informative.

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)

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Check and see
Suprise! Suprise!
Prescient St Augustine?
Something of a disappointment
Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology)
Anatoly T Fomenko
Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the Antiquity and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by Pope Gregory Hildebrand was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

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A cynical history
An extraordinarily attractive historical intro to Astrology
A good introductory work.

Astrology: A History
Peter Whitfield
Manufacturer: Harry N. Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0810942356

Book Description

This scintillating history traces the key role astrology has played in the mainstream of Western intellectual life for more than two millennia. Peter Whitfield brings together research from ancient, classical, medieval, and modern times--and then relates astrology to the religion, philosophy, and science of each period. The unique historical manuscripts and works of art that illustrate the text, many drawn from the superb collections of the British Library, show how Western astrology evolved among different cultures and reconciled itself with many different belief systems.

This lucid, thoughtful, and stimulating work--the first serious, comprehensive history of astrology--gracefully illuminates a significant chapter in the history of ideas.

180 illustrations, 130 in full color, 208 pages, 8 1/2 x 11"

Customer Reviews:

A cynical history.......2007-03-29

The edition of this book I read (British Museum edition) had an annoying number of typographical errors, was factually incorrect (calling Lilly's 1647 text "The Christian Astrologer", rather than the correct "Christian Astrology", for instance) and overall rather cynical and dismissive in tone.

As an alternative, I can thoroughly recommend a more even-handed alternative: "The Fated Sky" by Benson Bobrick, which covers much of the same ground, but in a scholarly, thoughtful and illuminating fashion.

An extraordinarily attractive historical intro to Astrology.......2004-10-03

This solid, amazingly attractive history of Astrology is quite possibly the best overall book on the subject currently available in English. Although it does not replace the superior A HISTORY OF WESTERN ASTROLOGY by Jim Tester, the latter does not deal with every epoch in the history of the subject since Tester did not live to complete his work. Whereas Tester begins with the Greeks and largely ends in the Renaissance, Whitfield continues into the early modern period with the demise of Western Astrology due to the parallel collapse of the Aristotelian scientific worldview upon which astrology depended. Whitfield also focuses on the semi-revival of astrology in the 19th and 20th centuries, which has only a very superficial connection with classical Western Astrology, superficial because the scientific worldview that made astrological influences scientifically tenable to educated individuals is no longer in place.

Whitfield is not an original researcher, in the sense that he has blazed new trails in the study of astrological history, but he seems to be familiar with all of the basic materials and historians in the field of study. He does an admirable job of explaining both the scientific assumptions of the originators of the astrological synthesis that took place in Hellenistic Egypt in the two or three centuries from 200 B.C. onwards that established most of the key elements of Western Astrology. He provides clear and coherent discussions of all the major figures from Ptolemy to William Lilly. He correctly understands that astrology was not directly refuted by its various critics over the centuries, but fell only after the scientific worldview upon which it depended collapsed. Astrology fell out of favor after the 17th century because the work of such scientists as Gallileo and Robert Boyle made Aristotelianism untenable.

The book is outstanding not only for its precise and coherent narrative, but for the host of attractive illustrations. Though the text makes it one of the finest surveys of the history of astrology in English, the illustrations make the volume as attractive as many coffee table books. These illustrations are not mere window dressing. They show how intimately astrological concerns were bound up with the way both intellectuals and everyday folk conceptualized the universe from 200 B.C. to the 17th century.

I will add that Whitfield is clearly an agnostic regarding the claims of astrology. If one is an ardent believer in astrology, one might find this aspect of the book offputting. Nonetheless, even for true believers in astrology, this fine volume will remain essential as a superb summary of scholarly and academic study of the birth, development, continuation, and eventual collapse of Western Astrology.

A good introductory work........2003-01-12

This work attempts to trace the key role of astrology in Western intellectual life, but Peter Whitfield does not incorporate all ancient, classical, medieval, and modern sources as well as Dr. Lester Ness' recent study. Like, "Written in the Stars", it does however show that Western astrology evolved in different cultures and adapted to differing belief systems.

Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage

Average customer rating:

A Perfect 10
The definitive study of Tarot symbolism
Paul Huson has done it again!

Mystical Origins of the Tarot: From Ancient Roots to Modern Usage
Paul Huson
Manufacturer: Destiny Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0892811900
Release Date: 2004-05-26

Book Description

A profusely illustrated history of the occult nature of the tarot from its origins in ancient Persia

â€¢ Thoroughly examines the original historical source for each tarot card and how the cardsâ€™ divinatory meanings evolved from these symbols

â€¢ Provides authentic 18th- and 19th-century spreads and divination techniques

â€¢ Reveals the divinatory meanings of the cards as understood by diviners in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

The origins of the tarot have been lost in the mists of time. Most scholars have guessed that its origins were in China, Egypt, or India. In Mystical Origins of the Tarot, Paul Huson has expertly tracked each symbol of the Minor Arcana to roots in ancient Persia and the Major Arcana Trump card images to the medieval world of mystery, miracle, and morality plays. A number of tarot historians have questioned the use of the tarot as a divination tool prior to the 18th century. But the author demonstrates that the symbolic meanings of the Major Arcana were evident from the time they were first employed in the mid-15th century in the popular divination practice of sortilege. He also reveals how the identities of the court cards in the Minor Arcana were derived from a blend of pagan and medieval sources that strongly influenced their interpretation in tarot divination.

Mystical Origins of the Tarot provides a thorough examination of the original historical source for each card and how the cardsâ€™ divinatory meanings evolved from these symbols. Huson also provides concise and practical card-reading methods designed by the cartomancers of the 18th and 19th centuries and reveals the origins of the card interpretations promoted by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and A. E. Waite.

Customer Reviews:

A Perfect 10.......2006-12-14

Paul Huson has given the reader a well written and researched guide to the tarots and their meanings. Mr. Huson has gone beyond the ordinary tarot books available on the market and given a book akin in many ways to 78 Degrees of Wisdom. I highly reccomend this book to any student of the tarot, you will not be dissapointed.

The definitive study of Tarot symbolism.......2004-08-25

Where Paul Huson's 1972 work `The Devil's Picture Book' presented a rich melange of broad speculations regarding the emblems of Tarot, his new book `Mystical Origins of the Tarot' approaches the subject along entirely different and decidedly radical lines, challenging preconceptions and removing layers of fanciful superimposition which have hitherto obscured Tarot's roots. He subjects the images of traditional Tarot to a penetrating and rigorous process of historical analysis and thematic elucidation employing an approach which can best be described as `symbolic archaeology' - the results are quite remarkable. The research brought to bear on the origins of the enigmatic cards is impressive, thorough and original: for instance the four suits signs of the Minor Arcana are painstakingly traced via the surviving decks of Mamluk Egypt to the heraldic symbols denoting the Four Virtues and the four Mazdean castes of ancient Persia. An important paradigm-shift in understanding is achieved via the author firmly locating each of the figures of the Major Arcana in the beguiling world of popular religious dramas, mysteries and miracle-plays in the High Middle Ages - he even provides examples of their speeches from the original dramas. The chapter on the Major Arcana in this context is as illuminating as it is convincing.
Furthermore Paul Huson goes deeply into the traditions underpinning the cartomantic significance of each card, giving the divinatory rundown from Pratesi's Cartomancer of 1750 to A.E. Waite in 1910 along with his own suggested keywords for readings. One surprising turn-up for the books transpires when the author locates the direct source of the Golden Dawn Decanic system of the Minor Cards in the section on the 36 Decan images in Book II of the Arab grimoire called the Picatrix. The 16 legendary personages identified with the court cards likewise opens up fascinating points of symbolic comprehension.
The sections on practical cartomancy will be found invaluable by both beginners and seasoned users of the cards: a great deal of utile information and insight is imparted which will facilitate practise. I especially like the techniques for `linking' the cards.
The above gives but an indication of some of the absorbing contents of this inspiring book. In its own way the research it unfolds is as compelling to follow as a detective story as the author indefatigably tracks down the emblematic minutiae of Tarot symbolism to their archaic and mediaeval originals.
Ranging with great erudition from Shia, Sufi and Magian symbologies, to Neoplatonic doctrines, mediaeval mystery-plays, 18th century cartomancers and scholarly art history this packed study delivers such a veritable feast of fresh information and insight on the subject of Tarot that beginners and veteran tarotists alike will find it a real treat to read and an indispensable resource for reference. It is illustrated throughout with a wealth of examples of card-images, allegorical emblems and images skilfully executed by the author. This is very likely the definitive study on the subject. Highly recommended.

Paul Huson has done it again!.......2004-06-27

Mystical Origins of the Tarot is a wonderfully researched history of the Tarot. Mr. Huson gives the reader a fascinating look into this ancient science and for the novice it is a "must have" volume. Beautifully illustrated, the cards are presented and defined with colourful historical facts. The various"spreads" are explained with clarity and simple easy to follow directions. In my first attempt at a "layout" the divination which appeared made perfect sense to me. This is a very special gift for anyone interestd in the Tarot.

Average customer rating:

Excellent read for amateur and scholar!
The First Book to Tell the Real Story About Maya Shamanism
Not for the Beginner
Archeoastronomy of the Maya
Maya Cosmos is essential to archeo-astronomy

Maya Cosmos
David Freidel , Linda Schele , and Joy Parker
Manufacturer: Harper Paperbacks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Mayan | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0688140696
Release Date: 1995-02-27

Book Description

A Masterful blend of archaeology, anthropology, astronomy, and lively personal reportage, Maya Comos tells a constellation of stories, from the historical to the mythological, and envokes the awesome power of one of the richest civilizations ever to grace the earth.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent read for amateur and scholar!.......2007-02-18

I found this book to be very informative and interesting. Speaking strictly as an amateur Mayanist, with no college level education, the book captured my interest, and opened my eyes, to many things most people do not know about the Maya. This is a great read for anyone who has interest in the Maya of yesterday and today.

The First Book to Tell the Real Story About Maya Shamanism.......2000-06-14

As a person who has traveled in places where the modern Maya live--Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico--and who has taken the trouble to get to know what the history and culture of these admirable people is really like, I have always been appalled at the number of books that claim to be about "Maya shamanism," but are really just New Age claptrap. While it is true that MAYA COSMOS does not read like a mass-market paperback, it is one of the most heartfelt, well-researched, and stunning books on the Maya that I have ever read. If you want the REAL story on who the Maya are and how their spiritual and cultural beliefs have evolved over the last 5,000 years, this is the book for you. Yes, there is some scientific data and research here, but I would rather a thousand times read that than the silly cultural misinformation written by dozens of New Age authors who project their own interpretations onto the art and the cities without even being able to read the very texts they are claiming to understand. The late Linda Schele was one of the five major figures who was responsible for cracking the code of the Maya language. As an art historian, she was well versed in the complex and fascinating symbolism of Maya culture. David Freidel has been a brilliant Maya archaeologist for over 25 years, and first became involved with the culture because of his interest in shamanism. Joy Parker, who, by the way, was the ghost-co-author of A FOREST OF KINGS (check out the Acknowledgements and the Forward where her work is credited) has spent over a dozen years working with the modern Maya (most recently, as an editor of Maya shaman Martin Prechtel's SECRETS OF THE TALKING JAGUAR and LONG LIFE, HONEY IN THE HEART) and with other indigenous cultures such as the North Native Americans (check out her book WOMAN WHO GLOWS IN THE DARK) and African cultures, so she brings a special personal interest and flair to this project. The first-person stories told in this book are priceless. I spent as many pleasurable hours reading it as I did the authors' first effort A FOREST OF KINGS. If you truly want to learn about the history of the Maya, the tragedy of the Spanish conquest, and how the modern Maya find the strength to endure, this is the book for you.

Not for the Beginner.......2000-05-11

I have to admit I didn't get more than halfway through this one - no way is this written for inquiring minds who aren't already versed in Mayan lore.

The book seems to describe the authors' discovery and fleshing-out of a new theory about how the Maya interpreted the stars. Apparently their creation story was all written up in the sky and, as the stars and planets moved, episodes in the creation were cyclically reinacted. This is not described very straight-forwardly, though, and I'm still not sure if I've got it right.

There is an attempt to make the whole thing read like a mystery novel, sort of a la "Celestine Prophesy": the book starts out describing the eager young scientists mixing with the wise tribals in an ancient ceremony. Later, for several chapters, one of the authors is quoted at length about how she discovered some commonality amongst various artifacts and codices which backed up some hypothesis, and which I entirely lost sight of by the end. She kept calling up friends and friends kept calling her up until I thought I was watching a Gidget movie. All the authors come off a little too New-Age loopy for me, adding lots of little asides praising the aboriginal and putting down the modern, and talking about how their life has been changed by their discoveries. But then, my confusion with all that Jaguar-3-Peccary-Holy-Twins-Tree-of-Life stuff may have made me just a bit grouchy.

At any rate, my point is, all the reviews on this page (except the very good Kirkus one) make the book sound like an easy read, which it isn't. It's a delineation of a hypothesis with some adventure stuff thrown in for better surface marketability. The result is, to me, confusing. Granted, it's not an easy subject, but that makes clear writing all the more important, especially if you're writing for mass consumption. Better to start out with one of Michael Coe's books and go from there.

Archeoastronomy of the Maya.......1999-07-21

The authors present Mayan archeoastronomy in a very readable and absorbable form. Compare the astronomy/astrology/ myths and stories of the Maya to other cultures of which you are aware, and you will see that this book presents a valuable contribution to world archeoastonomy.

Maya Cosmos is essential to archeo-astronomy.......1998-03-22

The foundation of Maya Cosmos is the re-discovery of the Mayan creation myth in hieroglyphs, art, and modern Mayan daily ceremonial ritual. The creation myth centers around First Father, the Maize god and father of the Twins, famous in the Popul Vuh creation story. First Father is identified with Orion where he is resurrected from the dead from the cleft carapace of a turtle, which are the three stars in Orion's belt. Recent studies in Egyptian archeo-astronomy has identified the constellation Orion with Osiris, the god of resurrection. The lower left star in Orion's belt, Alnitak, has been identified with the Great Pyramid of Giza. First Father emerges out of a cleft mountain and a cleft turtle carapace, the mountain here possibly related to the idea of the pyramid. Maya Cosmos has gathered a creation story that can be placed now in the archeo-astronomical tradition of the world. In like manner, ancient India has the god Vishnu sitting upon Mt. Meru. A serpent is entwined around this mountain and under the mountain is a great turtle. This identifies Vishnu and Osiris with First Father; Mt. Meru and the great pyramid with the Cleft Mountain; the Vishnu turtle with the Mayan constellation of the turtle, the belt of Orion; and the serpent entwined around Mt. Meru with the Mayan double-headed serpent of the Ecliptic. Maya Cosmos is the first book I have read that has looked at the archeo-astronomy of the Maya and the Olmec and has given archeo-astronomers a valuable resource.

Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra : Guide to Hindu Astrology (2 Volume Set)

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Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra - Vol. 1 & 2
Is this the Ranjan edition?
The Source Book of Vedic Astrology

Brihat Parasara Hora Sastra : Guide to Hindu Astrology (2 Volume Set)
Maharishi Parasara
Manufacturer: South Asia Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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