Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Man's search for the immortality of the gods, 29 Nov 2002
In this second entry in the Earth Chronicles series, Sitchin focuses on man's eternal and perpetual search for immortality and ties his findings in with his theories of ancient Sumer and the Annunaki who originally colonized earth. In particular, he discusses Alexander the Great's desperate search for a way to escape an early death as well as Gilgamesh's epic search for everlasting life; more importantly, he provides a map of their quests, identifying their most important destinations with the ancient Sumerian sites he wrote about in The 12th Planet. Basically, the ultimate destinations of the men of legend corresponded to the areas from which the Annunaki journeyed back and forth between earth, their orbiting spacecraft, and their home planet. Having described an intricate grid system accounting for the specific locations of the ancient cities both before and after the Deluge, he makes some fascinating arguments. I was most struck by his conclusion that the new, post-Deluge space port was actually Jerusalem. As always, Sitchin incorporates Biblical texts into his story, revealing compelling connections between the books of the Bible and the ancient records of the earliest Middle Eastern cultures. I found myself plodding to some degree through the first half of the book, even laying the book aside for a few days, but the latter sections here are quite interesting because they focus on ancient Egypt. Sitchin's discussions of the ancient Egyptian monuments, particularly the Great Pyramids at Giza are enlightening and fascinating. He forcibly argues that the pyramids were never meant to serve as burial places of ancient Egyptians and that the Great Pyramids and the majestic Sphinx were built long before Khufu, Chefren, and other pharaohs of the 4th Dynasty came to power. Egyptologists dispute this conclusion, of course, but the evidence as presented by Sitchin and other scholars is quite strong on this point. Sitchin lays waste to the only real evidence we have that Khufu built the Great Pyramid. The masons' markings found in the chambers above the King's Chamber in the Great Pyramid purportedly show that Khufu was the builder, but Sitchin puts forth a very convincing argument that those marks were forged (and rather unconvincingly in fact) by an unscrupulous pseudo-archaeologist. I try to read these books with an open mind. I can't say if Sitchin is correct or not in his theories, but I can say that he breathes life into an ancient world I would otherwise know very little about, and he tells a fascinating story in a very engaging manner.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating, 22 Sep 2009
The second book of the polemical Earth Chronicles begins with an examination of mans unquenchable thirst for immortality. We follow Alexander on his quest to find the spring of eternal life and his subsequent misfortune when his servant stumbles upon it. We learn in great detail of the journey taken by the Pharoah as he travels to the afterlife. And the epic story of Gilgamesh the ancient king who refused to die is recounted and disected. I found the first part of this book drags it's heels a little and the detail provided is sometimes a little overpowering. However it is definitely worth persevering with, as the second part of the book is truly fascinating.
We are all familiar with the Egyptian Pyramids and most of us would have a rudimentary grasp of their history and purpose. Sitchin takes that acquired knowledge and dismantles it piece by piece in a surprisingly cogent manner, His theories although esoteric are by no means incredible as he backs all claims up with masses of technical and highly researched evidence. I will admit an open mind is required in the reading of these books, but why should our minds be closed in the first place ? If there is even just a grain of truth in any of these claims the known history of the planet will have to be rewritten. If Sitchin is a fraud or deluded, then he has written a compelling if not epic tale.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Challenge For Orthodox Science, 13 Mar 2000
By A Customer
In this book Sitchin continues on the theme set in his first book, and poses many interesting questions that orthodox science cannot explain and so glosses over or ignores. The central theme in this book is Man's search for 'The Fountain of Eternal Youth'. This crops up time and time again in mythology, yet where did Man get the idea that he could cheat death? Sitchin offers theories that really try to explain this. As for the lack of proof, as he makes clear in all his books, it IS there to be seen, but only if you are prepared to look - people trust too much in orthodox science to always be 100 percent right in archaeology. For those with an open mind Sitchin wil show you that they are just as human and as fallible as those who believed that the Earth was flat.
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