Lost Knowledge of the Ancients: A Graham Hancock Reader Paperback – Illustrated, August 13, 2010

I am part of a team of professional, formally trained people who monitor and analyze equipment, instrumentation, and processes for a business that reports to the state and federal levels - as well as bearing the responsibility of a metropolitan population's health and safety. We assert our pride in attention to detail, following prescribed parameters for conduct and performance; abiding within stringent guidelines - and whenever we step outside the box, there is a secondary box to limit that, too. Putting our reputations on the line on a moment to moment basis; not only do we commit ourselves to the above mentioned duty of character; we also report to each other - around the clock, every day of the year. Although I have accumulated what is referred to as a post-graduate education, among my siblings I am the least educated. One brother is multi-lingual both literally and fluently; the other a highly successful computer programmer analyst. One of my daughters is bilingual and is affiliated with Mensa due to academic achievements. Thanksgiving at my parent's home became something I preferred to avoid for obvious reasons; although in my personal life, I still prefer organized routine and a predictable lifestyle; where fantasy and fiction are secluded to pastime interests only.In my relentless, thirst driven quest for knowledge, I consider other people's opinions and research as worthy until proven otherwise. One recent example is the book, "Lost Knowledge Of The Ancients," edited by Glenn Kreisberg.The foremost reason being my work experience has spanned 41 years, encountering many, many different people; as well as in private life becoming acquainted with numerous varieties of "spiritual" people. During my lifetime I have shared conversation with several people who opened up their innermost secrets and experiences regarding beliefs, first-hand eye-witness or directly involved instances of being visited by departed relatives, and speculation upon extra-terrestrial life. Certainly with the information explosion of the Internet and other electronic media, we are becoming more frequently exposed to the possibility of life being composed of more than what our parents and grandparents held. Formal academic training has morphed exponentially just within my own lifetime. Straying a bit from the mainstream of religious denomination propagation of what effect the afterlife should have upon our mortal journey upon this planet; there are greater considerations that nearly all of us are at least curious about.High School for me was limited when it came to what I was taught regarding the history of mankind in any measure beyond American History as a focus; which is limited to the most recent 500 years or so. It was up to the Sciences to reach back further into time and share antiquated origins for human beings through theory or other analyses. Which by default, nearly 40 years ago, was a small percentage of what is available today as whatever resource is explored. I've always felt that surely somebody with the financial means would strive to reach beyond the status quo and contemporary acceptable limitations of academic institution. Getting an education is only a primary step; it is what we do with our education that matters - and yet even then it is pivotal upon opportunity and resource. We begin to vicariously depend upon the efforts of those a bit more privileged than ourselves to unfurl the mysteries we cannot determine independently.Unfortunately another part of the information explosion of recent introduction is that there seems to be no lack for contrasting views which challenge not only each other, but the very foundation of what most of us have been taught and believe. Being an author myself, I soon discovered credibility and presentation are elements not to be ignored; and references should be frequently cited; as well as collaboration with established authoritative people who have blazed a few trails before we came along with the ideas we want to share. Skeptics and cynics will bombast anything and everything, and controversial topics are a frivolous pursuit without foundational inclusion of research and experience. Most of us already realize few people succeed at what they strive to notably achieve by contributive performance without outstanding excellence and a lifetime of commitment; as well as having several backers who sincerely WANT you to succeed. Therefore it is rare for open-minded consideration to be exercised upon whatever we try to market, without depth of study before producing or marketing our interest."Lost Knowledge Of The Ancients" was written and published by highly learned, seasoned veterans of scientific frontier who are no stranger to being told, "pfffffft" as they share their subject matter. Parapsychology and paranormal phenomena, ancient philosophies, codes and mysteries of ancient beliefs, astronomy and cosmic influences upon mankind down the ages, and archaeology's witness; all seem fragile by interpretation under critical analysis. The whole picture adds up to more than the sum of its parts. We tend to categorize some propagators of free thought as conspiracy theorists, kooks, and on the fringe. Yet the original Seven Wonders of the ancient world still haunt many of us alive today. Some of the stone blocks comprising the Great Pyramids weigh two-hundred-tons apiece. Discoveries on the Earth's moon, Mars, and via the Hubble telescope, suggest influences beyond the comprehension of our grandfather and any ancestor of his. For some of the answers, we turn to biology sciences, geology, and not only the animal kingdom, but botany studies as well. Word of mouth and street credibility doesn't cut it past a short journey toward consideration of whatever connection mankind has with the stars observable in the night sky. Quantum physics and string theory aren't comprehensively beyond scientists and engineers, and expanding our cognitive grasp upon relationships of gravitational forces impacting mankind as not only our earth orbits the sun, we already measure tides and mood swings based upon the orbit of our own moon. Yet today's understanding among the scholarly academic also has come to realize that our sun moves in space in relationship to surrounding stars within the Milky Way, and the Milky Way similarly moves in space in relationship to other solar systems; ultimately played out throughout the universe as the larger picture. In our own lifetime we know by direct experience that these truths give us night and day, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter; and that it takes a year for Earth to orbit the sun. There has to be long term cause and effect for the rest of those details regarding relative experience within the universe as a whole. A hundred years ago we had yet to discover that even solid matter is very much in motion at the sub-atomic level. If you are among those who prescribe against the notion of a "take it or leave it" history of mankind as touted by "experts" and you're not convinced simply by what is popular, then this book is worth your investment. A game of billiards isn't exhaustively predictable in outcome; and unless you've played a few games, talking about it isn't convincing to your audience. The author of this book being reviewed has been around the world, in more direct contact with his subject matter than most of us can hope for in two lifetimes. I recommend this book.

The four horseman (Hancock, West, Schoch, and Bauval) never let me down. I'm so thankful for the open minded thinkers out there that offer an alternative to the widely accepted, and no doubt inaccurate views of mainstream academics. These dudes, and others like them, are daring enough to challenge what we were all taught in school, and I welcome this 100%! Very good read, covering many different subjects. Another lovely middle finger to Lener and Hawass!!!

So far, the book may not contain all of what I'm looking for, but hey, it still contains some of it, and that's what really intrigues me. The only problem I found about this book ( which might sound ridiculous to you) is that it's kind of short XD. Anyways, anyone who's on the hunt for their curiosity of ancient knowledge, and want to uncover a bit about the past, you can start off with this book, but from my reading progression so far, it doesn't contain all of what I'm looking for. I've rated the book solely on my liking on it, not the flaws, or such.

The book is almost like new, in fact, I would say it was never read as the binding is still very tight. It did take a while to reach me I ordered it on the 6th and received it on the19th. I am still pleased with the book.

Like most people I read books for a wide variety of reasons. In this case, "Lost Knowledge of the Ancients" edited by Glenn Kreisberg sounded like an interesting book. This is a book is organized into 14 sections and has numerous unusual topics and writers. The focus this volume to be less of a scientific approach and more of a mystical and esoteric view of ancient history. The introduction provides some basic information on the search for lost knowledge. Some of the unusual topics in this 243 page text includes the following:Thoughts on parapsychology and the paranormal phenomena. Quantum philosophy and the ancient mystery school. The Egypt code. Alternative history and esoteric philosophy. An open letter to the editors of Archaeology. Dark mission. History and celestial time. the Orion key. The Cygnus mystery. Electromagnetism and the ancients. The gulf of Khambhat. The Orion zone. On the possibility of instantaneous shifts of the poles and mysterious strangers.The main theme throughout this text seems to be aimed at the hard science community and how they refuse to recognize the alternative hypothesis these contributors are promoting. It is obvious most of the contributors believe in the esoteric pseudo-science answers to ancient mysteries rather than the theories most main street scientists have accepted. In any case, this book was at times very interesting. As a scientific minded individual I found some of the chapters amusing; however, I found no scientific compelling information to change my mind about some of these topics. Some of the topics in this book remind me of the power of faith, which is many times stronger than scientific facts, reason, logic and rationality.Rating: 3 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Never Trust a Politician: A critical review of politics and politicians).

I've read this twice already. I like the different articles by the greatest investigative reporters and scientists of all make and model out there who are at the cutting edge, discovering various parts of our past, being active in their fields and not sitting on their hands like so many so-called experts who simply copy what has been tossed about for decades when we need to know the new theories and discoveries. I'm afraid what they are teaching my grandkids in school. I plan to go back to college soon to find out what they are tossing about there.