179 of 194 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Ultra important book even if 50% of it is wrong..., May 23, 2002
Sitchin, if you didn't know it already, is one of the leading figures in alternative archaelogy and science in general.
These days, and especially the last 30-40 years, a "new wave" of scientists and non scientists alike has risen with the intention of re-examining what we as a species consider "knowledge", knowledge about what we are, and where we come from.
Sitchin, being one of the few people in the world who can actually read Sumerian, has spent his life examining our origins, and his conclusions have little to do with apes descending trees and miraculously evolving into humans.
In the "12th planet", his most famous of his alltogether 9 books, he suggests that we are actually the creation of an alien race which landed on earth more than 450 millenia ago, and who created us as slave labor for their purposes on this planet back then. From then on, and through a myriad interdevelopments and influences, we developed to what we are today.
Sure, this sounds controversial, and to most people content with swallowing mainstream teachings for "facts" this might seem as pure science fiction. You would have to read this book before you term it as such though.
It is an exhausting book too, as the author needs to use literally 100s of quotes on original translations he's made in order to make his argument and this isn't just any argument, you understand...
Exhausting as this book might then be at times, the reward is immense, to put it very mildly. Even if Sitchin happens to be wrong on half of his conclusions what he suggests is mind blowing and shatters to bits most of our current beliefs.
More importantly, Sitchin can serve you as a gateway to new paths of thinking. It is impossible -i would think- to read the "12th planet" and emerge the same person afterwards, providing of course that you read it with an open mind. All new knowledge recquires an open mind to begin with. This does not mean that you will necessarily agree with Sitchin if you do read it with an open mind, but the evidence he offers is important and solid enough to make you think in a way you've never thought before.
You ever wondered why we are the only species on this planet that definately does not fit in with its environment? Or why we have so many grey areas and disagreements about where we originate from and how? Or why the word "anthropos" (a greek word) means "the creature that always looks up"? Or even why the root word of the word "earth" comes from the ancient Sumerian (the word e.ri.du) and means "a home far away"?
The "12th planet" will provide you with some spectacular answers.
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180 of 201 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A hammer for the beginning, May 29, 2000
This is the first book of "The Earth chronicles" series in which Zecharia Sitchin tears the man's origins apart and puts them in a whole new perspective. Author is one of the top scholars in field of the ancient languages and offers his vision of extraterrestrial origins of Homo sapiens on Earth. His main point is that all ancient documents are written on the base of observations and facts and should not be taken symbolically. As we presume today, civilization has originated in Mesopotamia, but no one can really explain the fact that right from its start it was highly developed, that it blossomed virtually out of nothing and created incredible works, which we are not capable of performing even to date. Sitchin quotes many ancient documents, mostly Bible and Epic of Gilgamesh (which he read in Akkadian and Babylonian) and offers more sensful translation of these scripts. He also explains discrepancies of single/plural God in the Genesis and shows how the extraterrestrial wisdom has spread over other countries (Egypt, Greece, India...). Gods came from planet Nibiru (or Marduk in Babylonian), which has been created for special task: to bring order in our, at the time overcrowded solar system. After crushing Tiamat and forming Earth and Moon, planet Nibiru went on his comet-like journey, returning to the Sun in every 3,600 years. Life has formed and developed on it and some 450,000 years ago they noticed that our planet has some resources they desired. So they established settlements on Earth in range of Mesopotamia, because it is very rich with fuels, needed for space travelling. Man was created with genetic manipulation after their image (they mixed hominid's genes with their own in order to obtain higher IQ level) to do the mining work for them. In sitchin's light some very confusing and presumably highly imaginative texts suddenly seem very realistic. He explains why such monumental works like ziggurats, pyramids and other vast temples have been made and for what purposes they were used. The most monumental event in Earth's "modern" history was the Deluge, the Great Flood, found written and known everywhere around the world. Sitchin explains how Gods knew that it's going to happen and why Noah (or Ziusudra or Utnapishtim) was chosen to survive. After the waters flew away (the Deluge was coincided with the end of the Ice Age and the gravital pull of the passing Nibiru, therefore it lasted for a year), Gods gave many different technologies to people and they spread all over the Earth again. The book is very well written - if you don't accept the theory inside, it's still interesting piece of science fiction for you. I think Sitchin knows what he writes and the evidence written inside is sure enough for me. I already look forward what volume 2 will bring. And - if you disagree, maybe you know better?
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65 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Optimistically Skeptical, June 8, 2000
By A Customer
I've read the Sitchin collection. It's a mind boggling experiance. It's also very scholarly. An expert in Sumerian language, culture, et al.., Mr. Sitchins findings, if remotely accurate, explains a lot of empty holes in our History. I have never bought the fact that ancient cultures could be THAT imaginative. I am a believer that imagination is based on some basis of experience, exposure to or passed on story. You've heard the expression, there are no original thoughts, just original ways of presenting old ideas. I can't imagine that these civilizations just made up all those elaborate stories without some sort of core truth. Was there another more advanced culture? I wouldn't doubt it--there is so much we don't know. Mr. Sitchin's assertions are worth the read if only to spark further inquiry intoour mysterious and ancient past. Also read the works of Graham Hancock. His assertions are the same but different. He looks at the world where Sitchin focuses on a region. Never the less, why is it so hard to believe that our past may have been manipulated, Why couldn't there be a prehistory that has yet to reveal itself to us in detail. It's fascinating and deserves a serious study. Those who mock these ideas now once believed the universe rode on the back of a great turtle, or thought the world was flat or mocked Copernicus. A small question can ignite an inferno of curiosity and lead those who are brave enough into a wonderful world of adventure.
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