Customer Reviews

5/5/2000 Ice: The Ultimate Disaster

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

Richard Noone's book makes a number of interesting observations. Unfortunately he presents no evidence that would convince a reader of his thesis: A pole shift on 5/5/2000. His evidence is spotty and he attempts to bolster his arguments by quoting experts in the field. These experts are backed by a laundry list of credentials that a junior research fellow would be embarrassed to name (Who's Who in America? Please!) I found his attempts to connect ancient civilizations with the Freemasons to be amusing at best. Naming Robert Anton Wilson, noted fiction writer, as a source is hardly reliable. The founding fathers were not all Master Masons. The Great Seal of the United States is not an ancient Masonic emblem. I did find that Noone presented a wide selection of ideas about the pyramid's construction. His bibliography was useful in finding the original authors. In all, there are some jewels hidden in the rubble of Noone's work. He does well in debunking the common theory of the pyramid as a tomb and also shoots holes in common construction theories. He does little in the way of convincing the reader that they should board a low orbit space craft on 5/5/2000. Your time may be better spent celebrating Cinco de Mayo while drinking margaritas at your local watering hole, pondering the purpose of the pyramids south of the border.

When I first bought this book I thought it would explain how and why the earth was supposed to have this cataclysmic event on 5/5/2000. This however is probably one of the least explained topics of the book. Most of the book deals with the pyramids and strange calculations of angles and such.

I think that the strategy of this book is too overload the reader with so much pieced together irrelevant information that they'll just accept his theory because they can't follow it. Mixed in with the pyramid talk are many mentions of Jesus and Freemasonary and how they relate somehow to the pyramid. One of my favorite parts is where he showed how the shroud of Turin image is on one of the walls in the pyramids. From a few splotches of dark and light on the walls, viewed from about 50 feet away with black and white picture which isn't focuesed on the image, one is supposed to see Jesus. Absolutely ridiculous. Also, many topics are delved into but never explained, such as how Masonic teaching are related to the pyramid. The overall question is "Could it be that..." with no underlying proof. Additionally, the writing style of mixed naration with interviews of questionable "experts" interjected inbetween is bad and difficult to follow.

The plot is something along the lines of: the earth will end on 5/5/2000 because of a polar shift; this fact is revealed through the great pyramid, in fact that is why the pyramid was built; the masons know this and control the world; the pyramid also is based around Jesus somehow; the pyramid could also have been a giant battery or something else; there are a bunch of people in Stelle, IL who will launch a spaceship to save themselves from the event on 5/5/2000.

Not overly-scientific, but explains to the layman many of the fascinating aspects of the great pyramid.

It seems his premise about the Antarctic Ice Shelf is wrong. He says it is growing thicker. Isn't it melting? I tend to believe there have been polar shifts in our past, but find it hard to believe that anyone can nail it down to the next date when it will happen.

What a disappointment this book is. I bought it in 1997, began reading it in mid 1999, and just finished it today (July 8,2000). Obviously Noone's predictions were in error. But perhaps there were other redeeming characteristics, such as the history and philosophy surrounding the origins and purpose of the Great Pyramid. Forget it. All one gets from the text is repetitive, pseudomystical mumbo-jumbo couched in dogma and supported by multiple "interviews" with scholars and obscure references to the mysteries of the Freemasons. Certain passages border on rampant racism, too, as contemporary Arab culture is described as beneath the moral and social standards of even barbaric medieval Europe. Read Carl Sagan's Demon Haunted World instead. 5/5/2000 is a waste of time.

Despite presenting a great deal of interesting information on the
pyramids of Egypt, Noone's work fails completely in supporting its
main argument: that a destruction of civilization caused by the
melting and shifting of the polar icecaps will result from the
gravitational pull of all the other planets as they align on the
opposite side of the sun on 5/5/2000. Although this reader welcomes
challenges to the dominant academic paradigm, these challenges must
find support in scientific principle, not in wild speculation that
leads to easily discredited pseudo-science. Noone supports his
apocalyptic vision with spotty evidence that disregard's Isaac
Newton's Universal Law of Gravitation: objects attract each other with
a force that is varied by the density of their masses and that is
diminished by the square of their respective distances. DIMINISHED BY
THE SQUARE OF THEIR DISTANCE! Thus a large Jupiter on the other side
of the sun, and all the other planets to boot, cannot affect us nearly
as much as our own nearby little moon. Noone ignored both Newton and
Einstein's Relativity Theory is forming his "special" theory
which very recently was proven very wrong. The wrong date wasn't
Noone's problem, bad science was.

I purchased this book for a buck when I was in graduate school. I am sad that I have lost it because it was the funniest book I have ever read! The figures seem to be haphazzardly placed with little connection to the text (the picture of George Washington in his Masonic get-up has no relevance that I could find). The book was bold in naming a date which, unfortunately for book sales at this point, has come and gone. This is appropriate light reading that always leaves you chuckling.

I enjoyed this book because of its interesting facts about the the great pyramid (I am amazed that Egyptologists still cling to the 'slaves hauling rocks for a tomb' theory) but found many parts of the book difficult to accept. For instance, the alignment of planets in 5/5/2000 would probably have little gravitational effect on Earth in comparison to the sun's annual variation in distance from Earth due to its elliptical orbit (gravity is inversely proportional to distance and the planets' combined mass accounts for only a small fraction of the solar mass). I also found some statements puzzling (ie, the inhabitants of Stelle, Illinois returning to Earth after 2 weeks and being regarded by the 'primitive' survivors as Gods from the sky). Illustrations such as the face in the pyramid are so vague as to suggest a deliberate attempt to mislead (why didn't the author present a more detailed picture in an otherwise profusely illustrated book?).I also find it difficult to see how removing a single block from the roof of a chamber deep in the pyramid could enable people to observe stars (unless it was from an air shaft, but these were kept open and not blocked). I find it hard to believe that Jesus was a Caballist and Essene (although He was undoubtedly aware of these influences on contemporary thought), and Jesus' last words were spoken in Aramaic and not in an 'unknown' language (Mayan) as the author suggests. And on and on. It reads more like a narrative than a carefully-researched work, but in spite of its many questionable assumptions and conclusions, I found it interesting and entertaining, and would recommend it, especially to anyone interested in the structure of, and theories about, the great pyramid

I can't say I was exactly convinced by the science here, but the idea is still being kicked around. I'm not sure if this is just a rehash or a modernized version of this work(the date they give of 1999/7/19 is different. I don't think this book is yet in English.

RJB

The Independent (UK)29 September 1998 City Life - Russians lap up apocalypse flood theoryBy Helen Womack Moscow Theoretical Geography or Imminent Disaster, by Anatoly Votyakov and his son Alexei, is a learned text, with maps and diagrams, which sold out within hours of appearing in Moscow book shops this autumn. .... "Once the ice exceeds a certain limit, a catastrophe will occur, a real deluge," he said. This, he added, had happened many times before in the Earth's four-and-a-half-billion-year history. The proof, according to Dr Votyakov, who graduated in mathematics from the Urals University, then worked in a Moscow institute attached to the Academy of Sciences, was that if you looked carefully at the globe, you could see chains of mountains that followed the lines of former equators. Other evidence came from geology and palaeontology. Studies from eastern Siberia showed that down in the permafrost there were layers of birch wood, 9,300, 26,800 and 31,800 years old. That meant that in previous ages the area must have been warm. Remains of mammoths had been found with freshly swallowed grasses in their digestive tracts. Therefore they did not die of cold or hunger, but as a result of a sudden cataclysm.

I really enjoyed the book seeing that I am a great Graham Hancock fan. Mr. Noone has a great ability to present a wealth of facts about the great pyramid.

Whether you believe that the ultimate disaster will strike earth on 5/5/2000 or not, it is a book well worth reading, even if it is just to wonder about the amazing facts around the great pyramid.

There is no doubt in my mind that the great pyramid was build on the earth to carry a message through time. What the message is: We can only quess???

What a gem of psuedoscience Richard Noone has crafted here in "5-5-2000". It reads like the secret history of a group of serious seekers of ancient knowledge exciting the imaginations of devoted acolytes. Somewhere down the line however somebody got hold of a copy of "Chariots of The Gods" and queered the whole deal. Recent pronouncements by the community of geologists suggest that the poles have indeed wandered the Earth. The mechanics do not suggest a wholesale slip of landmasses. I will adimit that on Sinco de Mayo while I drink a cool beer next to the Gulf of Mexico under my umbrella that I will keep a wary eye toward the Southern horizon. And I will probably be re-reading ( with enjoyment) Richard Noone's " 5-5-2000 ".