Customer Reviews

Atlantis and the Kingdom of the Neanderthals: 100,000 Years of Lost History

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I loved the book, finished it in a day and a half. I think his basic theory about neanderthals having been the source of much of the knowledge of ancient civilization has a lot of merit.

HOWEVER, so much of the book seems to have little or nothing to do with any of this. He goes on for a long time about Christianity and the Merovingians and I can't tell you what any of that has to do with Neanderthals or Atlantis. It seemed, at times, more like a collection of recent writings than a concerted work.

He spent a lot of time summarizing other books (Which I have already read and are not all of relevance to the point) and not enough giving us anything new.

If he couldn't come up with anything more to say that was new. I would have at least enjoyed it if he had spent some time giving us more, even basic, information on Neanderthals; where they have been found, theories on why they died out (Did they die out?), maybe spend some time comparing and contrasting them physically with humans, discussing how we are related to them and what we may know about when we split off. Perhaps hints in mythology that back up his thesis? The section actually on them (While extraordinarily interesting) was almost unforgivably brief compared to the length of the whole work.

I wanted more neanderthals!!!

Beyond that, he spoke a lot about intuitive knowledge and I thought that this was all very interesting, but had to wonder if it worked against his main thesis. That is to say, he provided us with another explanation for the source of ancient knowledge that didn't require resorting to neanderthals.

I am, however, giving the book 4 stars. The thesis is extremely interresting and revolutionary. It is an enjoyable read. I just wish...well...I would have liked him to talk more about neanderthals and less about Christ and other topics that didn't belong organically in this book.

Let me begin this review by saying that I have enjoyed many of Colin Wilson's other books. I was first introducted to his writings through the land-mark work, "Mysteries." That, as well as similar books, impressed me with Wilson's sober scholarship and his willingness to have an open-mind that was nevertheless tempered with a good deal of academic research.

That being said, I'm not quite sure what happened between Wilson's other work and this. I myself have some pretty radical theories about lost history, but there is a point where certain notions must be presented with at least a grain of salt. Wilson displays an incredible level of credulity for tenuous fringe theories, wholeheartedly swallowing and then regurgitating highly debated beliefs such as the antiquity of Freemasonry (as put forth by Lomas and Knight) and the now widely popularized Baigent and Leigh theory of the holy bloodline of Christ. These aren't presented as ideas or possibilities, as I would have expected in any of Wilson's earlier, more respectable works, but simply put forth as fact. In addition to the overly-credulous tone, throughout the book, there is this general feeling that most of Wilson's material is simply a restatement of other works. In fact, there is little Wilson to be seen in this book. He spends much more time extensively quoting or rewording material from other sources. The theories about Neanderthal man which posit a different sort of intelligence are certainly intriguing, but for as much new material as Wilson presents, I think these ideas would have bee more at home in a magazine article, not a full-length book. If you have read Wilson's other books, I can't say you'll be missing much if you skip this one.

of some of the authors earlier books on atlantis plus some obligatory material on rennes-le-chateau. if you have read "From Atlantis To The Sphinx" and or "The Atlantis Blueprint" and "The Da Vinci Code" you are already familiar with 95% of the book. there is the equilivent of a short magazine article at the very end of the book where he finally mentions the neanderthals that has some new material. but overall a very disappointing book.

This book is an entertaining read, but potential purchasers should not be misled by the title. Wilson does discuss Atlantis, and he does discuss Neanderthals, but he does not offer proof that connects the two, and such does not appear to be the book's premise. "100,000 Years of Lost History" would have been a more appropriate title. Nor should readers anticipate that this book builds on "The Atlantis Blueprint," which Wilson co-authored with Rand Flem-Ath. Instead, Wilson discloses that he disagreed with Flem-Ath on a major premise of that book. This book is a mishmash of chapters on various subjects, loosely connected if connected at all. The information may not be the most up-to-date in all instances. As entertainment, however, it's a worthy purchase.

Usually out of the alternate history author's Colin Wilson is one of the more level headed and documented authors. Which is why I was disapointed with this book. I had really hoped for info regarding neanderthals there customs and burials and such which some scholors have started to investigate. Instead I got more prior of sion garbage and Jesus blood line's and Flood stories. I am so tired of this weak link of the prior of sion being added into all the alternate history book's. It is doing nothing for the movement of alternate history but destroying its credibility all on the fake documents of a con man in France. Stay away from this one unless you are a Dan Brown type of fan.

This book would not have been so disappointing if not for the fact that I had come to expect work of the highest standards from Colin Wilson. It's difficult for me to try to assess a really bad book written by someone I admire so much. What went wrong?

The book starts out with a rambling bit of name dropping and irrelevant commentary on the work of some of the "alternative history researchers" popular at the present time. It almost reads like something written by a guy whose gone senile and I was actually wondering if that was the problem. At one point, Wilson remarks that Graham Hancock became a millionaire from his alternative history works, so maybe that is acting on Wilson and he wants to get on the bandwagon. Problem is, he just isn't constitutionally capable of it.

The end result is a rehash of every silly alternative history theory that's been written about in the past 20 years or so, moving from one to the other with no really thread of connectivity. It's almost as though somebody hired Wilson to give his "stamp of approval" to some of that nonsense. Now, let me be clear, I'm not saying that mainstream history is acceptable either - most often, I would favor "alternative" views, the problem I have with most of it is the same problem I have with mainstream history: assumptions and agendas prevail and all the evidence is not treated equally.

It then gets even more bizarre: not only does he accept uncritically some of the stranger alternative theories, he then does the same thing with the materialist mainstream view of it all!

How does he do this?

By proposing that all those alternative histories were true. BUT, since the only people that mainstream science says were around during those very ancient times of the civilizations claimed to have existed by the alternative researchers, were Neanderthals, then obviously, it was all the work of Neanderthals!

And how did the Neanderthals create this great civilizations? In their minds! They had psychic powers and it was all an alternative reality creation. Not only that, the Neanderthals didn't really know they were doing this because they were... Autistic!

Wilson accepts as reasonable so many really nutty things throughout this book that I guess it should not be a surprise that the only possible choice is Autistic Neanderthal.

Unfortunately, he just didn't do the research on Neanderthals that he should have done. Thing is, I KNOW he's done some good research and writing on ancient civilizations, so why he came up with this silly idea I'll never know. (Yes, he got it from Stan Gooch, a medium turned psychologist, but you get the point?)

All in all, a hugely disappointing book; it was actually embarrassing - like watching Wilson make a fool of himself in public because that is, essentially, what this book has done.

I'm sorry, Mr. Wilson - I've admired your work for years, but this is just bottom of the barrel.

When you invest in an alternative history and/or religion book, you need to go in prepared that any evidence will be speculative at best. The book does not convincingly deliver on the promises of the title or back cover. While there may be archaeological evidence that Neanderthal civilization may have developed along the lines of Native American and Australian Aborignals, there is little convincing in his argument that Neanderthal man was a probably Cro Magnon man's mystical forebear and teacher. After several chapters collecting many interesting facts demonstrating the antiquity of modern man's civilization, Mr Wilson waits until the last chapter to offer a few paragraphs to discuss evidence of civilization in geologic strata that is much too old for modern man and therefore must be evidence of Neanderthal civilization.

What disappointed me is the selective manner in which Mr. Wilson embraces or rejects orthodox and unorthodox theories to support his thesis. In contrast to this book's ascertions, Michael Cremo in "Hidden Archaeology" cites the same archaeological examples in a more comprehensive and persuasive discussion of modern man's antiquity along side Neanderthal man. It's doubtful that Wilson is unaware of Cremo's argument. I can only conclude that considering Cremo's theories would have voided the conclusions he seeks to present.

If you can get beyond the title, there is plenty of interesting tidbits that make the book otherwise worthwhile if only for its readability and bibliography.

I am a tremendous fan of Colin Wilson, but I have to say that I was disappointed by this book. For a start the title is misleading, there isn't much of interest about either Atlantis or the Neanderthals and because of this, the rap he gives in the book at about 7/8ths of the way through (on the focusing of consciousnes) stands out like a chapel hat peg.

You see, Mr. Wilson has not changed this premise since he wrote The Outsider. The premise being that the world has meaning or not depending on the amount of attention you give it.

I'm not arguing ... in fact I rather agree, but what that has to do with Atlantis or Neanderthals I cannot understand.

Come on Colin, you can do better.

Ok this book is not a bad read, Colin can tell a story and obviously seems interested in this topic but fails to write about the books title and doesn't always keep a strong flow or structure going. Like many other books he seems more committed to honouring his colleagues in the field and running over old books on the subject rather than tackling harder but ultimately more exciting contemporary theories.

He basically spend the whole book feeling like he's setting the stage for something important and then the book finishes. There is actually almost nothing about Atlantis or Neanderthals and no connection is even given that they are connected. Now the idea of Atlantis is plausible given the still poorly understood cultural and geological history of the americas (or possibly other cultures) and the intelligence and of neanderthals and their relationship with humans has been hotly debated in recent years. Colin chooses not to discuss any of this yet it could have been a great book if he had.

So its not a bad read but really is just a collection of other peoples outdated ideas. Having read other books from Bear publishing I can't help they just make up these wacky titles to make money.

While it is de rigueur for philosophically inclined authors to feel that they have done something clever when they devise a "scientifically" sound basis for complete pessimism, Wilson insists it is far more realistic to be optimistic. This is one of the reasons why Colin Wilson is one of my favorite authors, and even why he is one of the most important authors of our time. For all of that, Atlantis as a Neanderthal kingdom struck me as being quite far-fetched. However, while Wilson's evidence was less than compelling, he convinced me that the idea was not completely crackpot.

Though I found the summary of the evidence supporting the idea of Christ having escaped from the cross and come to live in France rather interesting, it had nothing to do with the topic. According to the Discovery channel, DNA tests of the Merovingian line indicate no trace of mid-eastern ancestors. The suggestion that it is the sun's magnetic field affecting babies at the moment of conception that is responsible for mankind's long-held belief in astrology was interesting; though, even if true, it does not imply that horoscopes are not bunk. Wilson tosses out the suggestion that introverts are born in even-numbered months and extroverts in odd-numbered months. I checked this and found it to not be so. Admittedly, I did not subject it to statistical analysis, so perhaps it is true some tiny but significant number of times. The fact that clairvoyants tried to discern the structure of matter and produced a work called Occult Chemistry is interesting, but upon reading the first few pages, it struck me as a bit of a stretch to claim that it anticipated quark theory. The length of the foot was determined by whoever happened to be king, and hence changed whenever the king died; yet Wilson Quotes John Mitchell's claim that ancient philosophers established the foot is the "astronomical standard measure of the universe." The fact that the ancient Mayans established a calendar capable of measuring the year to within a few ten thousandths of a day, that Stonehenge is a kind of Stone Age computer, and that the ancient Ninevah number is apparently the "highest common factor into which all the numbers denoting planetary orbits and so on divide evenly" does suggest that these ancients had thought processes similar to the idiot savants. The connection to Neanderthals is considerably more tenuous, though possible.

Wilson points out that those modern anthropologists who work with shamans come to accept that they have paranormal powers. Jagadis Chandra Bose established that metals exhibit such traits as fatigue, laziness, and memory, while Rev. Franklin Loehr demonstrated that plants respond to love and hate. It is strange that Susan Blackmore, who started out as a parapsychologist, has come to the conclusion that there probably are no paranormal events, while all of these other researchers find such abundant evidence of it. Who is one to believe? My only encounter with paranormal events has been several synchronistic experiences, which nonetheless were so impressive and affected me so profoundly that I could not honestly dismiss them as meaningless coincidence. Once one has opened oneself up to the reality of the so-called paranormal, it is difficult to know where to draw the line. But deception, both by oneself and others, is so common and easy, it is always best to be cautiously skeptical. This book is entertaining and informative, as long as it is accepted as rather wild speculation.
(Peter Payne, author of Captain California: A Young Man's Encounter With the Evil Within Himself)