Atlantis: The Andes Solution: The Discovery of South America as the Legendary Continent of Atlantis [Hardcover]

John Blashford-Snell (Author), Col. John Blashford-Snell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 1999

The ancient city and lost continent of Atlantis was devastated by floods and earthquakes in about 9600 BC according to the Greek philosopher Plato. He wrote of its magnificence and described its geographical location in great detail. Over the centuries countless theories have grown up regarding its precise location. This book describes fully the background to these theories and other lines of conjecture that this tremendous finding has opened up. The final chapter is perhaps the most intriguing of all when the author finally reaches Bolivia and finds on the ground the physical traces of the huge canal that encircled the legendary plain containing the city so memorably described by Plato almost 2,500 years ago.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Allen, a former air photo interpreter for Britain's Royal Air Force who has also studied ancient measurements, weighs in here with another theory concerning the legendary lost continent, thought at various times by scholars to have been located in the Bahamas, Antarctica or in the Aegean Sea. Plato, who first referred to Atlantis in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias, described it as inhabited by a powerful civilization that tried to conquer the peoples of the Eastern Mediterranean and were punished when their continent was swallowed by the ocean after a day and night of earthquakes and floods. Based on Plato's account (reprinted here) and his own research, which included a trip to South America, Allen argues that the site of Atlantis was on the Bolivian Altiplano (a series of high plains). Allen's major points rest on rather shaky foundations: the similarity of the Bolivian terrain to the geographical details in Plato's dialogues; the fact that floods and earthquakes have occurred in the Bolivian Altiplano; and the fact that precious metals referred to by Plato as mined in Atlantis are also found in Bolivia.This is enjoyable reading, but seems more an exercise in textual legerdemain than science as Allen relies heavily on his own interpretation of Plato, which makes his ideas intriguing rather than convincing. Atlantis buffs will want to add this to their shelves, but few readers will be convinced by the many parallels Allen attempts to draw between the ancient cultures of the Mediterranean and pre-Columbian America. B&w photos; color photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

“Allen’s approach is earnest, well researched, and interesting.” —Booklist

“This is enjoyable reading...” —Publishers Weekly

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 188 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (January 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312219237
• ISBN-13: 978-0312219239
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,764,979 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Andes Solution May Solve Half of the Mystery of Atlantis, October 9, 1999

By 

George Erikson - See all my reviews

This review is from: Atlantis: The Andes Solution: The Discovery of South America as the Legendary Continent of Atlantis (Hardcover)

J. M. Allen correctly rejects Ignatius Donnelly's reading of Plato which placed Atlantis as "opposed to the Pillars of Heracles" rather than "across from the Straits" as related in Sir Desmond Lee's definitive translation. Thus Allen overcomes the common mistake that led scores of Donnelly's followers to posit Atlantis as a sunken island in the Atlantic (geologically unsustainable), rather than as an island-continent across the Atlantic (the Americas) whose civilization was destroyed but whose "bare-bones" still appear (Caribbean Islands). In choosing Bolivia as the site of Atlantis Allen has also chosen an ancient megalithic civilization of great antiquity built on the squared plain and canal system described by Plato. Tihuanacu very probably was a recipient or contemporary of Atlantean culture. The crucial problem with the "Andes Solution" is that the Altiplano of present-day Bolivia stands 12,000 feet above sea-level. Plato's Atlantis had a navigational base at its center that traded with sea-farers on a world-wide basis. Perhaps Allen is "half-right" in identifying So. America as the "island-continent," one as large as Asia and Libya combined. The Americas are in fact one continent -- a continent in antiquity because its reaches north and south could not fully be described, an island because it could be crossed easily from the Caribbean to the greater sea of the Pacific. And at the center of the Americas, a land that creatively connects the great ocean currents, there lie the most enigmatic relics of a great civilization, the almost perfect stone spheres of Costa Rica. For another argument on the nature and location of Atlantis read ATLANTIS IN AMERICA: NAVIGATORS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD by Ivar Zapp and George Erikson.

21 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Just awful, and very disappointing, December 2, 1999

By 

Bernie "Bernie" (Richardson, TX USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Atlantis: The Andes Solution: The Discovery of South America as the Legendary Continent of Atlantis (Hardcover)

This book is a very disjointed, rambling and unstructured set of paragraphs about an intriguing idea - which the author entirely fails to prove, or even to strengthen.

The premise of the book is that Atlantis was actually located on a plain at 12,000 feet high in Bolivia, and that people from there sailed 1,500 miles down rivers and then across the Atlantic to invade northern Africa and southern Europe, eventually to be repelled by Athens.

The geographical research is rambling and sketchy at best. No rationale for why people living on the west side of South America would ignore Brazil, and the rest of the western hemishpere to attack powerful forces along the Mediterranean.

Of this 173 page book, 8 pages are a not very enthusiastic introduction. The next 20 pages ramble on about the theory. 22 pages are a challenging translation of parts of Plato. The rest demonstrates the authors lack of organization when he finally visits Bolivia, his lack of knowledge or understanding of the sheer size of South America in general, and his lack of structure in writing.

An editor would have helped this book a lot. St. Martin's press did this author no favors in whatever editorial support they failed to provide.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor Quality and Presentation, March 30, 2002

By 

Charles Malcolm (Toronto, ON CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Atlantis: The Andes Solution: The Discovery of South America as the Legendary Continent of Atlantis (Hardcover)

While the book's premise is both unique and interesting, that the lost city of Atlantis can be found in the Bolivian Altiplano, there are major problems with this book. Firstly, this clearly is not a scholarly piece of work. It is poorly written and poorly presented. There is a lack of coherence and understanding to the ideas presented, the works cited, and even the diagrams utilized. Secondly, the works and diagrams cited in this book are done so without proper reference to their source and context. There is not even a precise map of the author's journey through Bolivia, nor how the purported location of Atlantis is situated with respect to other key cultural centres past and present that might add substance to the author's theory.

Thirdly, while the author is unable to find evidence correlating all of Plato's statements regarding Atlantis, no explanation is given for this. In fact one could argue that the author's interpretion of Plato's statements is somewhat subjective, seeing only what the author wants to see. Fourthly, very little evidence is presented to support the author's theory. A review of aerial maps and a drive across the Altiplano is the crux of the evidence presented. In fact, most of the book is spent speculating about related theories of antiquity, and even this is done with a degree of naivete.

In summary, although there is a lack of academic scholarship and expertise in this work, I do give the author credit for the originality of the theory. If anyone is to blame for this book, however, it is not the author, but the editor and publisher for allowing a book of such poor quality, presentation, lack of depth and substance to be published in the first place.