Customer Reviews

The Atlantis Syndrome

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Although a bit dry at points and laced with Brit-humor that may not be understood (newage types are notoriously lacking in humor), Jordan's book is a good general overview of why Atlantis searchers were wrong, why they are wrong, and why we can expect more of the same in the future. More ink has been spilled over a some completely misunderstood Plato, and Jordan explains why it has been a waste.

I find it remarkable that many of these people who rabbit off in search of Atlantis don't even bother to learn enough Greek to read the original Plato. Why does this matter? Because the Atlantis parts of Plato are often taken more literally than the Bible. If you extrapolate from a translation then you can't be certain that your interpretation is even based on the actual words used. A good read and excellent antidote to the output of the Atlantis-industrial complex.

Paul Jordan, who studied archaeology at university, is a pretty good writer in my opinion. I quite enjoyed this book, which I got for a project on Atlantology and alternative archaeology. It's one of the few books by a skeptic to give in-depth coverage to some of the newer writers like Graham Hancock and the Flem-Aths. Reading this would be a good way to decide whether you want to invest the time in reading their (rather long) books.

There is a section on traditional/academic accounts of human origins and prehistory, which seems misplaced. Jordan is trying to provide the accepted account along with some of the evidence so that his readers have the necessary information to follow his critique. But I found it disrupted the flow of the book. I wonder whether it would have been possible to integrate it into the Atlantology sections, or move it to a long appendix. It's easy enough to skip over if you know a little about prehistory, and it doesn't significantly detract from the book as a whole.

I've also read Jordan's book on the Sphinx, which is more of a picture book or coffee table book. If you are familiar with his Sphinx book, expect more text and substance from this work.

There are some illustrations in a photo section of the book. Some of them seemed pointless to me, until I finally reached his explanation near the end. Good job, Jordan!

This book so effectively exposes the pseudoscience behind the continued promotion of the lost continent of Atlantis -- in all its guises, old and new -- that it effectively leaves the matter case closed. I cannot recommend it highly enough, especially for people who believe that Atlantis (or some lost civilization) once existed and influenced the formation of the more familiar ancient cultures of the world (Egypt, the Maya, etc).

Jordan shows, in a lucid and entertaining style, how Plato dreamed up the Atlantis myth to make a politico-philosophical point; how the ancient and modern myths of Atlantis are entirely different and cannot be reconciled; how the modern version runs contrary to over a century of archaeological investigation into humankind's development; and how continued efforts to promote the Atlantis myth require such willful ignorance of masses of evidence and such bizarre "reasoning" as to border on the the deceitful. It is a tour-de-force book, and an essential read for anyone interested in the Atlantis myth.

Atlantis, ostensibly a dystopian creation of Plato who attempted to make a philosophical point in an imaginative manner, continues to intrigue modern thinkers and dreamers. One cannot easily separate the charlatans from the more sober rationalizers, but Jordan has made a valiant effort. I don't find his attitude to be overly condescending towards the New Age dupes and the mystics who follow them,as some reviewers have. Madam Blavatsky and her imitators were nothing more than carnival tarot-readers and they are properly given short-shrift. Jordan does provide a reasonable assessment of why others of a more scientific, if misguided, bent--such as Ignatius Donnelly--have tried to rescue Atlantis from the depths of fantasy. The "syndrome" in the book's title,consists of this obsession to find Plato's lost civilization somewhere on our globe--or in outer space. If you are a New Age true believer then this book is not for you. But if you want to learn about the convoluted journey of the Atlantis quest from the fifth century BC to the 21st century, then here is a well-written and comprehensive guide.

This books is squarely in the corner of all the academics that say that Atlantis never existed. It's fine to have that that opinion, but the book is also overly dry, academic, and is much like a sleeping pill. It seems to be written more to impress academics (and for the author to hear his own, at times, overly pompous tones)than to inform the reader. The book doesn't explain, it tells. I also get the feeling that in each case the author was looking for the most mundane answer to every riddle. It is if, before printing, it was edited by a team the most narrow-minded (and dull) archeologists that one could find.

What a horrible book. Not only does the author not take a good look at any of the archelogical evidence relating to the premise of Atlantis, his writing style becomes quite irritating after awhile, like a college professor who thinks he's being witty and clever and really coming across as a pompous blowhard. Despite another reviewer's claim that this book dispels the myth of Atlantis, it doesn't do that at all. It simply spouts the same arguments that academics have been saying for years who haven't even looked at the evidence because the topic of Atlantis isn't respectable enough for them (sonar readings show no continent on the ocean floor, etc.). The real truth of the matter is that there has never been a single expedition into the Atlantic with the sole purpose of looking for Atlantis, and much of accepted, 'respectable' archeology, history, even geology is, in actuality, mere guesswork. Any author is entitled to his opinion, of course, but this book has no market. The bottom line is people who buy books on Atlantis do so because they're interested in the subject. There might well be an equal amount of people who don't believe in it, but I can't imagine they're willing to spend twenty dollars on a book like this for it. Nice cover, though, hopefully they'll keep that, at least, for the paperback version - if it even gets one.