Customer Reviews

The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus: Translated, Edited, and Interpreted by Henry C. Roberts

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This book is useful in that it lists all of Nostradamus's prophecies and that's what I wanted. A cross-index by what Nostradamus actually SAID as opposed to what the interpreter THOUGHT would have been nice (i.e. how many prophecies referred to "the great one" (Jackie Gleason?)). However, I perceive no rhyme or reason as to how it is determined that this prophecy relates to WW II, that one relates to the 18th century, another one relates to the future, at that one over there relates to something in Nostradamus's own time. The words "clearly" and "obvious" are used with far too little justification. Single terms ("great one," "eagle", etc.) are identified as different parties in different prophecies. No pattern of literal or symbolic is evident. No hint as to why one prophecy talks about individuals while another one discusses nations. Quite honestly, the space that was used in printing the original French phrases (which were pretty much useless to me, anyway) could have been put to better discussion of the interpretations. If you're interested in Nostradamus in a casual way, like I am, this is a place to start, I guess, but it's certainly not of much use for any serious study.

Actually, for the text itself, I give it four stars, while I only give the commentary two.

First, Nostradamus-- I'll admit that I'm more or less uninterested in the prophecy side of the verses. I was interested in reading them for their historical value. As such, it's a great read. Through the verses, you get a look at the period's preoccupations-- who is named pope, the future of France, alchemy, and the desire to distinguish prophecy from astrology. Nostradamus has had an enduring impact on writing since he put his prophecies on paper, and you can trace that legacy here from the original verses.

The commentary-- Henry C. Robert's interpretation taught me more about World War II than anything else-- he seemed determined to prove that a disproportionate number of the verses referred to the second World War. Probably unsurprising, given that he first wrote his interpretations in 1947. However, he stretched so hard to fit the words to his ideas, that it unfortunately made me suspect his translation. I also could have done with more of an effort for establishing on what basis he was assigning some of the meanings (explanation of period symbolism, the alchemical references, etc.).

If I get a chance to buy another translation version and compare, I probably will.

The author's interpretations of the quatrains are very poor.Some of his interpretations have absolutely nothing to do with the translations.I realize that the interpretations are open to much discussion but he is way off the mark on most of them.This is a very poor book on Nostradamus.

The Complete prophecies of Nostradamus - Translated, edited, and interpreted by Henry C. Roberts

The prophecies cover a period from the 1500's until the end of the world in 3797. They were written in "quatrains," or verses of four lines. The editor translates these into English and then interprets them for the reader. They are arranged in Centuries, referred not top the calendar year, but to the fact that they were arranged in a series of 100 quatrains.

The editor then interprets the prophecy. This is where I think he went wrong with the book. He should have let the reader interpret the prophecies, because they probably would have made more sense.

Despite the passage of time, Nostradamus continues
to capture and enslave our yearnings for spiritual knowledge with his insightful writings.

His perceptive visions, as they lay before us in this guidebook for the past and future, range from commonly worded, simple to understand verse to hidden parable like quantrains for the more philosophically inclined individual. It is evident that much time and effort went into every aspect of this books infrastructure and with great relish its readers will readily absorb its truths in an identical manner.

I only managed to struggle through about half of this. Nostradamus' predictions, all in the form of quatrains are mostly so vague that they could apply to just about anything. When one or two lines of a quatrain vaguely match something in later history (make enough predictions about conflict in Europe and a few of them are bound to match up with the next few hundred years of history) the other two or three lines and any contradictory details are ignored and it is hailed as a "fulfilled prophecy." The "interpretations" given along with the quatrains are so arbitrary that the same verse is said to predict the death of a 17th century noble and of Bruce Lee's son in one instance or the "fifth column" in Spain and the Rodney King beating in LA in another. With some I can't even figure out what mental leap is necessary to make the connection between the prophecy and the interpretation. I'm glad to have this as a reference, but it is absolutely ridiculous rubbish.

I thought I was buying a biographical if not auto- biographical text on Nostradamus. It turns out that this is a compilation of quotations by Nostradamus with interpretation and translation into English.

This is a good book if your interested in the work of Nostradamus.

First, I didn't believe that Nostradamus couldn't acculately predict the future.. After I compared the historical events such as the rise of Nazi to the original text to find any discrepencies.. Too my surprise there is none.. Everything that Nostradamus said is very exact.. Perhaps, it is just a coincendent.. Oh Well, One of the most interesting prediction is the Doom Day in Year 2000. Here again Nostradamus is about to be right because Year 2000 is the year of Digital Doom Day.