Customer Reviews

Earth Under Fire: Humanity's Survival of the Ice Age

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

One hardly knows where to begin to review a book of this kind. It's a tour de force that leaves one speechless. I had already read LaViolette's Genesis of the Cosmos -- which in my view was the biggest breakthrough in Egyptology since Champollion deciphered the Rosetta stone. In it LaViolette essentially decoded the ancient Egyptian religion. He showed that it was anything but a primitive pagan cult. It was rather a kind of time capsule: based on a physics so advanced that it was not until the 1970s that our modern science progressed enough to decipher it. The implication of course is that a remote culture with an advanced physics had to be a high civilization. OK. So what happened to it?

The author answers the question in Earth Under FIre. Understand, LaViolette didn't crank out this book in a year or even two. He's been working on this superwave theory for probably 30+ years. In a nutshell he's proposing that the galactic center periodically goes into a violent phase and releases vast amounts of cosmic radiation. Which spreads out across the galaxy triggering supernovae events and God only knows what all else. When the superwave reaches our solar system it encounters our sun's dust/gas nebular cloud which is far out beyond Pluto -- and it pushes lots of dust into our solar system. With results that are catastrophic for our planet.

The author does a fine job presenting his case. He has gathered reams of evidence -- and while I personally take issue with several points these are peripheral to his main argument. Indeed, I was tremendously impressed with the author's science acumen, his skill as a communicator, his eloquence in marshaling the evidence, and with the argument itself. I came away convinced. And it made me damn angry to learn that the bureaucrats have treated LaViolette so shabbily. He is doing important work and deserves to be fully funded.

One last point to show how all of this relates to your life: If you know your physics you will know that high energy photons, i.e. cosmic rays, behave like particles. They have mass and momentum. Which is another reason why these superwaves are so dangerous. There's a real possibility they are preceded by a horrific gravity wave. What's the relevance? It seems we had a minor event -- a gamma burst -- from the galactic center that arrived 44 hours after the Dec 2004 tsunami that leveled Sumatra and the Indian basin, killing 250,000+ people. Well, the quake that caused it may well have been triggered by the gravity wave that preceded the burst.

Enuf said. Brother, this is heavy medicine.

In recent years, catastrophism has become somewhat more respectable in scientific circles, but marginalization of scientists avowing this theory is still happening. Paul LaViolette, who holds degrees in physics and systems science, has his own story to tell about bias in supposedly objective science.

Admittedly, he started out with a distinct handicap by basing his astronomical investigations on a decryption of the zodiac, as transmitted through traditional lore. According to him, the ancients bequeathed to us knowledge of an astronomical disaster that occurred toward the end of the last ice age: a massive explosion at the core of our galaxy, which caused a superwave of subatomic particles and rays that upon entering our solar system pushed huge amounts of debris toward the Sun leading to a significant decrease of sunlight.

He is of course not alone in postulating such a catastrophy some 15,000 years ago, but his explanation of the event is quite unique. Using mythology, star lore, astronomy, astrophysics, geology, archaeology, La Violette has succeeded in painting a colorful and fascinating picture of what he believes happened just before the emergence of the early civilizations. Clearly, something extraordinary happened and, if LaViolette is correct, it could happen again. It makes sense to generously support further research.

This work is best read in conjunction with Richard Firestone et al.'s The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes, also published by Bear & Co.


Copyright ©2006 by Georg Feuerstein. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any form requires prior permission from Traditional Yoga Studies at www.traditionalyogastudies.com

Many people besides the Christians, Jews and Moslems have experienced the same recurrent nightmare ... the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Maya, the Buddhists, the Hopi, the Aborigines, the Fulani, the Hindus ... The beauty is that what we see as our tragic end allows life to begin again. I believe Dr. Paul LaViolette has found some of the main forces behind the Darkness that leads to Light.

In a word, he would probably call it "The Superwave." I'm a grandfather, and I call it Teenagers - the idea that our Galaxy is probably a Seyfert Galaxy (immature and given to occasional rants) ... and our Sun may be a T Tauri star (immature and given to occasional rants). LaViolette's theory is that the Galaxy and the Sun seem to have a relationship in which the Galaxy periodically overpowers our solar system neighborhood (and lots of other stars) each 26,000 years or so. A giant cosmic duststorm comes in past our heliopause barrier ... possibly blasted in while the Sun is reversing polarity, or blasted in by supernova, or blasted in by gamma ray burst. The mechanism isn't as important as knowing that there are very definite climatic cycles; and C14, iridium, tin, nickel and beryllium-10 levels that show up in ice cores and the geologic record.

I am still terribly interested in the phenomenon. It seems that we are due for this Superwave that Zoroaster called the Renovation and Aristotle called the Greatest Year. One can call it the season of Kali Yuga. Some call it the Second Coming. It is the Fifth Sun of the Maya and the 10th Age of the Erythraean Sibyl. It is the season of our rebirth!

One day, the Teenagers will grow up and stop their temper tantrums. In the meantime, it is good to stock the shelves with food, keep a place to get away from the action, and keep an eye on the kids.

I like this book. Author makes a good point on what could happen around 2012, and seems to be warning us about what could happen. Lots of information in this book. Get the book!

Author's research indicates the earth's poles will shift in Dec 2012 causing massive flooding and tsunamis of coastal areas as well as weather changes. This links with the last page of the Mayan Dresden Codex which predict a world flood in 2012.

The second prediction the author makes could happen at any time. For details on its effects, look at the wikipedia entry for gamma ray burst.

The central thesis of this book is that the nucleus of our galaxy, the Milky Way, is physically active and from time to time gives rise to highly energetic cosmic ray waves. Given this premise (a scientific hunch - really) the author marshals arguments from a variety of fields to support this thesis. The view is synthetic, i.e. a valiant attempt has been made to use the results of discoveries in multiple specialized areas of science and human knowledge to create a coherent picture of Earth's global history over the last 30 thousand years.

There are 3 sorts of arguments that he discusses; broadly speaking: astronomical, geophysical, and cultural. His astrophysical arguments consist of demonstrating the plausibility of the existence, in his terminology, of a "super-wave" (of cosmic rays) based on recent discoveries that indicate QUASARs to be galaxies with highly energetic and active nuclei, on the observational radiation patterns of super-nova remnants, etc.

Additionally, he discusses certain features of the solar systems that could best be explained by a super-wave theory.

His terrestrial arguments are based on empirical evidence from geophysical research that bring in several science together: Oceanography, Glaciology, Climatology, Paleontology, Zoology, and so on. These arguments, in my opinion, form the strongest section of the book since they are firmly tied to an interpretation of existing data. Here he discusses the global glacial flooding that took place about 13,000 years ago and ties that to anomalies in tin and iridium isotope deposits that have to have had an extra-terrestrial origins; which, in turn, could best be explained by the super-wave ejected from the galactic nucleus.

His cultural arguments are based on interpretation of human cultural artifacts of myth and legend. This is by far the weakest part of the book. As the author himself notes, " To draw inferences from ancient myths about past astronomical events is indeed a risky business...". I think the author should heed his own observation in this case! I am specially doubtful of his analysis of the astrology as a coded science of creation of the ancient people - on the same par with our modern sciences. I do not think he has succeeded in making a case for the validity of his interpretation - in this book as well as in his other books.

I think the author has succeeded in establishing a coherent explanation of Earth's past geophysical history. I find his arguments based on astronomical and geophysical data and observations persuasive. I think his hypothesis is definitely falsifiable and indeed there are many predictions that he has made that can be tested with the proper expenditure of funds for carrying out those observations and researches (more ice core samples, more satellite observations, larger astronomical observations in optical, radio and Gamma-ray regimes).

I think what detracts from this book and its remarkable scientific synthesis, ironically, are the parts that seems to be very dear to the author: sub-quantum kinetic physics, Astrology as Ancient Science of Creation, etc. The author's achievement in exploring what a synthetic point of view is capable of achieving is marred by his insistence on explaining the mechanisms of the galactic super-wave as well. (There already are matter-creation theories out there; see for example the works of Hoyle and Narlikar on the Quasi-Steady State Cosmology).

I think it will be a good idea for the author to drastically revise this book in future printings. I suggest a book that concentrates on the developing the synthetic point of view (true Natural Philosophy) solely on basis of the scientific data. The story that the author tells in the present book is one of scientific detective work. He could have reached a larger audience by having a two-track book; track one at the level of a science popularize and track 2 at the level of a review article for a journal such as Rev. Mod. Phys. Or Ann. Rev. Astro. The author claims that he was led to the idea of the super-wave through his understanding of the ancient cipher that is the zodiac. Kepler `s mystical leanings and his knowledge of the relationship among the Platonic solids led him to discover his laws. But once the Kepler's Laws were formulated the world moved on and we had Newton and others.

Overall, the book is worth reading for the synthesis that it effects. One has to discard the astrology, mythic part; those parts are not germane to the book.

[...]

This is a reworking and rehashing of the catastrophe evidence collected by previous writers such as Donnelly, Velikovsky, Allen and Delair, etc, but lacking in the logic and sound scholarship of these tomes.
The idea of a code hidden behind astological symbols is preposterous.
Furthermore, although the author is correct in claiming a catastrophic end to the Pleistocene, the cause he identifies is unconvincing. Traditions from throughout the globe make it quite clear that a comet or comet-like body gave the earth a near miss and triggered the calamity. Again, the author's acceptance of the conventional date of ten to fifteenth thousand years ago for the end of the Pleistocene is at fault. Velikovsky showed in a multitude of ways that the event had to have occurred near the time of rise of the early civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia.

We should all be extremely grateful to Mr. La Violette, and the many others like him who are helping us understand ourselves and the world we live in. He has an eminent background in physics, geology, electromagnetics, and astronomy that lend enormous credibility to his writing. But on top of that, he's able to piece together a huge array of sometimes obscure data and express his analysis and conclusions in an extremely clear manner, with logic, many references, and illustrations. Most thoughtful people realize that generally accepted theories of our planet's distant past are woefully inadequate. Evidence is fragmentary, dots left unconnected, and personal and cultural biases interfere with understanding. DIscovering the true facts requires enormous research, creative thinking, rigorous analysis, and an open mind. It takes genius, surely, but that's not all. It requires a truly scientific approach, and by that I mean putting aside preconceptions that may interfere, and letting the facts and analysis speak for themselves. Mr. Laviolette does this very well in his books. So, we need books like this, and courageous writers like him, to help us understand.

This book's primary focus is a series of immense astronomical events that affected all life on our planet, in particular over the last 200,000 years or so. These cosmic events, in the form of massive outbursts from the center of our galaxy have been the source of countless myths and legends from around the planet concerning global catastrophe and the rebuilding process that has taken literally thousands of year to recover from. Loads of animal species were totally wiped out, and it's incredibly fortunate that at least some people survived.

Cosmic rays and dust from the center of the galaxy swept through or solar system on many occasions. These events created both ice ages and periods of intense heat. Then came the end of the most recent ice ages, and it happened fast. When the great ice sheets melted at the end of the last ice age, there were occasionally huge waves of icy water that rolled down off the glaciers, truly flattening everything it their path and washing it out to the deep ocean or dumping it rudely in heaps here and there. Humanity survived in mostly isolated pockets of small populations. Many had to hide in caves, away from the scorched earth or screaming winds If there had been an advanced civilization anywhere on earth at that time, ( and I believe there certainly was ) it would not have survived except in memory. Mega-tsunamis rolled across the atlantic and pacific oceans, depositing piles of debris, bones, everything, far from it's source. Mammoths got frozen with food in their mouths. Some of these waves went right into the mediterranean sea, sweeping inland and devastating entire regions. Sea levels rose dramatically. Even now, on Google Earth, you can see huge "continental shelves" that long ago were the coastlines. Off the west coast of India they have found huge cities under hundreds of feet of water. and these waves also carried fine silt, which covered everything. Is it any wonder we can't find the "evidence" of past civilizations, even though the mythology is absolutely clear.. we are not the first great civilization on the planet. Let's hope we're not the last.

I highly recommend this book, definitely, but please also see and read... Graham Hancock, Joseph Farrell, John Anthony West, John Major Jenkins, Zacharia Sitchin, Walter Cruttenden, and many others who do this type of extraordinary research. I know I'm not alone in my earnest desire for answers to some of the most profound questions about humanity, our planet, and our cosmos. Answers come from an interdisciplinary approach that looks at all sides of the issues, and this is what Mr. Lavioltte does in this and his other books.

This book is a detailed read, but well worth it. I recommend this book even though I do not agree with every point made in the book, as he sees all past evidence as pointing to his theory, whereas sometimes it is clear that other things are being referred to, such as asteroid impact.

Nevertheless it contains a huge quantity of information that will benefit anyone doing research in the subject of catastrophism, or the destruction of ancient civilizations. It even has information relevant to the future. Has numerous end notes and bibliography.

Earth under Fire: Humanity's Survival of the Ice Age
By Paul A. LaViolette, PhD
ISBN: 1-59143-052-6 (Inner Traditions, 2005)

It's not a matter of "if"; it's a matter of "when" will we go through the next cataclysmic upheaval on Earth. Putting aside the debate of whether or not it's manmade or natural, with the mounting information pointing to the fact that Earth is rapidly approaching a major shift, we would do well to learn from our ancestors, who recorded through myths and monuments the destructive forces that nature can and has unleashed in our past. A compilation of well-documented science, from ice cores and astronomical evidence, to indigenous myths of when their ancestors faced extinction, could possibly make this information crucial for our own survival.

Rahasya Poe, Lotus Guide magazine [...]