Customer Reviews

Father Ernetti's Chronovisor : The Creation and Disappearance of the World's First Time Machine

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

 

 

Mr. Dennis Daly's review of Father Ernetti's Chronovisor is misleading and incorrect in that surely it must refer, not to the English-language version of the book (which you have on sale here), but to the original German-language version (Dein Schicksal ist Vorherbestimmt, 1997). The German version devotes only two chapters exclusively to Father Ernetti and his time machine, which is one of the complaints Mr. Daly makes. The American version has 14 chapters devoted exclusively to Father Ernetti and his chronovisor, and all of the other 12 chapters bear directly on those 14 chapters. The German version is riddled with errors (the author even gets Father Ernetti's first name wrong), but the American publishers seem to have done all their own research and brought out a book so greatly expanded, revised and corrected over the original version that it really amounts to a whole new book. I strongly recommend this new American version. It is a fascinating and riveting account that seems to me to bring out all of the complex, subtle and elusive factors in this mind-blowing and completely original odyssey of Father Ernetti. I'm at a loss, though, to explain why 4 out of 5 readers backed up Mr. Daly in his harsh review. Why did they affix their approval to a review that so obviously distorts even the most basic facts of the book? Have they, too, read only the German version? It seems unlikely. But, if so, I strongly urge them--and everyone else--to read the American version.

Pre-Publication Review by the author of Parent-Child Telepathy, UFO Dynamics, Psychiatric and Paranormal Aspects of Ufology, The Jacques Romano Story and many others.

FATHER ERNETTI'S CHRONOVISOR is a brilliantly-researched, absorbing compendium of a current-times Benedictine monk's forays into specific events in the life of Christ and ancient Greece. Using his enigmatic invention--the chronovisor--scientist/scholar/exorcist Father Ernetti plumbs the depths and drives a cutting wedge into man's hidden past, our access to alleged akashic records, and the present-day relevance of those to such new and baffling paranormal techniques as electronic voice phenomena and transcommunications with television and computers. Peter Krassa illuminates his thesis with sparkling accounts of the life and achievements of such fellow time-travelers as Madame Blavatsky, Rudolph Steiner and Thomas A. Edison, and some others not quite so well known, such as the controversial free energy inventor/genius(?) John Worrell Keely. Wow! Once you start reading FATHER ERNETTI'S CHRONOVISOR, you won't put it down till you've finished. It is a first-rate, challenging mystery-thriller, not fiction but--whatever the true explanation behind it all is--the "real thing!"

This book posits an amazing notion from its first page: why did Father Ernetti, known for his studiousness and utter honestly, announce to the Vatican that he'd invented a time machine? And for that matter, why did the Vatican corroborate his announcement as fact before covering it up and pretending it'd never occurred?

Pity that the book never truly takes a stand on its findings, however. It presents a series of facts, interviews, ideas, and thoughts, many of which contradict each other, and lets the reader interperet them as they wish. In the end, the reader is no more educated on the subject than when they began, and perhaps a bit more confused.

This was a good, quick read on a subject that I doubt many people have heard about. It has the feel of a real-life Umberto Eco mystery, full of esoteric possibilities. About half the book deals with Father Ernetti, and the other half deals with related subjects such as Blavastky, Cayce, and Rudolf Steiner. I think Europeans might be more familar with this story than Americans.

Purporting to be a biography, this book is a great deal more. Yes, it is fascinating enough as one of these — it tells of a scientist/theologian who developed a machine to look into the past — but it is also much more. To set the context of Father Ernetti, to show how his chronovisor fit into the human quest for spirit, the author also offers fascinating accounts of others who have added so much to our spiritual understandings. The chronovisor, after all, purported to grasp both sounds and images from the still-existent waves of the past, held forever in the akashic records. Mr. Krassa does not merely offer example of what these are, but gives an entire background by telling us of the 18th century birth of mesmerism and animal magnetism, which effects came from “a ‘vital fluid’ diffused everywhere throughout the universe.” The author shows the spread of this belief in varied forms, and takes us through the lives of people like Madame Blavatsky, Rudolf Steiner, and Edgar Cayce to explain where all of this went. He even tells of Thomas Edison’s apparatus to contact the dead!

Enter Father Ernetti and his chronovisor. The father was widely known for his expertise in archaic music, and for his interest and talent in science and languages. When he began to speak of a machine built by scientists that allowed them to witness the past in 3-D, you can bet that people took note. But with fascinating irregularities to the claims, people’s reactions widely varied. A huge reaction set in when Ernetti claimed to have photographed the crucified Christ … and when the photo was proven a fake. Ernetti was a man of good repute, and Mr. Krassa examines why an honest man would lie in this way; why he would withhold information on the supposed machine; and just what was really going on with the father.

If I might re-classify the book, I call it investigative reporting of a fascinating mystery. And, it helps the reader understand better where we stand today by better seeing where the spiritual movement has arisen from. One of the most interesting accounts I have read, and recommended for those wanting to take an unusual reading trip.

What a fascinating story. There was a bit in the middle that I had to push my way through, but I'm so glad I stayed the course because the ending is most unexpected.

Ernetti died in 1994 without revealing the secret of the Chronovisor but Chambers says evidence is mounting that the Catholic Church is hiding a working model from the rest of the world, supposedly to keep it from getting into evil hands. Sound crazy? Maybe, but there may be something to it. Chambers says a Jesuit priest named Father Francois Brune believes the Chronovisor does and must exist because -- in the priest's words -- "Ernetti wouldn't lie about such things."
Something about being able to travel to the past and perceive firsthand a bygone era or past event is extremely enticing, maybe because it seems so impossible. Author Peter Krassa uses this magic to produce a book which is simultaneously exciting and disappointing. The nonfiction book begins like an adventure story. An Italian priest, Father Ernetti, stumbles upon the ability to communicate with the dead via standard audio recording equipment; as the plot unfolds he uses this knowledge to build the chronovisor, a machine that displays images from the past on a TV screen. This part of the book is well-written and suspenseful, with each chapter ending in a cliffhanger. YOU DECIDE.

From THE FORTEAN TIMES, June/July, 2000: Jeremy of Hampstead, Fiona of Bloomsbury, beware. European-style intellectual novels are making a comeback with a New Age touch. There are now no excuses for being a pre-industrial writer any more. Father Ernetti's Chronovisor is a beautifully written literary-cum-fictional experiment, in the Umberto Eco tradition. The book could have been a candidate for a review by Arthur Koestler in the long-defunct CIA-sponsored Encounter magazine. It could well represent a growing anti-pop movement in that genre which is now called "pan-dimensional." This style, while not "stream-of-consciousness" or collage, nevertheless juxtaposes many elements: an esoteric story, essays on occultism, historical elements and technological myths--just about everything that FT readers are interested in. Father Ernetti was an Italian Benedictine monk who died in the middle years of this [the 20th] century. He lived in the lovely abbey on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, just off the main island of Venice, and as a scientist and musicologist, he was an authority on archaic music. Using his knowledge of the physics of chordal structures, he claimed to have made a time-machine. (...) -Colin Bennett

When I purchased this book, I expected to read a trestise on the myth shrouded tale of a priest building a time machine and how the authors had delved deep into this issue to prove or disproveit, or maybe just offer facts to the general public. Instead, the tale was told, the authors speculated, then left the scope of the book entirely and gave mini-bios on half a dozen of other characters in some negligible way related to the subject of this book. Then, for no reason save for his own mortality, Father Ernetti dies and claims the whole story was false. Quite disappointing, even if it adds some credibility to the authors.

One of the more irritating aspects of this work, and this shows up in many semi-mystical texts, is the assumption that just because some squallid ancient race believed some crazy thing that, on the conceptual level at least, resembles some theory of modern science; that doesn't mean that they were right and that all of their "sutras" should be believed and their other theories should even be CONSIDERED as truth.

Perhaps these are merely the ramblings of a disgruntled customer, or perhaps some of its continuity was lost in translation. Either way, I would recommend picking this one up at your local library (they still exist!) but definitely not worth the money.

Anyone interested in this book would benefit greatly in getting Kelly Ford's book TIMECRAFT as well.