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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Impeccable logic?, February 4, 2003
This book is divided into three parts: Part 1 discusses the various theories concerning the pyramids at Giza, including when, why, and how they were built. Part 2 discusses the more recent theories, such as the "Orion Correllation" theory, the alignment of the shafts, and the redating of the Sphinx. Part 3 delves into the politics concerning the overseers of the Giza monuments and the many "New Age" authors whom have published many best-selling books about the subject over the past decade or so. Without giving away too much detail, I will first say that this book is most definitely worth reading. In Parts 1&2, the authors attack theories put forward by BOTH the alternative AND orthodox camps with a respectable dose of logic that left me feeling that they were, more or less, fair-minded individuals with little bias one way or the other. They discuss how ramp theories may not be as far-fetched as some have suggested, yet also conceed that stones of immense wieght used in construction throughout the ancient world might also suggest that a lost technology such as sonic levitation may be a possibility. The point here is that to the authors, nothing is counted as fact nor dismissed outright. The material is reviewed, then the likelihoods discussed. No subject is taboo--it's all fair game and open to criticism. This is refreshing to anybody who is open-minded, yet also tired of fringe conspiracy theories. Is this to say that the authors are capable of impeccable logic? Of course not. Unlike most others, though, at least they make the attempt.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Read this book first, March 18, 2004
This is perhaps as comprehensive, well researched and unbiased as much as any book can be. Firstly, it gives the chronologically ordered unravelling of the pyramids and their offical standpoint in a most meticulous manner possible. Secondly, it provides the most comprehensive and unbiased coverage of all the conventional as well as unconventional theories that try to explain the phenomena of pyramids. At times the authors might appear a bit ambiguous, and that is the best aspect of the book, instead of taking any particular stance they keep an open attitude towards issues which are not completely resolvable under the current circumstances. Lastly, it gives a thorough account of the politics and the players in the field in, again, as unbiased manner as much humanly possible. This is indeed the first book one should read before venturing towards any other (orthodox or unorthodox) material.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The "Alternative Camp" Views Debunked, January 12, 2007
Wow, I sure wouldn't want to get Lawton and Ogilvie-Herald upset with me!
This book is a meaty little rascal, over 570 pages, and in it Lawton and Ogilvie-Herald take on anybody who doesn't share their orthodox view of the origin of the sphinx, pyramids, and the other architectural artifacts of Egypt and the Nile Valley, from Edgar Cayce, to Zecharia Sitchin, to Robert Schoc, Robert Bauval, Graham Hancock, and John Anthony West, referring to them with terms like "mavericks", "copycats", and "false profits". Dr. Zahi Hawass, Egyptian Director of Antiquities and the Giza Plateau is their hero as well as anyone else sharing their views.
Beginning with the accounts of first recorded explorers of the Giza Plateau and continuing through Rudolf Gantenbrink's exploration of the southern shaft of the Queen's chamber with the robot Upuaut, Lawton and Ogilvie-Herald build a well documented and convincing case for the orthodox view for the time and means of construction of all of the architectural artifacts of Egypt. Sometime in a not too complimentary style they, one by one dispute, or attempt to dispute, the claims and theories of the "alternative camp", or those researchers and authors like Robert Schock, Robert Bauval, Graham Hancock, and John Anthony West whose views and theories on the age and origin of the sphinx, and the pyramids, differ from the orthodox view of most Egyptologists. Their basic position is that the sphinx and possibly the pyramids, are ancient; far more ancient than is commonly accepted by the scientific community, and that the sphinx and the pyramids are the product of an ancient and lost civilization far more advanced than the Egyptians.
Lawton and Ogilvie-Herald throw out a topic, and then thoroughly approach and discuss it from every view or opinion, almost always arriving at the orthodox view as the only reasonable answer. It is amazing the number and diversity of the topics they cover, and they talk about things that I have never heard of before, much less considered.
I have read many books on Giza, the sphinx, and the pyramids of Egypt and while I am almost offended by the way Lawton and Ogilvie-Herald talk about some of my "heroes", whether these two guys are right or wrong, they have certainly done there homework, and this is probably the best documentation of the history of the exploration of the Giza Plateau that I have ever read.
"Giza the Truth" is a must for anyone interested in Egyptology, whether you agree with the orthodox view or not.
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