The Hab Theory [Hardcover]

Allan W. Eckert (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Popular Library (1977)
• ASIN: B000MBHTJC
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (86 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Allan W. Eckert, seven-time Pulitzer Prize nominee, has written 39 books, including his award-winning Incident at Hawk's Hill and The Frontiersman, plus numerous other historical narratives, novels and non-fiction works, as well as books for young adults and children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Novel I Have Ever Read, September 9, 2002

By 

Jay Adler (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The HAB Theory (Paperback)

I first read The HAB Theory in 1977 at the age of 12. After about nine years of searching in vain, I finally found an out-of-print copy for sale on the Internet late in 2000 (this was prior to the novel's reprinting). My mission was to decide whether my favorite book could captivate me as an adult in the same way it did as a child. I was definitely not disappointed!

Not only are the characters depicted in fascinatingly vivid detail, the scientific theories presented still seem plausible to me a full 23 years after my first reading. Eckert slowly weaves the reader into a web of intriguing premises that are all eventually tied into a neat little apocalyptic bow. As key characters begin to accept the possibility of a cataclysmic earth event, so too does the reader. Most of the questions the skeptic in me privately asked throughout the novel were answered in great detail later on.

Some of the material is dated - cell phones or the Internet had not yet been invented at the time of the HAB Theory's writing - but what science fiction novel that takes place in the near future (15-20 years) can foresee every innovation? More to the point, the author's primary concern is with the past, not futuristic devices not central to the storyline.

While it is likely a scientist could refute most of Herbert Allen Boardman's postulates, one cannot help but wonder if there is perhaps a grain of truth to his overall theory. How would our current president handle a similar situation? I, for one, do not wish to find out.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Should have been a non-fiction?, February 28, 2000

By 

Samson Moy (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Hab Theory (Hardcover)

Since I bought this book 23 years ago, I must have read it a couple dozens times. It gave us tons of verified ancient mysteries in virtually every fields of science relating to the history of the earth and its unexplained vanished civilizations. HAB Theory was a postulate which explained the majority of them. In a nutshell, the HAB Theory presented the fact that because of the eccentricity of the North and South Poles to the magnetic poles, it created an imbalance in the rotation of the earth. When this imbalance reached a stage where it overcame the gyroscopic effect of the earth's rotation, the earth would see a near 90 degree shift of its axis of rotation. The result of which would mean that the poles ended up in the equator and the result would be catastrophic to any life form. This phenomenon occured once every 3000 to 7000 years in the past. The last roll over occurred more than 7000 years ago. Unlike most other novels, one would find it very difficult to read HAB Theory just once or twice. I discovered some new evidence every time I re-read the book. Every time after re-reading the book, my question used to be: Why didn't it happen? Now, it is: When will it happen? It is that good!

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I own 3 copies of this book, October 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Hab Theory (Hardcover)

Last winter my daughter phoned me and said,"Mom, you are a member of a cult, the HAB theory cult." She gave me a Web address, I went to the Internet,and read all the pages. I had purchased my first copy of The HAB Theory in 1977, in Singapore, (I lived there from 1975 to 1982). I read the book 3 times in the first month and the 3rd time through I listed all of the historic references (for further reading). I now own three copies of the book- the U.K. edition, pubished by Sphere, I lend to friends - a U.S. paperback is for my own use, and a "like-new" hardback is the only book in my bank vault. I have always been a science buff and this book answered so many "unexplainables". I recommend this book to everyone, it changed my thinking and it may change yours.