Customer Reviews

Lost Science

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

 

 

It's too bad that Gerry Vassilatos didn't hire a good editor to clean up his tortured treatment of the English language in this book because he has some great material. It's clear he did considerable research in profiling the discoveries of a number of inventors whose brilliant work never made it to mainstream America. Too bad, since we could be enjoying free energy, warp drive to the stars and a cure for cancer. I don't mean that sarcastically either -- I think these men (they were all men) actually made the discoveries claimed in the book. One reason I bought this book was my interest in the work of Royal R. Rife, who, judging from all sources I've seen, really invented a machine that stopped cancer; his cure rate was 100% But we don't have this machine today, nor do we have the unlimited wireless energy promised by Nikola Tesla (another amazing and fascinating character) or the fusion reactor that actually worked, as created by Philo T. Farnsworth. The author gives us a feast of unrealized potential for the betterment of society.

And that brings me to another problem with this book. The author weaves his own opinions and ideas in among the stories of these inventors, and due again to his idiosyncratic writing style, it is often unclear as to just what point he is trying to make. He mixes metaphors in appearing to endorse the old idea of the "ether" which he introduces along with his first story, that of Baron Von Reichenbach and his "od" energy. The idea of a natural type of energy that is not electricity, but exists in abundance, is part of many of these inventions. Apparently Tesla was sensitive to this energy. But what exactly is it? It is always a kind of radiance that can be tapped by those who know it's there, who can listen to the earth, or feel it in the radiance from the moon (Von Reichenbach's somnambulists were driven crazy by moonlight). The author often becomes lyrical as he talks about the dream state, the shared consciousness, the archetypes, the sea of ideas that he sees as the source of all great breakthroughs. The ideas are apparently "in the ether." The inventor brings them forth, as gifts to mankind. But some gifts never reach the intended recipients because society runs on money, not creativity, and there are often powerful vested interests that stand to lose financially from technological changes. Technology gets suppressed because the military wants it or some organization wants to keep doing things the same old lucrative way.

I was startled to read in this book a new theory of the Philadelphia Experiment. In this version, the military first noticed the invisibility function while using huge and high-powered arc welding equipment, and they consulted Dr. Thomas Moray who had discovered a similar effect. Working together, they equipped the USS Eldridge with the equipment which made the ship blink invisible, with disastrous effect on the crew. There have been many versions and retellings of this event, and here is one more (from a source that is not Carlos Allende).

The author concludes with a little tale about water and fire and how mankind lost "contact with the inner water world" through its belief in the power of fire. We lost our way when we bought into the "thermodynamic model of the world." I think somewhere in all this garbled and often grammatically incorrect language is a profound thought. I guess as a professional editor myself, I find sentences that twist and turn without meaning especially annoying. I could have done with fewer sentences like "Dream waves ebb and flow in the mind of humanity." I would love to have a crack at editing this tangled mess of words into something coherent, but despite its considerable shortcomings, this book was worth reading. Like I said, if you can wade through the overdone metaphors, repetitious concepts, and bad English, you might be able to pick up some actual ideas.

I recommend this book to anyone who has curiousity. I say this because there are some people who do not, and this book is not for them.

In this collection of biographies, Gerry Vassilatos tells about incredible, nearly unbelievable inventions and inventors whose ideas would have changed the course of history. And then he tells why they haven't. (Mostly having to do with government repression and corporate monopoly)

Read this book. Learn about Cold Fusion, Virus-Destroying Cure Rays, All-Permeating Luminous Energy, Earth Batteries, Endless Light, and much more.

Vassilatos has compiled an amazing treasure trove of information about a lost "etheric" science that, had it not been reviled or repressed by mainstream scientists or unscrupulous businesspeople, might have truly revolutionized science, industry, and medicine. An especially interesting chapter on the work of Royal R. Rife and an energy medicince cure for cancer that was suppressed by powerful doctors and institutions provides new insights into a lost vibrational healing technology. Highly recommended.

Great book. Tells of the supression by our government (and others) and proves the extent of its control (for the benefit of special interests, rather than the interests of the people) through the listing of many revolutionary, but near completely supressed/discredited inventors. They haven't been given an ounce of credit by conventional authorities (or public/school textbooks).

And some of the technologies mentioned in this book ARE available. Some are the exactly the same as the original, but most are not, though very close. So by searching around you CAN unsupress these forgotten technologies (and works of their brilliant inventors) and use them yourself under the government's radar. So good luck hunting.

By the way, I endorse this book and suggest you give a copy to those you know believe the media and government "experts".

You need to get this book if you have an interest in out of place artifacts, suppressed science or just to fire up the imagination. It's sad to think just how much better our lives might be if they had allowed some of these breakthroughs to be commercialized. Moreover I found some startling new information on both Tesla and on the Philadelphia experiment in these pages. It's true that the writing could be improved some, but that is a minor nit compared to the excitement of these discoveries.

How anyone can think all this book offers is bad writing style and a lack of useful information is beyond me. This book is awesome, written well, understandable and thoughtful.

The information offered is astounding, the scientific characters it depicts engrossing. Too bad that the writing style is often akin to a rat maze: the entrance point is clear, the journey byzantine, the outcome slightly fuzzy. Many claims are made: one wishes at least some of them were true. But the book lacks credible footnotes, so it is difficult to determine the validity of the statements. The worst aspect of this paranoid gem is that, at times, the author floats off into New Age mumbo-jumbo and begins sounding like a super-intelligent inmate off his meds.

Even with all these flaws, the book is definitely worth reading as a springboard to further investigation of the depicted scientists and their discoveries.

As the cost of existent copies is, shall we say, inflated, it is a mystery to me why the publishers do not reissue it.

It is too bad that now even the availability of Lost Science is becoming scarce! Many of the books chapters can be viewed at hbci(dot)com if you do a site search.

Below is an original review by Douglas Chapman at strangemag(dot)com.

I especially liked the reviews' closing remarks:

"Vassilatos believes the human race is centuries behind the development it could have achieved, if it had not blindly held onto a main source of energy: fire. He is anti-fire, and thus feels civilization took a wrong turn when fire and its fuels became a central fact of human existence. He writes: "Fire is not the only energy which Nature has to show us. It is time again to consider what the watery song-myths of the old green forest world yet sing.

"There is fire, and it kills. But Nature is a garden, a thesaurus of dynamics."

That reminder is enough of a justification for the existence of this work."

***************************

The volume's admitted bias does not get in the way of its contents--the detailed stories of some fascinating individuals and their work, from the valid to the highly controversial--to put it mildly.

The individuals profiled are Baron Karl Von Reichenbach, Antonio Meucci, Nathan Stubblefield, Nikola Tesla, R. Raymond Rife, Thomas Henry Moray, Thomas Townsend Brown, Gavreau, and Philo Farnsworth. Most famous of these are Tesla, who harnessed the use of alternating currents of electricity, and Philo Farnsworth, the man responsible for television as we know it. The world would be far different without their like.

The book's concentration is, of course, on more controversial alleged discoveries. This leads in interesting directions. To the present reviewer, Von Reichenbach's considerations of Od energy find an interesting reflection in the Star Wars movies--which goes unmentioned in the book. Reichenbach stated: "Everything then, emits LIGHT...everything...everything/We live in a world full of SHINING matter!" The diminutive Jedi master Yoda, in The Empire Strikes Back, expresses similar views about the nature of the Force.

In his time, Von Reichenbach was influential, but is less so now. But the work of the tragic Wilhelm Reich--not dealt with in this book--offers a related worldview.

Antonio Meucci, the inventor of the teletrofono (apparently the first telephone), is a case in point about how large business interests can try to ruin those who influenced their successes. Meucci developed his discoveries into rather large and workable systems, whose success was subsequently downplayed by The Bell Company. Public demonstrations of his technology were later compared to tin cans and string.

Some have claimed that Meucci's "telephones" were acoustic rather than electrical. However, Vassilatos writes in detail about Meucci's work at vibrating electrical current with speech.

Regarding electricity, Nathan Stubblefield's earth batteries and ground radio, and Nikola Tesla's broadcast power made interesting uses of wireless technology. An account of Tesla's career is given in this volume, an admittedly brief look at a giant influence.

Raymond Rife's work with ultra microscopes and cure rays calls to mind the iconic image of the leading edge scientist as popularly pictured earlier this century. Dr. Philo Farnsworth, whose invention of electronic television impacted humanity as much as Tesla's inventions, is claimed in this book to have invented a workable hot fusion system in 1965--which was shelved by ITT, which nevertheless held tightly onto the patents.

Even a claimed "true" version of the elsewhere debunked Philadelphia Experiment is to be found in this volume. The present reviewer is not knowledgeable enough to judge the worth of the various technologies described in this book. Nevertheless, he finds much food for thought here, even after skepticism is applied.

The need to control power sources has occasioned war and espionage, whether from governments or companies. Were some of the inventors described in this volume the victims of these? Or were they humbugs?

One might suspect that some of their leads in this book will turn out to be fruitful, and others much less so.

Vassilatos believes the human race is centuries behind the development it could have achieved, if it had not blindly held onto a main source of energy: fire. He is anti-fire, and thus feels civilization took a wrong turn when fire and its fuels became a central fact of human existence. He writes: "Fire is not the only energy which Nature has to show us. It is time again to consider what the watery song-myths of the old green forest world yet sing.

"There is fire, and it kills. But Nature is a garden, a thesaurus of dynamics."

That reminder is enough of a justification for the existence of this work.

Every serious student of archaeology should read this fine and well researched book.

An extraordinary masterpiece of historical documentation. Compendious in its scope, and prose-like in its delivery, 'Lost Science' uncovers, through the skillful artistry of its author, Gerry Vassilatos, the actual source behind the genius of these unacknowledged visionarys.