Customer Reviews

The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar: Solving the Oak Island Mystery

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This work by Sora is an interesting one that keeps you entertained to the end of it. If you are interested in the Money Pit/Knights Templar/ Clan Sinclair & Rosslyn, etc. this is a must read. However, as interesting and well presented though his book is, it is marred towards the end of it with a couple of errors, one expecially glaring. For one thing, despite his implication to the contrary, the Teutonic Knights were not an outgrowth of the Templar order. They may have imitated the Templars and Hospitaller militrary monks, but they were no more ex-Templars than were the Templars ex-Hospitallers. Finally, and this was so glaring an error that it casts doubt about the other facts and statements by Sora, he describes the Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem and states that within this mosque is housed the Ka'aba, the holy black stone of Islam! Consult any standard work on Islam and it will state that the Ka'aba is located in the holy shrine at Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, a long way from Jerusalem! Hopefully, this will be corrected in a later edition (if any) of this work. Also, it is curious that Sora does not mention Michael Bradley's works, Holy Grail Across the Atlantic and its sequel, which closely parallel Mr. Sora's thesis regarding the Money Pit, the alleged Templar involvement in its construction and the exploration of the Nova Scotia by Henry Sinclair in 1398. Still, it's worth four out of five stars and a good read.

A truly well-written and compelling piece of work. Sora gives both a good overview of what's known about the Knights Templar and a good amount of well-thought-out conjecture about what we think we know about the Knights, the Sinclairs, Oak Island, and the bloodline of Jesus. He's also very good about distinguishing between what is known and what is just theory.

The only criticism I have of the work is that when it comes to the bloodline of Jesus and the geneology of the house of David, the author tends to rely too heavily on Holy Blood, Holy Grail, so that at times his chapter reads like a summary of that other book.

Overall, a great read and an invaluable piece of writing for anyone who's interested in the Knights Templar.

The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar is a fascinating book covering a wide variety of topics, ranging from the title topic - the Oak Island treasure - to ancient Viking history, authenticity of Shakespeare's authorship, and the family line of Christ.

Sora's main interest in this book is whether or not the Templars, made so popular recently by Dan Brown's "Davinci Code," are responsible for the mysterious pit on Oak Island in Nova Scotia.

This is a very fascinating topic and book, presenting an extraordinarily detailed history of the pit's excavation and an even closer look at the possible explanations for its existence. The explanation Sora chooses to focus on for the majority of the book, obviously, is the Templars. In doing so he presents an intriguing look at this secret society's beginning's, the historical climate surrounding its beginning's, and then follows it through the ages to the present day.

My only criticism is also a praise - the book tends to diverge in seemingly random directions, and you're never quite sure where Sora is going with it. However, if you find this kind of random minutia interesting, as I do, then it also allows Sora to cover an even wider range of topics on a deep level.

If you find a mysterious, unreachable treasure on an unlikely island, and an ultra-secret society that has lasted for thousands of years to be interesting topics, then I recommend this book. Be aware, however, that it is quite dense at times with a detailed historical presentation of little-known topics (like the Vikings, esoteric Scottish leaders and families, etc.) - but this may be its strongest point.

I feel the author tries to write a serious history book, but with his references in key parts of the book, its tough to take it seriously. There is too much reliance on the work of the likes of crystal crowd favorite Colin Wilson (_From Atlantis to the Sphynx_), Graham Handcock (_Fingerprints of the Gods_), and Charles Hapgood (_Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings_) of advanced civilization in Antarctia fame. He also spends too much time on grail lore for my taste, relying mostly on _Holy Blood, Holy Grail_, a work he admits is based on unconfirmable "private sources". So much for history.

He does do some interesting work with linguistics in the book, and his treatment of pre-Columbian Euorpeans in North America is worth a read, but his dismissal of the possibility of pirates building the money pit on Oak Island is disturbing given the possibility of a similar structure on Hispaniola, a pirate haven of the time.

Unfortunately, I feel it reads too much like a history book for the Tarot club, and too much like something from the Tarot club for those of us interested in history. Both, however, can gain some enjoyment from various parts of the book.

Try to overlook the extreme jumps in logic, because the book reads like a riveting science fiction novel. The author seemed willing to state something as a theory in one chapter, but then turn around and call it fact in a later one. However, I found myself enjoying The Lost Treasure of the Knights Templar, for several reasons: 1. The historical account of the different expeditions to Oak Island. 2. The theories presented by the author, while they were fantastic, were interesting enough to make me pause to reflect on their validity.

Overall, an interesting "alternate history" book, a subject I find more and more interesting as we are discovering that history is not merely fact, but also fiction (considering that history is usually written by the winners!)

I originally got this book to read about a possible thoery for what is buried and by whom at the Money Pit in Nova Scotia. But this volume is more an intensively researched and documented history of the Knights Templar and early Masons. Although the author's "name dropping" of historical figures like Leonardo DaVinci, Francis Bacon, Washington and others may seem silly; he is able to construct a compelling argument for the true intentions of the builders of the Money Pit and what he/they were attempting to hide/keep secret. There are some pretty earth-shattering, faith-questioning theories explored in this book. Although a couple of chapters are devoted to tiresome genealogies, they serve the purpose of supporting his arguments about the Templars and the Masons.

This is an interesting speculative work as to who might have been the builders of the famous Money Pit on Oak Island, Nova Scotia. The author does a good job holding one's interest and for those who are interested in the Money Pit/Knights Templar/Sinclair Family&Rosslyn/etc. it is a must read. However, after doing a commendable job with his theories and speculation about the subject, he unfortunately throws out some errors that, for me at least, cast doubt on his work, or at least causes one to wonder about the rest of it. For example, he states that the Teutonic Knights were an out growth of the Knights Templar. Not so -- this monastic military order was established by Germanic Knights, perhaps in imitation of the Templar and Hospitaller orders, but it was not the Teutonic offspring of the Templars as Sora implies. Then, and this is truly regrettable as it shows really sloppy research, towards the end of the work he describes the Dome of the Rock mosque in Jerusalem and that is houses the Ka'aba stone!! Sorry, Mr. Sora, the Ka'aba is located in Mecca, a long way from Jerusalem!! Whoever edited this work should have picked up this glaring error. I sincerely hope that any future editions will rectify this mistake. Still, I give the work four out of five stars for his presentation and the interesting material presented. I was surprised that there was no mention of the work of Michael Bradley whose works, Holy Grail Across the Atlantic, and a related sequel, fit well with Sora's thesis.

Mr. Sora's book expounding his theory on the history of the Templar Treasure is quite fascinating. I completely concur with his findings and compliment him on his courage in expressing a controversial theory. This is without doubt the most cohesive theory yet on just what happened to the unrecovered treasure. I personally think that the trail extends even farther than Oak Island and that the Oak Island Cross is the key to the actual site, but Oak Island is beyond reasonable doubt involved in this amazing story. I would be interested in corresponding with Mr. Finnan but can't find an E. address for him, If he reads this please write me.

Having read most of the "Tarot Club" books, as another reviewer calls them, I was very disappointed by this book. The chapters on the alleged Sinclair travel to Nova Scotia are interesting,and certainly would account for some of the carvings at Rosslyn, but the hard evidence evidence connecting the Templars to Oak Island is sadly lacking. The book otherwise is highly derivative, and draws on everything from "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" to the Dead Sea Scrolls. If you've read Picknett & Prince or Knight and Lomas, most of this book is redundant. It really is going to take a serious engineering expedition to develop a shaft on Oak Island to get to the bottom (literally) of this incredible enigma. Whether or not there is actually anything down there or not remains to be seen, but books like this really don't add anything more than speculation to the whole question.

This is a great book. As a lover of Templar myth and lore, this book offers a very interesting theory regarding the missing Templar wealth. Its well written and makes for easy reading. Sora's research and theories are intellectually captivating. The Oak Island mystery is one of my favorite topics to read about and this book is on top of my list. If you're a Templar buff and/or are interested in learning about Oak Island, then do yourself a favor and pick this one up.