Nostradamus: The Complete Prophecies [Hardcover]

John Hogue (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1997

From the bestselling author of Nostradamus: The New Revelations comes the most complete book ever published on the life and prophecies of the 16th-century French doctor/astrologist. This new examination of his works includes interpretations based on computer analyses of all 36,000 words of Nostradamus' original writings.

Editorial Reviews

Review

On the cusp of the millennium, this weighty volume will likely ride the wave of renewed interest in fin de siecle-type prophecies. This 16th century French physician and occultist has a four century edge of notoriety over contemporary prognosticators. Noting his quarter century investment of research, this Seattle author is admittedly a longtime Nostradamus believer who still claims to present a comprehensive, objective interpretation of these prophecies into the distant future. Written in archaic French, in 1,100 cryptic quatrains (filling 10 volumes in their original incarnation!), they aimed to give rational semblance to the mysteries of the divine while confounding the ever-threatening Inquisition. Like all believers in matters beyond verification by science, Hogue (credentials unspecified) harnesses Nostradamus' ambiguities to buttress his own beliefs - a fault he acidly criticizes in others, as well as to rationalize that averted (i. e., incorrectly predicted) destinies are either misinterpretations or the result of free will. Whether or not one accepts that symbolic representations such as "the crooked cross" portend the Nazi swastika, and others the AIDS epidemic, this compendium is fascinating for its biography of a man - and elucidation of the controversies over his interpreters - who will continue to be controversial into the 21st century. -- From Independent Publisher

Language Notes

Text: English, French

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 961 pages
• Publisher: Element Books Ltd (April 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1852309598
• ISBN-13: 978-1852309596
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 2.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #738,761 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 86 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not a believer... but this book's good., July 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Nostradamus: The Complete Prophecies (Hardcover)

Of all the books written about Nostradamus' prophecies, this one is one of the few that tries to be objective and doesn't present silly and ridiculous arguments and interpretations. Hogue actually recognises the fact that many of the seer's quatrains are so extremely vague that they allow themselves to dozens of different interpretations. Or.. could Nostradamus have been so amazing as to write one quatrain that predicts different events? I don't know, but I'm sure some like to think so.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hogue Presents Open-Minded View, September 17, 2001

By 

"cindiboykin" (Daphne, AL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nostradamus: The Complete Prophecies (Hardcover)

Hogue has obviously spent a lot of time and effort in research both into Nostrodamus's life (which is very important when understanding what ANY author is writing) and into the translations and interpretations of the quatrains. He gives the reader the purpose behind the predictions, an in-depth rationale as to the reason it is so difficult to translate, admits his own short-comings, and then attempts to translate them to English, but always gives alternate meanings if they are too unclear to interpret in just one way. He interprets each quatrain in the way he believes it to be interpreted, incorporates other authors' interpretations, and encourages the reader to make his/her own interpretation. This prophecies, in their original form, are very, very difficult to understand, and Hogue gives and open-minded view to the interpretations and never says that he is absolutely right. I admire anyone who admits they don't have all of the answers and appreciated being educated enough in reading his book to be able to make my own interpretations.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars What a waste of time (26 years!), March 21, 2002

By 

Bart Luyckx (Berchem Belgium) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nostradamus: The Complete Prophecies (Paperback)

Although not a waste of money! This book (the comments) was written by a non-scholar, in a pseudo-scholarly way. His translation is questionable (to say the least), the historical inaccuracy shows that he is not interested in history, nor were the geographic annotations checked on a map.
IT IS however a compendium of what most people (English or Americans, or Anglo-philes) who are into new age believe to be a good interpretation of Nostradamus' work. So it's quite amusing. But remember: Nostradamus was French, not American (only quite recently discovered) or English!
It does contain a good transcript of the original texts, which is a plus for people who know French.
What's really disturbing about it is the bias the writer overtly displays towards certain 'political' interpretations (the bush administration will be regarded as one of the most beneficial influences on mankind for centuries to come, apparently) which I find slightly exaggerated.
In short: the author's comments are not the result of years of research but the result of years of self-indulging, non-critical, self-opinionating thought. A shame, all that wasted time. BUT I 'm having a good time laughing, waiting for an objective book about Nostradamus to come out.