Customer Reviews

Secret Cities of Old South America

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you like (read= love) adventures with the strong scent of old times, this is for you. Not for the close - minded.

Being less prejudiced, Harold T. Wilkins leads you to the wonderfull world of science, myth and ancient history - accompanied by todays nourishing desire for that grand old world where superstitial was superstitial. Killing animal's and plants was as common but in extention done for other reasons than today.

I think you should buy this book. After reading it you will be attempted to go on to Amazon :) and follow his footsteps.

Thank you.

Wilkins continues his lyrical narrative of South American mysteries giving a larger treatment than his previous book Mysteries of Ancient South America (Which he reminds us of numerous times in this volume. Ok, we get it, you wrote another one). A fascinating collection of lost cities, giants, eternal lights, strange beasts and other mysteries and lost subject matter. Yes, there is much conjecture and speculation in this book as the author strings together legends, whispers and hearsay to buttress his Atlantis theories. Sometimes fast with his dates and vague on his sources, one still finds hints of truth. One wonders when someone new will update us on the wilds of the southern continent these decades later. Sometimes his entertaining prose and postulating stretches belief. He tells us it is evident that Noah was copied from Egypt by the Hebrews, but never tells us why its evident. Tales of fruitless searches for Noah's Ark seem irrelevant (see The Genesis Question: Scientific Advances and the Accuracy of Genesis for more on Noah, the Ark and the Flood) to this book. Focus on the catastrophe. In fact, there were many in ancient times as history has been revealing. Natives were in South America longer than previously thought. So some things here have found more truth decades after this book first appeared. Though one wonders how does retelling every account of "Amazon" women in the world relate to those actually in the Amazon? And the traditions similar to Christian ones, it doesn't occur to Wilkins that maybe some ancient visitors to the region were actually from the Old World and not Atlantis. A great reprint, full of interesting tidbits, but watch for some overzealous pondering. For more on the vanished Fawcett, see The Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon and Exploration Fawcett: Journey to the Lost City of Z.

...you won't find anywhere else. As entertaining and interesting as it can be, this is a marvelous collection of amazing stories about lost cities, strange creatures, and ancient relics in the Americas. The recent discoveries of huge, complex cities and agricultural areas in the Amazon, built by an unknown civilization, has even made the theories espoused here more credible! His other South American book is just as good.

I approached this book with anticipation, and looked forward to reading something that while may be heavy on theories, was probably well researched.

Unfortunately the blurb on the back of the book has put me off; when a publisher describes its own publication as "more than a little bit preposterous', it really doesn't make you feel like spending the time to read it.

The book was unusual and I wasn't even sure it was available - great to receive so promptly at a good price - excellent service