Secrets of the Great Pyramid: Two Thousand Years of Adventures and Discoveries Surrounding the Mysteries of the Great Pyramid of Cheops [Hardcover]

Peter Tompkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1997

Recounts the fascinating discoveries made by explorers, adventurers, and scientists about the Great Pyramid of Cheops, including the stunning recent assertions that the ancient structure was used as a geometric tool to measure the outside world.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: BBS Publishing Corporation (March 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0883659573
• ISBN-13: 978-0883659571
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 8.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #717,594 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterwork of science, June 19, 2000

By 

Earl Hazell (New York) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Secrets of the Great Pyramid: Two Thousand Years of Adventures and Discoveries Surrounding the Mysteries of the Great Pyramid of Cheops (Hardcover)

Peter Thompkins, it seemed, set out to prove, in an Egyptological fashion the old truism that the truth is stranger- and more glorious- than fiction. He does so in a way unlike I have ever seen or read before. He makes it so clear that science, technology and the quest of man to understand his world and himself need not look the way it was taught to us in any schools we have attended- and in reality often isn't.

In simply documenting the history and evolution of "Pyramidology", the science of studying the qualities, possible meanings and actual purposes of the great Pyramids of Giza, Thompkins allows the unfolding of the unpredicatble- and uncontrollable- nature of both scientific discovery and cultural transformation to become fully visible to us in ways the mainstream establishment in any of the traditional fields could never allow. At one point in the survey you will see the study of the Pyramids devolve into cults; all documented evidence becomes at one time or another a metaphor for a specific culture or sub-culture's socio-political agenda or quasi-religious beliefs. At other times, a prophet of science like the English astronomer Lockyer- and his antecedents- will show up and flip the world as you know it on its head. Traditional Egyptology will at times look even more cultish than the Pyramid watchers, with the revealing of its willful ignorance of obvious scientific evidence that not just obliterates but reveals the hidden psychology behind many of their long cherished theories.

This seminal book, before you even get into the postscript section with Livio Stechini's theory of ancient mathematics, is a lesson in what it has been to be a citizen of Western culture as much as it is the most eye-opening and thorough study of both Pyramidology and the Pyramids I have ever read.

I have already read it twice, and can never seem to stop getting more and more out of it. SECRETS OF THE GREAT PYRAMID is a far-reaching, important book of history and science that reads like a novel and never stops making you say "wow".

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Facts Are Just as Exciting, March 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Secrets of the Great Pyramid: Two Thousand Years of Adventures and Discoveries Surrounding the Mysteries of the Great Pyramid of Cheops (Hardcover)

This book takes a historical look at the actual research done on the Great Pyramid. It discusses the pyramid myths, but the primary thrust of this book is a detailed description of the mathematical elegance that is undeniable in the construction of this pyramid. Whatever you believe about it's origins, the builders of this pyramid were clearly aware of the size and shape of this planet. It also includes some intrigueing facts about the origins of the materials used to construct it, and the sarcophagus that was found inside.

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An esoteric understanding of the Great Pyramid, October 27, 2004

By 

Christopher K. Halbower "Christopher Halbower" (Muskegon, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Secrets of the Great Pyramid: Two Thousand Years of Adventures and Discoveries Surrounding the Mysteries of the Great Pyramid of Cheops (Hardcover)

Peter Tompkins book, The Secrets of the Great Pyramid should be everyone's first book to read when they reject the orthodox conclusions of the archeological community.

His manner of prose is so matter-of-fact that only the most irrational person could argue his main points. He is fair in dispelling the myths of the Egyptologists. He states their case and then explains, unpejoratively, why he disagrees.

The diagrams in the version I have are in brown-on-white coloring, not my favorite aspect of the book. I wish it included full colored plates, but then we can't have everything.

In the margins the author often diverges into fascinating side issues, many of wish are worthy of research on their own.

I highly recommend this book as a counterpoint to those who struggle to accept that the Great Pyramid was a tomb; especially since no dead bodies have been found in it.