Customer Reviews

The Sirius Mystery: New Scientific Evidence of Alien Contact 5,000 Years Ago

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

To begin with, I give this book 4 stars and not 5 because it would be arrogant of me to offer the highest mark when i happen to have only surface knowledge on the majority of the issues this books deals with. Having said that, i find it comical if not outright hilarious that certain people give one star because that would imply they can actually take every argument this book offers apart! Now, for those that have actually read the Sirius Mystery thesis, we're talking about not one argument here, but dozens which this researcher uses to put together a central argument. This would mean that the people who are burying this book are ultra-masters of archaeology, mythology, astronomy and history. Well, guess what: they are not. Guess again: no such masters exist (R.Temple included) and all that is going on is that we're basically trying to battle our cluelessness of our origin and history and as we do we find out that the mysteries we need to explain are by no means easy tasks.
The Piri Reis maps? Water erosion on the Sphinx? Come again? Noone, certainly not mainstream science has offered adequate explanations (to put it mildly) about these mysteries and the same goes about the human origin. No need to mention the ever eluding missing link, is there?
Why do i give this book 4 stars myself then? I'll hold that explanation, if i may, for the end of this review.

For the "uniinitiated", Robert Temple trigers his research by starting from the FACT that a tribe called Dogon in Africa happens to have knowledge about the Sirius star system they are not supposed to have i.e that Sirius A is "hiding" in its orbit a Sirius B and possibly a Sirius C (recently confirmed much to the dismay of the fanatical opposition Temple was met with, very unsurprisingly), or that Sirius B is a "heavy star" i.e a very dense star.

Now, when this knowledge by the Dogon was revealed to the western world (through the work of 2 French anthropologists) many of the things claimed by the ancient tradition of the Dogon were not known by western astronomers. In fact, only years later it became evident for western "science" (the same science that used to think the earth was flat, and the same "science" that only 300 years ago disputed that theere is blood circulation in the human body-!!!!- among many other such "scientific" facts) that the Dogon beliefs were solid.

Before i go on, i would like to laugh out loud at the ultragullible folk who think the Dogon took this knowledge from western expeditioners as Carl Sagan ridiculously suggested. I mean, what's the scenario here people? Western expeditioners show up to the Dogon and the first thing they decide to brainwash them with is stories about the Sirius star system which they themselves did NOT have? I mean, are some of you that irrational? And how does it go on according to you then? That the Dogon lost no time in constructing a religion out of something so abstract i.e a star they could NOT see from stories some white people told them that they couldnt possibly prove???? Nice one, but i've heard better jokes, and frankly, this is hardly a laughing matter, it's actually bitter how some will cling to hardly proven theories about our origins no matter how sad their outtake is...

But on to the book and excuse me for the above parenthetical argument but i simply couldnt resist it.

What Temple is forced to do after he presents us with what the Dogon know, is to backtrack. He has to do this because there is indeed more than enough evidence that such bizzare references (as the Dogon's) are to be found in other ancient cultures as well, namely the Sumerians, Egyptians and the Greeks. His "hunch" proves to be very revealing as Temple searches through these ancient cultures because he does actually highlight not a few but a plethora of such references, symbolisms and -mostly- myths that contribute to his argument.

Did i say myths? Whoa. Touchy little subject those myths. Those who consider themselves serious studiers of all theories concerning our tortured origin must've discovered by now that mythology is nothing else than a brilliantly devised method the ancients used to preserve knowledge. Whoa again, because knowledge does include history and in the absence of books the ancients basically coded history into mythology. Is Temple the only one who has uncovered this mega-fact? Not even close.

The author then, needs to trouble us with a lengthy diatribe where he delves into ancient mythology and he focuses for that matter in the medditteranean basin. That's a seriously difficult part of the book to get through. You will be bombarded with dozens of ancient gods, dozens of ancient myth comparisons, massive amounts of etymology, and a fair share of speculations and conclusions. The reward if you stay with the book is tremendous.

Temple doesnt pull his conclusions out of thin air no matter how "outworldly" these conclusions might be to some. His work is spectacularly researched and supported, and yes, he actually pulls the evidence for the support he needs from mainstream science. His massive bibliography is there to see.

The issue remains whether , at the end, you are ready to entertain the notion that the origin of our civilisation is indeed extraterrestrial, or, to be more to the point here, whether Temple convinces with his arguments.

Allow me to say, that it will take a lot more than Temple's book to be convinced about that, if that is actually the truth. Let's not forget that he's not the first researcher that makes such claims or draws such conclusions.
In my opinion, and knowing that our "mainstream" science doesnt exactly have a history of excellence when it comes to its field record, i would suggest that each theory forwarded by any researcher, no matter how "wild" it might be, is given the appropriate attention.

Has Temple been disproven? Hardly. Actually, recent discoveries by our brilliant scientists have only confirmed parts of his theory.

I'm not saying that I, for one, am 100% convinced by what Temple suggests. I'm not unconvinced either, indeed I think that he does a stunning job of laying out his theory and his arguments, and to quote an Arab philosopher "i believe in very little but i disbelieve in even less".
That is the reason i give this book 4 stars. Based solely on the convcincingness factor of the author's way of argumentation which i found pretty damn strong.

This book, as other books of that "line" as well, can or should be used as pieces to a puzzle, a puzzle which we do not know what it looks like and where it will finally (if we ever solve it) take us. If the truth interests us, if it honestly does, then hysteric rants against any theories that threaten our sacred dogmas have no place in searching for any origin, ours, or the universe's...
"The Sirius mystery" is a difficult book, but a very compelling, a very impressive one at that. Until the theory contained in it is disproven hold the noise of the rants down. And read it...Read it actually through.

I had become aware of this book in graduate school where I studied ancient history, and in fact had thumbed through it and dismissed it as so much silliness. However, recently one of my own readers had said she found the book fascinating. As she is an archeologist herself, I thought perhaps I had made a quick and unfair judgment. I immediately ordered a copy of the new edition titled "The Sirius Mystery: New Scientific Evidence for Alien Contact 5,000 Years Ago." To begin with, let me state that I have written at length on the topic of alien life, of ancient contacts, and I have appeared on numerous radio programs where I have defended and discussed my ideas and beliefs in a cosmos filled with life. Now, I opened my new copy of Temple's book ready to be convinced of ancient contacts, which many of my colleagues would consider an easy task as it would buttress my own ideas, but alas, after a few short chapters I was disappointed. Dr. Temple does make some excellent points, as well as raising some interesting questions. Yet many historical and archaeological points he has made would bring about very different opinions when examined by those not so willing to leap to the ancient alien contact hypothesis. I would also add that quoting science fiction writers, albeit remarkably brilliant ones and filling the book with the unfounded opinions of writers such as Zachariah Stichin will not convince anyone seriously considering the historical argument of alien contact. It will however, shore up those whose only reason for purchasing this book is to reaffirm that which they are already convinced. I was once asked if it would surprise me to learn that Earth had been visited many times by advanced beings? My answer was absolutely not. I almost expect it. However, despite my own ideas and beliefs, has it happened in fact? There is absolutely no proof beyond a few anecdotal stories, which can easily be understood in other ways, for example, a global flood to explain fossils. In the end, the author, a distinguished member of several scientific organizations make a good basic argument for his belief, yet it remains, at least to the critical mind, unconvincing. It is, nonetheless a worthy read by anyone interested in subjects like ancient civilizations, and is far more logical than many books of this type. Why any of the agencies purported to have harassed Dr. Temple would do so is anyone's guess. However, I would certainly not deny such events have and do occur. The structure and clearly honest research demand at least 4 stars.

Once again you have a chance to encounter the mysteries of the humankind's past, this time - with a help of Robert Temple, the author of The Sirius Mystery.

The subject of the book is incredibly fascinating: most of us are used to seek the lost knowledge cases in civilizations like ancient Egypt, or Olmecs, or Maya; here we face a situation when an african tribe may possess the knowledge of a high value that is linked closely to the achievements of modern astronomy. That is rather a key point of the whole book - the Dogon who seem to know too much - about the things they can not know anything about, and their legends that tell us about their ancestors that came from another world.

As in many other cases, the main advantage of The Sirius Mystery is its thought-provoking power, its ability to mobilize and activate a reader's imagination and logical thinking. The beliefs of the Dogon may be slightly confusing, the way they got their sacred knowledge about Sirius may be the one the author suggests, or may be different - it does not matter too much: there seem to be a knowledge anomaly happened in Africa, and we would better find out what caused it, since solving this more or less recent puzzle may help us with investigating the ancient mysteries, such as locating and building the Egyptian pyramids, the Chinese ones, or mysteries of technological achievements of the ancient Middle East.

The past of the Dogons may be linked to the ancient Egypt, or to any other ancient civilization of this planet, and the author's conclusions about the paleocontact may be not so convincing to some, the other thing, however, once again is more important: there is a place for mysteries like this, and by no means should we discard any of them, saying "it can not be, because it can never be", and the Dogon mystery should be given a careful and complete study.

Those who are still non-believers would better address the issues, for example, of the 14th century maps of Antarctica, or astronomical knowledge of ancient Egypt or Mesoamerica, or anything else: the world is full of the lost or mysterical knowledge cases, and some of them are supporetd by a hard evidence.

In short, the book is a must-read for anyone paying a serious attention to the problems of history, civilizations' development and the lost knowledge we are trying to find.

Temple takes you on a journey from the earliest dawn of history, giving well thought out and convincing arguments of how the beliefs of a small group of tribes in Africa can be traced back to the earliest periods of language. He patiently charts a course from the very earliest civilisations through some of the greatest classical historians and philosophers of Egypt and Greece to name but a few, showing common threads running through massively diverse cultures. He puts forward convincing arguments that the knowledge could well be evidence of alien contact with the Earth. The nature of the subject is such that the conclusions of this book could be enough to rock the foundations of most major religions. If nothing else, it certainly gives an alternative view of the course of human civilisation, and gives a boost to those who hope that we are not alone.

This book is such a mess of "scholarship," so loaded with self-serving license, and ill-founded theories based on ill-founded theories, it is a travesty of intellection! But it is so full of foot-notes and heady references, it has all the appearance of careful, extensive research. In other words, it looks impressive. And who but an expert, or another researcher, or someone who likes to check facts, could catch the "obvious" mistakes? For example, Temple says Hermes was the Greek equivalent of the Egyptian god, Anubis. But even the most cursory student of Egyptian mythology knows that Thoth (not Anubis!) was equated to Hermes. And, another of many examples, he claims that arq ur was the Egyptian name for "sphinx," but this is utterly wrong. He was in so much of a hurry when he referred to his Hieroglyphic Dictionary (by Wallis Budge) that he didn't see that arq ur actually means "silver," the source of Budge's information being a French journal of Egyptology called "Sphinx." It would be laughable if it weren't so troubling: notable New Age Egyptologists (who don't check their facts) have based pet theories on Temple's mistake.
But much more important: if you read the works to which Temple refers as his sources on Dogon knowledge, Conversations with Ogotemmeli (by the French anthropologist, Marcel Griaule), and The Pale Fox (Griaule and Germain Dieterlin), you will find that Temple gravely and opportunistically, misrepresents, twists and mangles the contents of these works in a number of ways, the most shameful being that he says the Dogon claim they were visited by amphibious beings from an advanced civilization from the environs of Sirius (not an exact quote!) But the Dogon make no such claim. Only Temple does. Nor were there numerous "Nommos" (which Temple also calls "amphibious beings") on the ark. There was just one Nommo. Nor do any designs on Dogon buildings represent spacecraft. Etc., etc.
The worst is yet to come: Temple is not the only one to fudge facts. The work of Marcel Griaule, himself, has been found to be wildly fanciful, as discussed in a paper written by the Belgian anthropologist, Walter Van Beek, called "The Dogon Restudied" (Current Anthropology, Apr. '91) After extensive studies, in Mali, of the Dogon, he discovered (among many other things) that, in brief, "...no one, not even within the circle of Griuale's informants, had ever heard or understood that Sirius was a double star..." "...Griaule himself was very much aware of the astronomical specificities of Sirius, having read astronomy during this studies in Paris. Sure enough, his references in [Pale Fox] to the Sirius system all date from these years." "Though [Giaule's Dogon informants] do speak of sigu tolo, they disagree completely with each other as to which star is meant..." Nor does astronomy play any significant part in Dogon religion. Nor do the Nommo have much of a role in Dogon myth or tradition. And so forth & so on. Of course there is much, much more to the whole story than just this. Have your library send away for a zeroxed copy of the article, and read it in full, yourself.
That article was published in 1991, seven years before the new edition of The Sirius Mystery came out. You'd think that Temple would have been aware of it.
What's so terribly serious about all this is that Temple's books are THE source of a whole industry of misinformation.

This is a very well written book that links the EBE and ET contact information toward the historical abnormalities. This book serves as a fine introduction for those who are not aware of the Zecharia Sitchin, series of writings. The writer makes some good points and ties some interesing information together in ways not done elsewhere. If you believe that human civilization began 5000 years ago, and did not involve ET intervention, then this book will not be for you. But if you believe that our universe is teeming with life, then read this book. It will answer many questions and open your mind into areas worthy of investigation.

The facts which Robert Temple analyzes are amazing and should be known to all - the survival of correct astronomical information in a primitive tribe that concerns bodies invisible to the naked eye deserves analysis. Be warned though that where the author tries to connect the Dogon tribe's ancestry with the Sumerians and Egyptians it is not light reading. To give just a taste of this to warn off the unwary buyer, I quote a typical passage: '...Aarti is a common name of both Isis and Nephthys, and Nephthys is more closely connected with the companion of Sirius. The appellation Aruru is thus closer to Sirius B, who is also represented by Enkidu, than another name for the goddess Sirius which was not specifically shared with Nephthys, the dark companion. This word also means 'uraei' and we have just seen that the other word for the 'uraei' is related to the horizon of Sirius B's orbit, as well as also being shared with Isis and Nephthys - obviously shared because the orbit described by one is described around the other, and as we have seen several times, the orbit was common to them both and divided their respective precincts...etc'. Yes, it's so obvious isn't it? The chapter the passage is taken from is around 50 pages long, and by the end of the Appendices, some of which can be left unread, you'll have covered 600 pages. It's not all heavy-going, other parts can be both fascinating and humorous, even if in the foreword he wants us to believe that the CIA and Nasa are on his back, after mentioning elsewhere the paranoia of some writers! As can be imagined, there is a lot of speculation and linguistic analysis in this book, some reasonable, some just too tenuous to be believable in my opinion. My tip to others so as not to waste as much time as I did: buy it and read the interesting parts, and don't be afraid to start skipping pages when you get bogged down in the analysis.

The Sirius Mystery is a must-read for anyone curious about the lost knowledge of the ancient world. Robert Temple's obvious scholarhip and research are truly impressive, though he tends to draw conclusions from sometimes sketchy evidence to suit a point that he wants to make. Even though the reader has to watch out for this tendency of his, the material in the book is extremely thought-provoking. I have read many books of this genre and this book proposed more startling theories than any of them.

I highly recommend this book.

While the subject matter of this title is intriguing, it is best covered by Sitchen or Velikovsky. The problem with this work begins with the title - there is nothing new or scientific, nor is there any evidence brought to light. We are asked to put our trust in the interpretations of a pair of French anthropologists working with a group of primitives in the wilds of Africa. If these interpretations are, in fact, what the author purports them to be then we have the nucleus of a good story. However, the story goes nowhere. The author involves himself with the Dogon tribe far too much. The Dogon believe we were visited 5,000 years ago by an advanced race of beings from a planet revolving around an obscure star in the Orion system - thats about it! This information is presented in the first 20 pages. From there the book simply regurgitates this mantra as if read enough we will begin to believe. Well I want to believe but I need a little more substance. The subject matter is fascinating but the execution is weak. For those who truly want a satisfying read about potential past contact read The 12th Planet by Zachery Sitchen or Worlds in Collision by Immanuel Velikovsky. Both excellent.

Temple has done an incredible amount of work digging-up obscure, but very significant, anthropological source data which compounds and reinforces, for him, a theory introduced to the West earlier this century about the origins of contemporary life as we know it.

Temple's meticulous attention to detail, and cross-referencing style build very convincing arguments, which prompt a finer re-reading of the material, generating a deeper interest in, and education of, a fascinating subject-area.

Some of the connections presented in the Sirius Mystery are tenuous, but not at all impossible.

If approached with a willingness to accept radically new ideas, even for a moment, then you will very much enjoy the richly textured tapestry of stories Temple weaves.

I approached The Sirius Mystery skeptically, and was suprised to find myself compelled to seriously consider the presented thesis. What impressed me was his obvious distaste for some of the more fanatical elements surrounding the concept of life other then that of Earth's. Temple is interested only in a serious consideration of the origins of Human Civilasation.

In all, a very refreshing, and extremely stimulating, professional work.