Customer Reviews

Strange Creations: Aberrant Ideas of Human Origins from Ancient Astronauts to Aquatic Apes

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Oscar Kiss-Maerth thinks so, and he's just one of the many interesting people with interesting theories you'll meet in this book. From the berserk Theosophical tales of root races to the devolutionary theory of Kiss-Maerth to the reptoids of such fellows as David Barclay (how she misses David Icke is beyond me, and that's the only reason this book doesn't get five stars) and even the ideas of Marshall Applewhite (aka Do) and the Next Level Crew that have become known as Heaven's Gate after their website, Donna Kossy has assembles a mad tea party of speculative thinkers. Some of their theories are racist, some are insane, some are merely oddly plausible, but all are worth taking note of. If you wondered where the band DEVO got its musical inspiration, or if the eugenics laws of Nazi Germany were inspired by Americans, this is the book to read. A value at twice the price, as my grandmother would say.

This book covers various "fringe" beliefs pertaining the creation/origins of the human race. Extraterrestrial origins, the aquatic ape theory, Theosophy, Eugenics, several explanations of human origins from a racist angle, some somewhat fringe variations on mainstream creationism theories, The Church of Urantia, etc are covered. Whole books could, and have been written on all of these so your only getting a little more than a summary but this book kept my attention.

My criticisms are a lot of what made it into Strange Creations is more or less a repeat of material that was in another book of written by Kossy, Kooks. Also although she remains objective and unbiased for the most part on everything else, including beliefs of racist black groups, she throws in plenty of biased politically correct comments when covering the white racist beliefs. I also don't understand why Ben Klassen and the Church of the Creator was even covered in this because while his views on racial and other matters are certainly on the fringe his beliefs on human origins is more or less that of a mainstream atheist/Darwinist. But overall this was not a bad read for a basic overview of the subject matter.

_Strange Creations_ by Donna Kossy presents some of the most bizarre and far-fetched ideas and theories which have been conceived by the human consciousness to explain human origins. In an attempt to challenge the accepted scientific accounting of origins, Darwinian evolution, attempts have been made to claim our ancestors were space men from the stars, that evolution occurs in reverse, that eugenics or racism is necessary to explain human development, that the biblical account of creation in Genesis is to be interpreted literally, that our ancestors were aquatic apes, that the Urantia Book explains our origins, and that a certain UFO cult holds the secret to human conscious evolution ("Heaven's Gate"). The book includes a fairly decent discussion of Nazi ideas concerning evolution and eugenics as well as Social Darwinism. Among the more bizarre theories suggested are those of the devolutionists (including the punk band DEVO). For instance, the book _The Beginning Was the End_ by Oscar Kiss Maerth suggests that we owe our existences to cannibalistic brains-eating apes. Another bizarre theory is that of Stanislav Szukaski, who contends that an ongoing struggle between true humans and Yeti-humans has shaped our history. The book includes a bizarre discussion of the UFO cult which ended in tragic suicide, "Heaven's Gate". Overall this book presents a strange concoction of some of the ideas floating at the further extremes of human consciousness.

Anyone who's seen a Fox special about Erich von Danikan and his "ancient astronaut" theories will want to take a look at this book. The author provides a detailed historical background to the wide array of ever-persisting beliefs that most people would find laughable: humans are descended from ape-alien hybrids, the Aquatic Ape Theory, the eugenics movement, and even the Heaven's Gate cult. The book is a bit dense, but still an interesting and entertaining read. Be careful: you might end up believing some of the kooky theories presented. :)

This book is phenomenal. It's written with a philosophical/historical tone and delves deeply into the bases of bizzarre beliefs and their creators. A somewhat dry read, it maintains a factual presentation without blatant opinion, sarcasm or comedy. If you want that, however, visit www.insolitology.com and you'll have your laughter dosage for the day. Still, for the curious seekers of truth, this is a great means of learning that there really isn't any truth, save that which we make.

Diana Kossy's _Strange Creations_ contains on odd compendium of bizarre theories of man's origins. It discusses hypotheses as diverse as extraterrestrial origins to creationism as advocated by fundamentalist Bible Christians. Probably the oddest theory is that of an eccentric German pseudo-scientist Oscar Kiss Maerth--man "de-evolved" from apes who discovered that eating the brains of fellow apes that they could not only increase their sexually virility but their intelligence as well. Some of the theories posit that mankind is not "evolving" or progressing to a higher state of intelligence but is rather de-evolving from a more spiritual state into a materialistic, lustful and warlike one over the course of the past several millennia. Kossey also discusses racialist theories as to how different human races developed (from both white Christian Identity believers and Black Muslims) along different lines. She also includes a section on the Eugenics movement since proponents of Eugenics wanted to consciously promote the evolution of a superior type of man. Unfortunately, the author is hardly sympathetic to her subjects and she reflects the standard liberal world view on nearly every page.

This book explains the history of nutty creation stories. I particular enjoyed the historical perspective, documenting how all new-age beliefs date back to Blavatsky, why people are drawn to such beliefs, and how these beliefs changed through the years. This book provides excellent debunking material.

Completely fails to discuss the most fantastic and least logical idea promulgated withing the last 200 years, that life in all of its variation evolved from a series of random accidents.

As for criticism of the aquatic ape theory, it's far more logical than other "mainstream" theories and most scientists have ran from this theory without even attmepting to evaluate it. After all, it was written by a woman in a man's profession so why should it be taken seriously?