Heaven's Mirror: Quest for the Lost Civilization (A Channel Four Book) |
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Graham Hancock, Santha Faiia
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Pages: 352 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 0718143329
Pub: Michael Joseph Ltd
Pub date: 1998-09-14
Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 176829
Editorial Review:
In Heaven's Mirror, author Graham Hancock continues the quest begun in his No. 1 international bestseller Fingerprints of the Gods to rediscover the hidden legacy of mankind--the revelation that the cultures we term ancient were, in fact, the heirs to a far older forgotten civilisation, and the inheritors of its archaic wisdom ...
Working with the photographer Santha Faiia, his wife, Hancock traces a network of sacred sites around the globe on a spectacular voyage of discovery that takes us from the pyramids and temples of ancient Egypt to the enigmatic statues of Easter Island; from the haunting ruins of pre-Columbian America to the splendours of Angkor Wat, in order to crack the code of our lost ancestors. It is an odyssey that leads to sunken monuments and hidden chambers--a journey through myth and magic, and astounding archaeological revelations, that forces us to rethink our entire conception of the origins of civilisation.
Much more than a sequel to Fingerprints of the Gods,Heaven's Mirror is a plunge into the spirituality of the ancients--a search for the revelation of a secret written in the language of astronomy, and recorded in the very foundations of the holiest sites of antiquity.
Reader Reviews:
An excellent companion to "Fingerprints of the Gods" (14/15 people found this helpful)
This is like the book of the TV series of the book "Fingerprints of the Gods" with extended scope to include global evidence of the antiquity of modern humanity.
Summarising most of Hancock's other works (Keeper of Genesis, Sign and the Seal and of course the seminal Fingerprints) it brings you up to date with the current New Age pseudo-scientific study of ancient wisdom and architecture.
This book leans more heavily on the more concrete astronomical evidence of an ancient world religion than some of the more romantic conjecture made in his earlier book, which lends it more of an objective viewpoint. Nevertheless, absence of any serious evidence will always leave Hancock and his sources and followers on the fringe of archaeological investigation.
That said, this is a fantastic read, by turns thought-provoking and mystical; but the real reason for giving this 5 stars are the fantastic pictures which abound on every page. Taken by Hancock's wife Santha Faiia, they are truly stunning and bring to life the mysteries of the ancient remains of what could be our spiritual heritage. This is the ultimate coffee table book!
"May the wise teach the mystery to the wise" dead sea scroll (15/18 people found this helpful)
I have studied ancient cultures for many years and after working with experts in all areas from astronomy through to geology, it soon becomes clear that there is a great deal of rigidness in thier hypothesis and accepted theories.
Something we tend to forget fairly easily is that our accepted history of the world and human evolution, which is taught to all our schools as solid fact, is actually a collection of therories.
There are no solid facts that pre-date recorded history.
With this in mind, the facts which Graham Hancock and other researchers like him have discovered, are no less credible than numerous accepted theroies which are easily questionable and full of holes. The only difference here, is that when new facts are uncovered and they do not fit in with human 'history' they are put to one side and ignored rather than explored further.
How can we ever hope to learn the truth about our past if we only hear what we want to hear?
This book is full of credible theroies and is a very good introduction to our amazing history. Read with an open mind and you'll find history isn't so boring after all.
Innovative but flawed thinking (14/21 people found this helpful)
Hancock deserves a great deal of credit for two things: breathing life into an unfashionable subject; and encouraging people to question convention. Sadly, as an earlier reviewer has pointed out, the facts outlined in this and in Fingerprints, don't stand up to the criticism (which Hancock, I notice, dismisses with vitriol) of understandably sceptical experts. I suppose that we should all be cheerful, as at least we need not be so certain that the world is going to end in the way that Hancock has hinted many times. This book is worth buying merely for seeing how one person can put the wind up your conventional scholars. Its even more fun when you see the flaws, and should come with a free copy of the (revised) BBC2 documentary. Fun it is, but History it ain't.
Very interesting. Challenges convention. (4/5 people found this helpful)
An extremely intersting book which challenges the very foundations of established ancient history and of the evolution of ancient civilisations. The author's easily understood discriptions of the basic laws of the heavenly bodies assist in a greater appreciation of message which the author develops throughout the rest of the book. To get the most out of the book it should be read with a completely open mind about the evolution of ancient civilisations!
Challenging but flawed (8/10 people found this helpful)
I like Graham Hancock, his ideas tap into the fundemental concerns of a lot of intelligent informed people. However those same intelligent informed people can see when facts are being presented ina selective manner. I do believe, however that Graham Hancock is on to something, his ideas about the lost civilization are compelling and presented well in what is an essential read for anyone interested in theories of this kind. However the main problem is that Graham Hancock delivers selected evidence to us but fails to be objective. The result is 'all this is great, but what about the rest'. From my own studies I know a lot of information regarding Angkor Wat for example has been convieniantly left out of this book, if it was included it would have cast doubt of Graham Hancock's theory. Alas this is the fundemental problem with this book, it is what has been excluded that lets this otherwise excellent read down. Read it as fiction and you will be rewarded, take it seriously and you will be missing a wider, more important theory that even Graham Hancock has yet to discover - the truth.
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Categories
Amazon.co.uk places this book into the following categories:
Books -> Subjects -> Mind, Body & Spirit -> Self Help
Books -> Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> Spirituality
Books -> Subjects -> Religion & Spirituality -> New Age -> Mysticism
Books -> Refinements -> Language (feature_browse-bin) -> English
Books -> Refinements -> Age (feature_two_browse-bin)
Books -> Refinements -> Format (binding_browse-bin) -> Hardcover