Book Description
What is the ultimate destiny of our universe? That is the striking question addressed by James Gardner in The Intelligent Universe.
Traditionally, scientists (and Robert Frost) have offered two bleak answers to this profound issue: fire or ice.
The cosmos might end in fire—a cataclysmic Big Crunch in which galaxies, planets, and life forms are consumed in a raging inferno as the universe contracts in a kind of Big Bang in reverse.
Or the universe might end in ice—a ceaseless expansion of the fabric of space-time in which matter and energy are eternally diluted and cooled; stars wither and die, , and the cosmos simply fades into quiet and endless oblivion.
In The Intelligent Universe, James Gardner envisions a third dramatic alternative—a final state of the cosmos in which a highly evolved form of group intelligence engineers a cosmic renewal, the birth of a new universe.
Gardner's vision is that life and intelligence are at the very heart of the elegant machinery of the universe. It is a viewpoint that has won outspoken praise from an array of leading scientists, including Sir Martin Rees, Britain's Astronomer Royal, and Templeton Prize winner Paul Davies.
The Intelligent Universe is both a look into the past and a road map for the future of the universe. It explores the mysteries of the universe and of consciousness, and provides a frank and fascinating look at where our minds are taking us.
Customer Reviews:
Evolution debacle.......2007-08-10
The cosmos seems to be intelligent and friendly to life. Intelligent in the sense there exists many biological patterns that are self-similar. Friendly, in the sense of the existence of the elements of carbon, hydrogen, gravity, water, super novas, the organization of universes, and the diversity of DNA. Evolution fails to explain this intelligence in life. All evidence points to God, as the creator. The cosmo self-organizing algorithms seem to be low order simple programs with highly condensed information. Intelligence seems to be everywhere in time, space, and matter.
Richard Dawkins work seems exciting. Dawkins looks to overthrow the Drawin doctrines that have kept science in the dark for hundreds of years. Dawkins biological algorithms suggest intelligent design rather than random mutation as the process of organization.
Celluar Automata Genius, Wolfram, author of "A New Kind of Science" is search for "The Algorithm of Everything", a sort of genius program, once started would generate all patterns in the universe, says, Wolfram, "the entire cosmos, from quantum particles to the formation of galaxies, was a perpetual runtime flowing from simple rules. Complexity arises from simple rules. The universe can be understood by running computer simulations of these rules. The algorithm is more powerful than fragmentational stitching of equations. Extraterrestial might be communicating with us in messages we can't perceive. Drawian natural selection is overrated. Maximum levels of complexity are equivalent from human thought to rain hitting pavement, "Wolfram's Law". The only way to discover the consequences of complex processes is too let things proceed naturally. Computational equivalence means that computer programs can do all the stuff that happens in nature. Does this mean "Thinking Machines"? The Kurzeil prediction, "Singularity", 2050.
"Yet despite all our learning, human beings have missed the point of it all, because of the elusive nature of complexity." Considering the big bang theory, as singularity, almost instantly, matter begin to form, in an amazing dimension of plasma, high energy particles, and light. Considering the emense region of the cosmos, 13 billion light years of increasingly expanding matter and homogeneous distribution, the event seems intelligent by design.
The authors deduce that there must be other worlds that support life. The authors also theorize that life on those planets would not differ too much from life on earth. Similar patterns for plants, animals, and humans would exist on those planets. The intelligence of the cosmos would not create structures that were nonfunctional.
I found Kauffman discoveries interesting, but he spends too much time attributing life diversity to "evolution". Kauffman did not demostrate evolution could create the tree of life in his book, "Self-Organization and Complex System". However, Kauffman does support the idea that intelligent design can be discovery by applying physics equations to biology. Kauffman in his book, "At Home in the Universe" does not demonstrate adequately 1. how life emerged from the elements 2. how protein strains emerged into multi-cell life 3. the lineage links too a single original parent celluar structure.
The author conclude that the universe is becoming more intelligent. Life is become better adapted, more resourceful, and the universe will serve the purpose of man. Man himself is thought to be the source from which the new emerging reality is being created. Science can not explain all truth.
There are two truthes evolution does not explain: why does man need God? What does God want for man? The purpose of man is too find joy, an emotion. Emotion is required to act and without emotion man becomes a "flesh and bones machine". Man is moves contrary to the second law of thermodynamics because he exercises free will.
stimulating speculation about the underlying nature of the cosmos.......2007-05-11
Having read Gardner's earlier work Biocosm: The New Scientific Theory of Evolution: Intelligent Life Is the Architect of the Universe, I was prepared for "The Intelligent Universe" to be the work of a visionary thinker who is not afraid to speculate about the cosmological principles underlying our universe. I cherish the work of authors who are not afraid to think big. Gardner does not disappoint in the grandeur of his vision. If you think there is nothing new under the sun, I encourage you to read "The Intelligent Universe". One can't help but find enlightening material in the book. Oliver Wendell Holmes said "Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions." This sentiment certainly applies to my reading of Gardner's book.
Gardner's book is, however, not without flaws. One criticism I won't make of the book is that the ideas are hopelessly speculative. The book employs the kind of theoretical flights of fancy that John Horgan dismisses as "ironic science" in his book The End of Science (Helix Books), a book which says that science is asymptotically approaching a point at which there won't be any major new scientific theories, not because of science's failures but because science has been so successful. I mention Horgan because the scope of Gardner's vision encourages me to believe that we haven't even begun to exhaust our potential to develop breathtaking scientific theories of the cosmos. I came away from The Intelligent Universe with an excitement about the power of large-scale thinking about the universe.
Having said that, while Gardner presents an original "story", weaving together the work of numerous cosmologists and other scientists, perhaps paradoxically, the book often reads as a rehashing of the ideas of numerous big-picture thinkers. Maybe both perspectives can be accurate: Gardner summarizes the work of many while putting together the pieces in a unique way. There is nothing wrong with synthesizing the views of one's peers. However, the book too often lapses into a series of synopses of the big ideas of other scientific thinkers, brilliant though these thinkers may be.
To give you an idea of Gardner's method I reproduce the train of thought found in a few early chapters. Gardner uses extended paragraph-long quotations to run through the following thinkers (not all of which Gardner ultimately endorses):
Fred Hoyle on the fine-tunedness of physical constants, Francis Crick on directed pansperma (the idea that extraterrestrials seeded the biosphere with the first life forms on Earth), Stephen Wolfram and Ed Fredkin on cellular automata principles underlying physics, Seth Lloyd on the cosmos as quantum computer, Erwin Schrodinger on quantum physics underlying life, John Wheeler's on the "participatory anthropic principle" (the idea that only with conscious life does the universe summon itself into being), John Koza on genetic programming, Roger Penrose on the quantum physical underpinnings of consciousness, (leading to a gloss on the implications of combining quantum computing and genetic programming). Then Gardner begins the next chapter with Mark Bedau on artificial life, with an interlude about the perils of nanotechnology run amok, alluding to Michael Crichton's techno-thriller Prey. After that, we move on to topic of the technological singularity, where Ray Kurzweil plays a prominent role, both for his vision of smarter-than-human artificial intelligence and his optimism about the prospects for immortality. In the same chapter Gardner describes how Vernor Vinge forsees the arrival of super-human intelligence as more likely to result from intelligence amplification (at least at first) than from artificial intelligence.
Many of the later chapters work in a similar fashion, cycling through the big ideas of major thinkers. If a book is going to run through thinkers as this one does I guess what I would wish for is a book with the kind of comprehensiveness of The Anthropic Cosmological Principle (Oxford Paperbacks). Instead, too often there is only a superficial treatment of one thinker before we move on to another superficial treatment of the big idea of the next thinker. Such a technique is particularly unsatisfying for someone who is already familiar with many of the thinkers presented. I would relish a deeper engagement with the work of many of the thinkers treated. So one problem that I have with the book is simply that it is not in-depth enough. The body of the text takes up 196 pages, with an additional 46 pages comprising reprints of three articles from the International Journal of Astrobiology and Complexity magazine (2 articles).
I don't mean to dismiss Gardner's writing style. The value of his approach was demonstrated to me by his discussion of Beatriz Gato-Rivera's proposed solution to the Fermi Paradox. I had never heard of Gato-Rivera but Gardner's treatment of her position in The Intelligent Universe provided a nice jumping off point to her work. It is easy to see how the book could function as a window into a lot of other scientific topics. I was wondering how Gardner would reconcile the Fermi Paradox with Gardner's view that the universe is "hard-wired" to produce intelligent life, and Gato-Rivera's work figures prominently in his proposed resolution to the conundrum, although, characteristically, there is no attempt made to contradict this hypothesis or to pronounce on the merits of any alternative explanations.
"The Intelligent Universe" ultimately attempts to answer what Brian Greene has called the biggest of the big questions: Why is the universe life-friendly? Gardner, bold and original thinker that he is, thinks he knows the answer. His solution is the Selfish-Biocosm Hypothesis. The central claim of his Selfish-Biocosm Hypothesis is "that the ongoing process of biological and technological emergence, governed by still largely unknown laws of complexity, could function as a von Neumann controller, and that a cosmologically extended biosphere could serve as a von Neumann duplicating machine in a conjectured process of cosmological replication." In other words, the universe comes to life and then reproduces itself through the creation of other universes. This comes right out of Gardner's first book Biocosm. In this picture, human beings (or other intelligent life forms) might be thought of as the mitochondria of the cells that make up the universe as organism. The Intelligent Universe can be seen as the exploration of this basic storyline, and this includes dealing with the religious implications of the radically new perspective afforded by the Selfish-Biocosm Hypothesis. All in all, the story is well worth reading.
Interesting, but speculative.......2007-03-24
I read this as a follow-up to Kurzweil's "The Singularity Is Near" and found it interesting. However, it seems a bit overly speculative on the ultimate origin of the universe(s) (which I suppose is the point). I found the use of closed timelike curves to imply that the universe created itself too much of a stretch. Ultimately the question of what started it all was never answered to my satisfaction.
Excellent Read.......2007-03-22
Anyone with a slight interest in cosmology will find this a wonderful reading experience. With my programming background I found the chapter on The Software of Everything particularly inviting but it is written for readers with no programming experience. Obviously Mr. Gardner has close contact with some very intelligent people at prestigious universities and he develops their complex ideas and efforts into something the everyday reader can appreciate and enjoy. He has spent a great deal of effort making cosmology a very interesting subject. I personally believe the concept of Biocosm will shortly be proven to be on the right track.
Life, the Universe and Everything.......2007-03-03
This book takes you through the thinking of the foremost scientists about the universe and the development of intelligence. The theory of the universe growing in intelligence, backed by the numerous quotes and examples, is apt to rock the common paradigm for all time. The author in his book "Biocosm" lays a firm foundation for his argument and in this book explores the idea further. As proposed in his books "the purpose of the universe" is startling. Two things, in particular, I liked about this book: The summation of the current thinking in Cosmology and the mind-blowing conclusion of the purpose and origin of the universe. The author is very brave to tackle these subjects and he does so masterfully
Amazon.com
How did life begin? Did it start here, by blind chance or by necessity, or was Earth seeded by extraterrestrial visitors? (And, if so, how did they arise?) Physicist and science writer Paul Davies tackles these heavy questions and more in The Fifth Miracle: The Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life, a wide-ranging survey of the field of biogenesis. From the "Martian meteorite" ALH84001 to the hardy microorganisms living on--and under!--our sea beds, Davies looks for evidence pointing toward our first ancestor. His willingness to consider any possibility makes for a fun, fascinating journey through our solar system and beyond.
The Fifth Miracle provides convincing arguments that life flourishes, and may indeed have begun, deep within the earth's crust, and not in Darwin's "warm little pond." And if in our planet's crust, why not in others'? Indeed, he shows that it is not just possible but likely that living organisms have passed between Earth and Mars embedded within meteorites. Davies's command of the data and his facility with explaining it to nonprofessionals give the lie to his self-description as "a simple-minded physicist" intruding in another's domain. The best scientists hate to see questions finally answered and love to see new ones raised; by that standard (and by any other), The Fifth Miracle is a first-rate book of scientific speculation. --Rob Lightner
Book Description
How and where did life begin? Is it a chemical fluke, unique to Earth, or the product of intriguingly bio-friendly laws governing the entire universe? In his latest far-reaching book, The Fifth Miracle, internationally acclaimed physicist and writer Paul Davies confronts one of science's great outstanding mysteries -- the origin of life.
Davies shows how new research hints that the crucible of life lay deep within Earth's hot crust, and not in a "warm little pond," as first suggested by Charles Darwin. Bizarre microbes discovered dwelling in the underworld and around submarine volcanic vents are thought to be living fossils. This discovery has transformed scientists' expectations for life on Mars and elsewhere in the universe. Davies stresses the key role that the bombardment of the planets by giant comets and asteroids has played in the origin and evolution of life, arguing that these "deep impacts" delivered the raw material for biology, but also kept life confined to its subterranean haven for millions of years.
Recently, scientists have uncovered tantalizing clues that life may have existed and may still exist -- elsewhere in the universe. The Fifth Miracle recounts the discovery in Antarctica of a meteorite from Mars (ALH84001) that may contain traces of life. Three and a half billion years ago, Mars resembled Earth. It was warm and wet and could have supported primitive organisms. Davies believes that the red planet may still harbor microbes in thermally heated rocks deep below the Martian permafrost. He goes on to describe a still more startling scenario: If life once existed on Mars, might it have originated there and traveled to Earth inside meteorites blasted into space by cosmic impacts? Conversely, did life spread from Earth to Mars? Could microbes have journeyed even farther afield inside comets?
Davies builds on the latest scientific discoveries and theories to address the larger question: What, exactly, is life? Davies shows that the living call is an information-processing system that uses a sophisticated mathematical code, and he argues that the secret of life lies not with exotic chemistry but with the emergence of information-based complexity. He then goes on to ask: Is life the inevitable by-product of physical laws, as many scientists maintain, or an almost miraculous accident? Are we alone in the universe, or will life emerge on all Earthlike planets? And if there is life elsewhere in the universe, is it preordained to evolve toward greater complexity and intelligence? On the answers to these deep questions hinges the ultimate purpose of mankind -- who we are and what our place might be in the unfolding drama of the cosmos.
Customer Reviews:
How did life on Earth originate?.......2007-03-06
How did life on Earth originate?
Wisely Davies begins his book by answering this question with the question of what is life? After discussing various theories that have been previously proposed, Davies concludes that it's an organicly autonomous creation sometimes capable of obtaining and metabolizing food and creating copies of itself.
Having dealt with this question, Davies examines the three so far discovered domains of life on Earth: prokaryotes (us and pretty much every organism we've actually ever seen), bacteria, and archea...an ancient form of life living in extreme planetary environments such as ocean volcanic vents and hot water pools. Unlike the other two domains, archea live in environments that have largely unchanged in the past four or so billion years of Earth's history. Therefore, Davies reasonably concludes that they have most retained their original forms basically living off sulfur and or methane.
In this last particular, archea display an unusual quality for life by actually making their living off of inorganic matter.
In this way, Davies advances a possible terrestrial origin of life.
Likewise, Davies also discusses the possible extra terrestrial origins that have been proposed for Earthly life: from space and from Mars. As to the spacely origins theory, Davies notes the abundance of comets with organic matter in them. As to the Martian origins theory, Davies notes the fact that for its first billion years or so, Mars had both liquid water and an atmosphere.
Significantly, during that same time on Earth, life not only arose or was transferred but had propogated into at least two different domains. It is for these reasons, Davies believes that life indeed once existed on Mars.
Tantalizingly, Davies also discusses the discovery of ALH80001, one twelve Martian metiorites discovered in the Antarctic. Unlike its peers, this meterite showed possible evidence of fossilized Martian life. Wisely agnostic about whether this meteriorite really was itself evidence of Martian life, Davies' discussion of it nonetheless is thorough and thought provoking.
Davies was also thought provoking in discussing the Urey Miller experiments of 1953 wherein amino acids were artificially synthesized under experimental conditions. At that time, the experiements thought maybe they were just days from synthesizing life itself.
However, as noted by Davies, the gap between the bricks of amino acids and the houses of DNA and RNA still elude the efforts of modern science. Still the same, like all great science, the question is a fascinating one to ponder and well worthy of our attentions.
Although life is but the fifth miracle listed by God in the Bible at the time creation according to Davies, it stands as a primary miracle for those who enjoy having it.
Searching for the Laws of Life.......2006-09-18
According to the book of Genesis, God's fifth act of creation was to create life on earth. Modern science has a different myth. In the beginning, there was a simple soup of inorganic chemicals: water, ammonia and methane. And into this soup came a bolt of lightning that brought into being the amino acids that gradually assembled themselves into peptides and proteins, and the nucleotides from which came RNA and DNA. And the DNA learned the art of becoming self-replicating and so began the ascent of life.
In this well-reasoned book, the distinguished physicist Paul Davies suggests that believing the scientific myth demands an act of faith and credulity as great as believing in the literal truth of the Biblical story. He is one of many scientists who have calculated the seemingly impossible odds of all this happening by chance. This is not some back door into intelligent design, but instead an exploration of some profoundly important ideas in biology that make us realize that there are some gaping holes in our current models.
Paul Davies starts with some questions: is life a random chemical accident, a meaningless fluke in an accidental universe? Or is the universe somehow "friendly" to biology? Are the laws of nature such that they demand the eventual appearance of life, not just on earth, but also throughout the universe? The book does not come up with a definitive answer, but it explores some very interesting ideas, including the well-known concepts of the late Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe that life may have arrived from space. It is a puzzle how life seems to have appeared so soon after the earth became a stable globe, and the remarkable adaptability of living organisms to the most astonishingly inhospitable environments.
Inorganic processes tend to run down and become disorganized over time: they show entropy. By contrast living processes become progressively more organized, a process that requires massive amounts of information. It is not difficult to calculate that the amount of information required for even the simplest organism far out strips the biochemical processes of an organism. Thus the implication that life requires a new fundamental law of nature that is yet to be discovered.
Paul Davies does not shy away from discussing the consequences of these ideas or an undiscovered law or laws that would make the appearance of life inevitable. And would also imply a progressive march toward greater and greater complexity, that would eventually lead to sentience.
This book does not provide any final answers, but is an excellent introduction to an exceedingly important topic.
Simply Astounding.......2004-12-12
This book is my Science recommendation for 2004. As usual Davies ploughes through a whole whack of cosmic data and implications to look at the question of life: How did it begin? What are the current theories of life? What are the necessary conditions for life forms.
It is interesting to note that all of these questions are pre-evolution questions, since we do not need a mechanism to add, refine or make life more complex -- natural selection does that wonderfully --- the central question of life is how did it arise in the most simplest of organisms.
In this wonderful read, Davies analyses first the physics of life, entropy, open systems and thermodynamic equilibrium. It is this approach that Davies uses that I find personally so fascinating since it is one that is often ignored by a lot of chemists and biologists, but is it germane -- what kind of physical properties are necessary in the universe for life to arise? This is a real good qustion and Davies gives us a good intro tour of the how complexity can arise in an environment which always seems to be striving towards thermodynamic equillibrium.
The second part of the book could be called the biochemical reasons necessary for life. Here Davies looks at elementary organisation and gives us a really good history of the experimentation in this area, from the elementary forces that may be required to bring about nucleotides, proteins and polypeptide strings.
One really interesting thing Davies does is trace back the evolutionary history of organisms and the current data that evolutionary forces were at work for almost 4 billion years. From this he describes ancestors from this time that may still be living on the earth (meso/thermophilic bacteria). A really great way of looking at evolution.
The last chapters sort of synthethise the physics and chemistry parts and look at the implications of the planetary forces, both gradual and catastrophic over the history of the earth and their potential to influence the rise of life and shape the evolutionary forces.
There is a lot of food for thought here and of course no one knows how life started, but it is clear that current theory and evidence are making science more interesting than even before. We may never know as Davies states, but in knowing more and more we are attaining the best goals of mankind.
A wonderful book with science as the only aim.
It should be stated that Davies has no political axe to grind with anyone and his writing is ideologically clean. But let there be no misunderstanding, when in doubt there is no evoking of blind forces in any or Davies books. His passion is science and reason and, like most people who think deeply, he regards the constant state of unknowing as a challenge as a never ending challenge.
For the person who says that Davies is not "open-minded" because he does not consider (notice I did not say believe) that a omnipresent God waved his hand and made us... that is simple. Personal belief has nothing to do with science since it yields nothing of benefit to Science. Even if Davies did personally believe that a God created life, that does not get anyone closer to understanding life... And this is the fundemental point that people who believe in Gods (or as with the current fashion, intelligent design) as ulimate cause fall into --- intelligent design, even if right is not science, it cannot be proved. It is a sterile end on the path of unknowing.
Thank God for people like Davies that can remind us that Science alone can yeild truth -- that it will never yield all of the truths is the central tenet of Science... and with that there is comfort, because it means that reason remains paramount, and man advances.
The best little book I have read in years........2004-07-07
The fifth miracle is an outstanding little book that discloses a miriad of possibilities about the origin of life on earth. The controversy arises when Davis exposes some unorthodox theories like Panspermia, the truth is that when he does that he is really persuasive. Paul Davies is an intelligent scientist and one that has kept updated and with experience on field, so his arguments are no less than powerful and convincing, once again, even the controversial ones. Though he doesn't take part in most of the different theories explained, his book might look a little biased, but great, besides he may even be right.
fails to answer the big question........2004-04-17
Davis titled his book the Search for the Origin and Meaning of Life, but he never really answers this fundamental question. Sure, science hasn't answered this, and unlike Davies' optimistic assertion that they will accomplish this feat someday, I don't believe science will. If approached from the viewpoint that life arose spontaneously from the haphazard collision of random molecules by the direction of chance then the mystery will never be solved. The process that produced life was so improbable that it can't be reproduced in the laboratory and was truly an event that took place against all odds. Understanding that anything with a value of 1 10^50 is an impossibility, and that the conditions for life to occur would need a much bigger number, attempting to solve this mystery is a waste of time.
Nevertheless, if life is the product of a set of laws written into the universe that favor the creation of life then the search is not futile. Nevertheless, this opens up the possibility for design arguments and the need for a programmer to write such a code; This is a development that I welcome as a Christian, but one that is scorned by other scientists. Some of this attitude comes through at times in Davies book when he states on pg. 31, "However, it is the job of science to solve mysteries without recourse to divine intervention." This assertion is patently false. It is the job of science to explain observable phenomena with a natural explantion if the results are verifiable and make more sense than a mystical argument. It could very well be that the deity who created the universe was a very competent programmer who designed the creation to operate under very specific natural laws, and one of those laws is for the universe to create life under the right conditions. This is just a possibility, but one that should not be eliminated simply because the establishment thinks it should.
In the end this book fails to answer the question that matters most: If life did arise by natural means, then how did it do so? Davies offers absolutely no new insight into this perplexing question. In fact, many of his arguments seem to point against random, senseless and purposless creation. Believing that all the right circumstances could fall into place is just as much grounded in faith as is the idea of a Divine creator. The only new arguments presented by this book were those that speculated that life began underground and not at the surface. Yet, this raises a whole host of questions. RNA or DNA could not develop inside the earth because the tremendous heat and pressure would destroy the volatile molecules. Therefore, one is forced to conclude the cell came first and this gave the RNA and DNA the sufficient shelter to form and replicate. But this just brings us back the chicken-egg paradox and doesn't answer anything since the cell cannot survive efficiently without the help of DNA, RNA, and catalytic enzymes. Stating that the first simple cell was a more crude device which operated on a more crude scale only begs the question and is meaningless conjecture without evidence.
Product Description
Finally, here is the Truth in a form that everyone can understand. Michael Sharp has done a spectacular job of presenting the deep spiritual truths of creation and of this planet in an accessible, direct, and no-nonsense format. In The Book of Life learn all you need to know in order to understand and navigate the dramatic global changes now unfolding. Everything from the energetic nature of the universe through karma, prophecy, the Annunaki, the failed ascension attempts of Atlantis/Lemuria and our current (and successful!) ascension work is laid out in appealing fashion. Once you pick it up, you cannot put it down.
Download Description
Finally, here is the Truth in a form that everyone can understand. Michael Sharp has done a spectacular job of presenting the deep spiritual truths of creation and of this planet in an accessible, direct, and no-nonsense format. In The Book of Life learn all you need to know in order to understand and navigate the dramatic global changes now unfolding. Everything from the energetic nature of the universe through karma, prophecy, the Annunaki, the failed ascension attempts of Atlantis/Lemuria and our current (and successful!) ascension work is laid out in appealing fashion. Once you pick it up, you cannot put it down.
Customer Reviews:
Ascension and the Divine World Order.......2007-09-07
It is time people wake up and quit watching TV and read the books
that are available about the coming 5 year period. We are in a very
very important period in "Time" and Dr Michael Sharp is excellent at
presenting some of the information.
Michael Sharp doesn't waste any time in impressing the import of his theories.......2007-08-27
Michael Sharp doesn't waste any time in impressing the import of his theories upon a reader, as the first sentences of The Book of Life: Ascension and the Divine World Order make clear: Welcome to the most significant event in the history of creation. I tend to be skeptical of statements like this, but I kept reading and I found something surprising a clear explanation of New Age concepts offset only slightly by outlandish ideas.
The Book of Life is centered on helping its reader understand the path to Ascension, which Sharp describes as the act of gaining understanding and welcoming a higher consciousness into your body. He argues that as the universe is comprised of energy, it is our goal to learn how to let this energy flow through us and alter our perception to expand within the physical universe.
These theories on the Ascension are easier to process than many New Age texts, chiefly because I recognize several of them from existing mythologies. The concept of the yin-yang, the golden rule, the serpent devouring its own tail, the Indian chakra system and the Jewish Tree of Life are all seen as interpretations of the universe balancing energy. It's refreshing to read such a comprehensive belief structure, and Sharp presents each part with equal seriousness.
However, when it comes to explaining the historical background of Ascension I found Sharp sounded more like a science fiction writer. The possibility that the mythical societies of Lemuria and Atlantis failed because of poor energy distribution and we are shouldering that karmic fallout is a bit outlandish, but when Sharp suggests that our spiritual growth was subjugated eons ago by an alien race known as the Annunaki he begins to forfeit his credibility.
Sharp wins back some credibility later in the book when he discusses how society is moving towards the Ascension naturally, citing such strides as the Internet and the spread of science and literacy. He offers several techniques for coming to the Ascension face your fears, expand your chakra, seek out your spiritual guides, adopt a life view on par with the Greek Stoics which are somewhat bland next to his buildup of the process but useful advice for daily life.
His urgent tone detracts from his idea of awakening, but there is enough information in "The Book of Life" to help with personal understanding. I found several of its suggestions useful, and would easily recommend it to anyone looking for a nudge in beliefs.
Christ Consciousness Ahoj!.......2007-08-21
If there is one book which really and truly demystifies the process of ascension and puts in perspective, the enormous emotional charge associated with the prophesied event, it must be Michael Sharp's 'The Book of Light'. This event, also known as the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, has been prophesied to take place, sometime after December 23rd, 2012. This date also coincides with the end of the Mayan calendar and signifies the end of our civilization, as we know it. Many mystics and channeled sources have taken up this topic for discussion, stating that the 'end times' would be a time when people would stop regarding his/her neighbour as a distinct 'other' and 'do unto another as s/he would have done to him/her self'.
This book is the first of a series by Michael Sharp. The author affirms that he is one of many who have been assigned the task of making accessible to the general public, the genuine facts behind the Ascension Project, underlying the spiritual history of this planet. To this end, he reveals a certain amount of information on the Lemurian and Atlantean civilisations, during both of which, attempts at ascension failed. In this book, the author goes deeper into the spiritual reason behind the present ascension attempt, the physical implications for us as earthlings, and the kind of choices and decisions specifically required of us as we experience a gigantic transiotion of this kind. As mentioned in the beginning of this review, seldom has material as esoteric as this, been presented in such a lucid, concise and incisive fashion. Some of the material is clearly channeled from a source outside the physical. This 'inside information' is something we are intuitively aware of, but, as beings on the physical plane, we cannot access this 'long term perspective' directly. In the vision presented in this book, Michael Sharp paints a picture, that for me, fitted effortlessly with my own view as to what to expect when the 'end times' come calling.
The first in this series, this book deals with the nitty gritty of the event per se. It says clearly that the event is one of 'grounding Christ Consciousness', after achieving which, we embrace our collective transcendental destiny as fulfilled human beings, working in concert with each other (instead of in competition) and with All That Is. The Second Book, called 'the Dossier of the Ascension', is an elaboration of the last two chapters of the first book. In this book, more specific and detailed instructions are given as to chakra activation and the reason behind the blockages that are commonly experienced. I have yet to read the third book in this series, 'The Book of Light', but it deals with the nature of our consciousness and how it is, in essence, a 'body of light'.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. If you're wondering why you are here, who you really are, why you have been held back from achieving your objectives, read this book.You will recognize this information, it will resonate with what you already know, deep in the confines of your own heart (as it did with me). It will light a candle within you, wake up dormant memories.Your programmed responses to trying situations will begin to change, they will be more awake and more aware. And perhaps, you will have begun your own journey, at an accelerated pace, to Christ Consciousness.
Loving Spirit, Black Hawk, SD.......2007-08-01
Michael Sharp has given me so many answers to questions I have had all my life. He repeats that there are many paths for an individual to achieve awakening and ascension. He believes his books are the fastest way to achieve this. I know that since I started reading Book of Life I have moved forward faster and further than in my 42 yrs of searching and working toward my highest spiritual self. As in all things, the individual will know which path to enlightenment they need to take. Due to this book I have made the choice to take the Lightening Path. Thank you Michael for sharing your loving energy with all of us.
Read with caution; continue on your own path..........2007-07-07
It is with caution that I am checking out this author's book and writings. Like many on this quest, I have seen my share of willful charlatans, along with plenty of purported channelers seeking only to sell their books and other products, plus those who are well-intentioned but simply deluded and ensnared in their own illusions or concoctions of Truth.
To the list of "I do not believe" items in the intro of The Book Of Light, Volume One (free download from Sharp's website), I add these two: I do not believe in a single answer or universal path for all persons given our individual stages of development on the karmic walk, and I do not believe that anyone walking this Earth has sufficient spiritual clarity to be consciously aware of the entire spritual truth of the planet, as Sharp claims.
Those of us who walk this path in earnest understand that we create our reality, and that we each must walk an individual path to rediscover our Unity, our Oneness with/in God. It is a welcome respite if we find useful resources along the way that speak to us, and sometimes a book can really seem revelatory to person(s) who have never heard such words before. But I have great reservation about anyone who presents him/her self as a spiritual teacher but uses an academic title such as "Dr." for apparent validation (did Gandhi or Krishnamurti or Jesus or Gautama do this?) and purports to know it all, no matter how sensible-sounding some of his/her writings may sound. And I am immediately put on guard when any book starts with "Hello Dear One" as though spoken from a place of benign superiority.
Advice to all readers: Continue to seek your own Truth, don't buy into another's version. If the words in this book speak to you, that's wonderful. Use them as a guidepost to continue your quest. Don't fall into the trap of guru or dogma worship or into the illusion of having "arrived" because something in a book resonates with you.
Average customer rating:
- A mind expanding book-Top notch!
- Worthwhile read, but flawed conclusions.
- Enemies? Or Friends?
- Shamanism vs. The Flying Saucers
- I wish it were true
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Passport to the Cosmos : Human Transformation and Alien Encounters
John E. Mack
Manufacturer: Crown
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Similar Items:
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Abduction: Human Encounters With Aliens
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Witnessed; The True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge UFO Abductions
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The THREAT: Revealing the Secret Alien Agenda
ASIN: 0517705680
Release Date: 1999-10-26 |
Book Description
In his groundbreaking follow-up to the best-selling Abduction, Pulitzer Prize-winner John E. Mack, M.D., powerfully demonstrates how the alien abduction phenomenon calls for a revolutionary new way of examining the nature of reality and our place in the cosmos.
Harvard professor John E. Mack stunned the world when he first published in Abduction the astonishing results of his extensive research involving clients who reported they had had encounters with alien life-forms. In Passport to the Cosmos, Mack, who has done additional research with abductees in the United States and around the world, provocatively asserts that this phenomenon is part of a new era in human consciousness, a time in which we must be willing to embrace the idea that alien visitation is real on some level.
For Mack, the alien abduction phenomenon is nothing short of a cosmic wake-up call to humans that we do indeed live in a world filled with spirits and beings who can cross the barrier we have thrown up between the material and immaterial worlds. Drawing on the rich tradition of non-Western and indigenous cultures, which more readily accept that we live in a multidimensional universe, Mack persuasively shows that by broadening our definition of "what is real," we can begin to explore a phenomenon that has deep and lasting implications for humanity.
By sharing the vivid and dramatic encounters of experiencers, Mack illuminates a phenomenon that has shattered the worldviews of the people who have experienced it. Time and time again, experiencers from all cultures say their lives have been radically altered by their encounters with aliens in ways that are both traumatic and transformative. This transformation seems to be an intrinsic part of the alien abduction phenomenon, which is marked by a variety of elements that go beyond the physical manifestation of alien visitation.
In Passport to the Cosmos, John Mack further solidifies his reputation as a brave pioneer on the forefront of the science of human experience, an authoritative voice that will take us into the twenty-first century.
Customer Reviews:
A mind expanding book-Top notch!.......2006-05-02
Dr. Mack is brilliant in this book! He is most interested in how a person's life changes as a result of their anomolous experiences, mainly encounters with other worldly beings. These "experiencers" seem to have a jump start on the rest of us mortals, in terms of understanding the vastness of which we come from, and which we will return. An excellent book for anyone seeking to get closer to the TRUTH.
Worthwhile read, but flawed conclusions........2005-06-26
Mack's done an overall good job pretaining to the UFO/abduction phenomena. I take exception however to his take home message that most if not all of the abduction experience is actually directly related to alien abduction and moreover that the aliens are benevolent and have our best interests at heart.
I do think that aliens are visiting the earth. I base this on the fact that many people report the same similiar experiences. What adds credence to this, is that I know of people who've recounted these kinds of stories having happened to them or love ones as early as the early 60's--long before the trite description of the "Greys" became so popularized.
Having heard these stories and the clearly advanced technology that these aliens possess, it is clear that they are not benevolent. Some are clearly and undeniably sinister. It even looks as if some are simply playing with us like fodder for entertainment. The movies the Mothman Prophecies and the movie Forgotten have taken a departure of the good-feel ET alien movie message and played on the notion that we're essentially lab rats in comparison to these alien intelligences.
Personally, if ET came knocking on my door, I'd slap his silly duff on an autopsy table and find out what makes him/her/it tick and find a way to kill them off en masse. I hope our government has such a method or is rapidly working toward developing such a means.
Enemies? Or Friends?.......2004-06-02
These many reviews are interesting. It seems that the negative reviewers are offended at the idea - the very idea! - that aliens might actually be helping humanity. No, such reviewers seem more comfortable with the idea that aliens are out to destroy humanity, no doubt about it.
To me, these reviews offer a window into the psychology of each reviewer: Those who feel that the unknown MUST be our enemy, and those who feel that the unknown CAN be our friend.
For those of the former, THE THREAT is obviously the book for you. For those of the latter, PASSPORT will offer elucidation and comfort.
It's been suggested that we each make our own reality...
Shamanism vs. The Flying Saucers.......2003-05-20
This follows a disturbing phenomenon in anomalous research of whatever ilk, whenever empiricial answers do not hold adequate allure- break out the indigenous shaman routine to cast "illumination" on the discussion. The new agers probably "understand" the explainations provided from 3rd world wise men & women of crop circles, abuctions, and other intrusions into the lives of certain fantasy prone individuals. But I am left wondering: "what the hell are they talking about?" Dr. Mack's first book still had enough healthy scepticism to make for solid reading. This book makes me want to cheer the academic committee's attempt to reel Dr. Mack back into the fold. With this work, John E. has wandered too far into make-believe-land to have much credibility. Jacques Vallee made a more reasonable sojourn into the folklore/UFO connection some years ago with his "Passport to Magonia". This "Passport to the Cosmos" has been stamped invalid.
I wish it were true.......2002-12-31
This is a book on abductions with the same "new-ageish" and prophetic tone as communion. The author here believes the aliens are "spiritual beings" or "gods" from a different dimension. The 'experiencers' are specially chosen people to learn and be enlightened.They are here, he says to help us, and to teach us important messages. In it, he talks with native peoples and shamans of the world to try to find out the meaning of the abduction phenomenon.
I agree with the author that the abduction phenomenon is real and that it isn't made up or imagined. However, he seems to automatically assume
that the alien beings are kindly, benevolent, interdimensional messengers. He doesn't have much evidence to back up his theory and his view ot the aliens doesn't seem to explain the traumatic and humiliating procedures that abductees experience. It also doesn't explain their secrecy. If they are benevolent and want to give us important messages, why do they make it so that the abductee can't remember the experience. There are so many unanswered questions that his view brings up, and it ultimately doesn't hold much water. He seems to have been influenced greatly by the 'contactees' of the 50's and the new age movement. Mack is a great psychiatrist but unfortunately is more interested in helping his abductee/patients and in helping them cope with the abductions than he is at getting to the bottom of the whole phenomenon.
If you want to look at the facts and evidence logically and rationally, get the book "The Threat" by David Jacobs (It actually explains the whole abduction phenomenon, is based on actual evidence, and makes much more sense) or perhaps the book "UFOs and abductions: challenging the borders of knowledge". If you want to hear about a new age/spiritual/religious-oriented explanation based on wishful thinking and interviews with native shamans that doesn't make very much sense, but that makes you feel good about the whole thing, get this book.
Book Description
Erich von Daniken's Chariots of the Gods is a work of monumental importance--the first book to introduce the shocking theory that ancient Earth had been visited by aliens. This world-famous bestseller has withstood the test of time, inspiring countless books and films, including the author's own popular sequel, The Eyes of the Sphinx. But here is where it all began--von Daniken's startling theories of our earliest encounters with alien worlds, based upon his lifelong studies of ancient ruins, lost cities, potential spaceports, and a myriad of hard scientific facts that point to extraterrestrial intervention in human history. Most incredible of all, however, is von Daniken's theory that we ourselves are the descendants of these galactic pioneers--and the archeological discoveries that prove it... * An alien astronaut preserved in a pyramid
* Thousand-year-old spaceflight navigation charts
* Computer astronomy from Incan and Egyptian ruins
* A map of the land beneath the ice cap of Antarctica
* A giant spaceport discovered in the Andes
Includes remarkable photos that document mankind's first contact with aliens at the dawn of civilization.
Customer Reviews:
Chariots.......2007-10-06
This is an excellent documentary and has great concepts of life from outer space and whether they'd been to our Earth. Delightful!!
An archetypal example of 1970's fluffy pseudoscience drivel.......2007-08-19
[Review written in Nov 2006]
I'll be brief, because the book doesn't deserve more time than that.
This book is one of the archetypal examples of 1970's fluffy pseudoscience drivel, which is practically a genre unto itself.
This particular example has long since been debunked by many reputable scientist authors, and at considerable length. I only reviewed this book because it was a best seller in it's day, and people still talk about it. Then again, supermarket tabloids are best sellers too, so that's not saying an awful lot.
In any case, just for the sake of completeness, I read this book as a young, gullible, and naieve teen back in the mid-late 1970's, when shows like "In Search Of", "Project Blue Book", UFO sightings, and things like "streaking", acid rock, smoking recreational drugs, poor personal hygine and rampant anti-intellectualism were all the rage in pop culture, and things like CB Radio, Walkie Talkies, and pocket calculators were the newfangled high-brow hobbies of the day for adolescent geeks like me.
Decades later, as an educated, rational and moderately well read and informed adult ... it's almost unreadable.
Save your time and money.
God.......2007-08-02
I am one of those people who want hard evidence to prove god's existence. This book help little.
Chariots of the Gods/DVD.......2007-07-24
I saw the movie when it first came out and found it fascinating. I purchased this copy for a friend. Looking at it now, it is a little outdated, but still, if you are interested in this genre, it is very enjoyable and contains a lot of interesting information to ponder.Chariots of the Gods
This is not the show from the 1970-'s.......2007-07-14
Too many people are not reviewing the correct program. This is not a movie, it is also not the show from the 1970's narrated by Rod Serling. This is a remake (and update of information) from 1997. It has that guy from Home Improvement as the host (not Tim Allen)...Richard Karn. Eric Von Daniken and Richard K travel the globe showing old and new sites. It is an OK show but not the best. It was from 1997 and broadcast on TV. Keep watching the skies. The aliens return on Christmas day 2012, not sure why or what they want (so the Myan calendar tells us).
Average customer rating:
- SPIRIT meetZ EARTH
- A fascinating perspective
- Living Library
- New Age Drivel
- Confounded Into Clarity
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Earth: Pleiadian Keys to the Living Library
Barbara Marciniak
Manufacturer: Bear & Company
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Bringers of the Dawn: Teachings from the Pleiadians
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The Pleiadian Workbook: Awakening Your Divine Ka
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The Pleiadian Agenda: A New Cosmology for the Age of Light
ASIN: 1879181215
Release Date: 1994-11-01 |
Book Description
Embraced worldwide as key spiritual teachers of our times, the Pleiadians are back, with another bold and controversial look at our highest purpose on Earth.
Earth: Pleiadian Keys to the Living Library is their handbook to inspired living, calling on us to restore and return value to the human being, and to recognize the Goddess energies and the power of blood as connections to our DNA and our heritage.
Using wit, wisdom, and deep compassion, they entice us to explore the corridors of time through the concept of the Game Masters; to awaken the crucial codes for multidimensional perspective; and to redream the Living Library of Earth. Their teachings aare significantly arranged in twelve chapters to trigger a deeper understanding of our ancestral lineage.
Earth probes the memories hidden deep within us to reveal our crucial roles in the transformational process unfolding in our times.
Customer Reviews:
SPIRIT meetZ EARTH.......2006-04-09
My father is a SHAMAN in COSTA RICA & he let me read his tattered copy as a BEGINNING to a BETTER WAY of thinking. If you like the movie What The Bleep & R open minded then I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this BOOK!
MissPiglet.com
A fascinating perspective.......2005-09-21
This book provides an entirely new prespective for our current day of living (and the point of it all). If you think you're open minded, read this book and then re-evaluate yourself on this very point. There is a great deal of insight, some prognostication and ideals that will test your belief system. It's worth reading and considering the contents.
Living Library.......2005-02-17
I have owned a copy of this book for 3 years and I still refer to it regularly. I consider the contents to be above value for maintaining an open mind and expanding the imagination. My sincerest thanks go to Barbara, and to those who assisted her in bringing this book into this world, giving others such as myself the opportunity to read it.
New Age Drivel.......2004-09-05
I feel very sorry for Barbara Marciniak. She is being used by these forces of darkness to spread the message that Christ never existed. I hope and pray that she and her followers see the light before more people become deceived into believing this sugar-coated web of lies.
Confounded Into Clarity.......2004-03-22
Truth be told, I would never have made it through this book if the Universe had not placed it before my path in perfect, divine synchronicity. And so I began to read and attempt to live the lessons within these pages. The lessons have taken me far, teaching me, through confoundment and humour, how to energize my dreams into 3D and to open myself to the returning feminine energy of our imbalanced times. "Earth" is a catalyst for change, and reawakens one from deep imprinting and rigid belief systems written and sold as reality in the airwaves surrounding our daily lives. Since consciously embarking upon a spiritual path I've seen deep truths and yet startling inconsistiences in the information given in Earth. Yet, the Pleiadians themselves mention, time and time again, that they are storytellers and that all they do is create imagery from which one can evolve. "Earth" accomplishes this movement towards evolution by existing as a paradox that stretches the imagination, sharing deep and forgotten secrets, and by tricking one into discovering the mystical teaching source of our own inner essence.
Average customer rating:
- An intersting book!
- Only If You're Ready....
- PERFECT TIMING
- A profound, multi-disciplinary synthesis
- Totally Unreadable.
|
Alchemy of Nine Dimensions: Decoding the Vertical Axis, Crop Circles, and the Mayan Calendar
Barbara Hand Clow , and
Gerry Clow
Manufacturer: Hampton Roads Publishing Company
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Path of Empowerment: New Pleiadian Wisdom for a World in Chaos
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The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness
ASIN: 1571744207 |
Customer Reviews:
An intersting book!.......2007-09-22
I the beginning it took me a little bit to get used to Barbara's style and the concepts, considering that this was my first read by her. Nevertheless, the book is wonderfully laid out and explained so thoroughly that however complex the ideas (which were completely foriegn to me)became comprehendible, mind expanding and exciting! it is almost a text book like approach, very systematic and scientific- I loved it! Paired with Gerry's gentle meditations especially towards the end of the book were extremely helpful. When I finished the book I was in complete awe (and tears) perhaps for having gained such a fresh new perspective and a deeper understanding. This was a great book, I recommend it to anyone!
Only If You're Ready...........2006-09-15
This is one of those books that you will understand ONLY if you're ready! If you are *not* at this particular place in your spiritual search, this book will make no sense to you whatsoever. If you are, then this book will open up a wealth of insight previously unavailable.
I have been reading Barbara Marciniak's Pleaidian books (also written for the spiritually ready), and felt this was an adjunct to the studies I have undertaken in this area. Barbara Hand Clow's book has served to expand my view of possibilities, to challenge my thinking even further and to delve deeper into my own truth. In doing so, I can clearly see that this book would appear to be complete gibberish to anyone not at this particular spiritual juncture--that's *spiritual,* not religious.
In reading Alchemy of Nine Dimensions, along with other Pleaidian books including Marciniak's, things make more sense than they ever have in my over four decades on this planet. History, religious teachings, human nature and potential--all were a totally disconnected jumble before, whereas now all the disparate pieces are falling into place.
If you are up to the challenge of stepping beyond sleeping-sheep paradigms, read this book, and then decide.
PERFECT TIMING.......2006-04-14
PERFECT TIMING FOR THESE INFORMATIONS, AS WE MOVE TO THE NEXT DIMENSION.FOR ME EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED TO KNOW NOW.THANK YOU BARBARA AND THE PS!!!!!
A profound, multi-disciplinary synthesis.......2005-03-17
If you aren't inclined towards books that require you to stretch your mind in order to study complex concepts (like some of the Seth books) then this book isn't for you. But if you are, you will be richly rewarded with this goldmine of a book!
The material is sophisticated, scientific, and technical. Barbara Hand Clow crafts an explanation of the dimensions through the fields of astronomy, physics, geometry, and spirituality, among others, with the mastery of a wizard - a true work of alchemy. Readers gain a sense of the nature of each dimension and how each one influences our lives. Gerry Clow ushers in each chapter with a meditation that flavors the particular dimension. I wish I had followed the authors' advice to read one chapter a day; I didn't because I was so enthralled. But, no joke - this is a LOT to process. The quality of the material is phenomenal and on the second read, I found it even more interesting.
Be forewarned - this is not easy material to grasp. But this book was exactly what I was looking for: an understanding of how each of the dimensions affects our chakra systems, how the information from the dimensions is disseminated, and a practical guide to integrating the information in daily life. If these ideas are up your alley, you will not be disappointed.
Totally Unreadable. .......2005-02-25
I am not a debunker. Quite the Contrary, I am a Tarot Reader, and have been quite convinced in the presence of the visitors since reading Richard Dolans excellent UFO's and the National Security state. So I am pretty well open to the potential Ideas in material like this book. However, I was barely able to force myself through the first 100 pages of this work, in the fading hope it would get better.
The only thing the author seemed to be Channeling to my mind, was the Plutonic Ideal of pure BS. Perhaps however I am wrong, it is difficult to imagine a person who actually speaks the english language writing such awkard prose. So she might have been channeling a Pledian after all.
Book Description
In 1973, Carl Sagan published The Cosmic Connection, a daring view of the universe, which rapidly became a classic work of popular science and inspired a generation of scientists and enthusiasts. This seminal work is reproduced here for a whole new generation to enjoy. In Sagan's typically lucid and lyrical style, he discusses many topics from astrophysics and solar system science, to colonization, terraforming and the search for extraterrestrials. Sagan conveys his own excitement and wonder, and relates the revelations of astronomy to the most profound human problems and concerns: issues that are just as valid today as they were thirty years ago. New to this edition are Freeman Dyson's comments on Sagan's vision and the importance of the work, Ann Druyan's assessment of Sagan's cultural significance as a champion of science, and David Morrison's discussion of the advances made since 1973 and what became of Sagan's predictions. Who knows what wonders this third millennium will reveal, but one thing is certain: Carl Sagan played a unique role in preparing us for them.
Customer Reviews:
Infectious enthusiasm.......2004-05-31
Carl Sagan's "The Cosmic Connection" is an enjoyable and easy-to-read survey of science and astronomy, circa 1973. Sagan's passion for his subjects comes through loud and clear in the essays that comprise this book. Reading this book is a little like watching "Cosmos" -- you're struck by the breadth of Sagan's knowledge and charmed by his imagination and wide-eyed enthusiasm for his topics. Sagan has a flair for making science accessible to the masses. He explores topics such as planetary exploration, the origins of life, and, of course, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Readers who liked "A Brief History of Time" will probably enjoy "The Cosmic Connection." The epilogue, which provides a year 2000 update for many of the chapters, is a valuable addition to this classic book.
Worth reading.......2003-05-13
Sure this isn't Sagans best book, it was one of his earliest. But its definitely a great read, full of profound thoughts.
Digressions? Yeah!.......2001-10-28
This book is a mix of thoughts by Carl Sagan, which he mainly dictated while crossing North America in a car. Well, it shows! It jumps from interesting paragraphs to useless personnal experiences, and the final result is a short text that is confusing, and (but that's not his fault) outdated. Read "Cosmos" and "Pale Blue Dot", they are much better.
The Musings of A Great Intellect.......2001-04-15
While it was first published over twenty five years ago and new scientific knowledge has rendered some of the "facts" and conclusions invalid, this book is still one that will fascinate you. For Sagan's writings are not about the knowledge of the moment but about grand, overwhelming ideas. Known to most people through his television appearances and his popular science books, he was a man with very impressive scientific credentials. A driving force in setting the priorities of planetary probes, his formidable intellect and powers of persuasion helped change the missions in many important ways.
Carl Sagan was a man deeply committed to the scientific method, the rule of reason and the exploration of space. His passion comes through very clearly in these essays, although he never descends to the level of being preachy. Towards the end of his life, he started to grow understandably pessimistic about the continued lack of exploration of the universe beyond the limits of the blue planet. Like so many of us, he is saddened by the lack of a vision that would drive the human race to establish an extraterrestrial presence beyond low Earth orbit.
Other issues that he deals with are the consequences of contact with another civilization and how we may recognize it when it occurs and what our response should be. These are very fundamental questions that the human race should consider. It is hard to imagine any other event that could have a more profound impact on how humans view themselves and their role in the cosmos. I agree with the premise of the Star Trek movie "First Contact", where the first contact with an extraterrestrial unites humanity in a way never before thought possible.
Humans will always continue to examine our place in the grand scheme and what all of the immensity of the universe really means. As long as we continue to produce beings of the caliber of Carl Sagan, our future is a bright one. His intellect and ability to excite were both first rate and I do not know how anyone could read these essays and not be moved by the quality of his reasoning.
"Must" reading for all Sagan fans.......2001-03-02
The late Carl Sagan was one of the most popular, influential, and successful interpreters of astronomy to the American public. In 1973 he published "The Cosmic Connection". He offered a daring view of the universe and his seminal work became a classic of popular science, inspiring a generation of scientists and non-specialist general readers with an enthusiasm for all aspects of science in general, and astronomy in particular. Now Cambridge University Press has reissued a new edition of Sagan's influential book, enhanced with Freeman Dyson's commentary on Sagan's vision and on the importance of "The Cosmic Connection"; Ann Dryan's assessment of Sagan's cultural significance as a champion of science; and David Morrison's discussion of the advances made over the past 30 years and what became of Sagan's predictions. Carl Sagan's Cosmic Connection is "must" reading for all Sagan fans and anyone interested in how his views and predictions have held up over the past three decades of rapid advances in the science of astronomy and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
Average customer rating:
- What Part of Our World are we "Doomed to Repeat"?
- Are there no editors at iUniverse?
- Poorly written but worth the read
- Great book
- Answers all the questions
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Voices from Legendary Times: We Are a Bridge Between Past and Future
Ellen Lloyd
Manufacturer: iUniverse, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0595367380 |
Book Description
About the book: What is the connection between lost civilizations, ancient cosmic catastrophes, and extraterrestrial visitations in prehistory? Voices from Legendary Times draws together compelling evidence from archaeology, astronomy, geology, myths, and ancient texts to prove that superior beings from outer space genetically engineered several human races on our planet. . Examines the flaws in the theory of evolution. . Proves that giants were an important, yet now forgotten part of our history. . Explains what really caused the destruction of highly advanced civilizations and continents like Atlantis, Lemuria, and Thule. . Reveals that our ancestors were familiar with flying machines and nuclear weapons. . Shows proof of extraterrestrial contact in the Bible. In the search for lost origins of humanity, Ellen Llyod demonstrates that races of men have inhabited Earth for millions of years, but not all of them were human. Ancient sources describe the past ages as world cycles. The mysteries of the forgotten past reveal that the humans and all living beings have not been created once, but are products of a continuous re-creation process performed and guided by alien gods. Learn why our history is more startling than we could ever imagine!
Customer Reviews:
What Part of Our World are we "Doomed to Repeat"?.......2007-09-27
We, on this planet, are repeatedly told; "He who forgets the Past, is doomed to repeat It; but, if we have already forgotten "it" "or...never even been told "it", where & how do we even start to get "clue one" about what "it"is? Legendary Times definitely gets a person off on the right foot, gets that foot in the door and that toe in the water! The ancient brought to light, & the public.
Legendary Times puts in one place; stories, facts, legends, recovered artifacts, scientific results, & first person accounts of humanity's origins. This compilation is written for the casual reader, yet still contains good clues for a researcher. If Legendary Times has a downside, it can be said to sort of "trail off towards the end" leaving one wishing for more data.
I bought a copy for a friend and find I am always going back to reference a fact.
Are there no editors at iUniverse?.......2007-09-03
There are a lot of problems with this book but the most glaring are the punctuation, sentence fragments and lack of continuity. If this book was translated from another language into English, where were the proofreaders? I've read lots of books translated from other languages that don't have these irritating mistakes.
With that said, I wonder about the research. Among her many assertions, she states that bones of giants found in CA were re-buried in order to suppress the true history of our origin. How does she know this? Though she has sources listed in the back of the book, there are no footnotes to indicate her source for such conclusions. I would think a mathematician, as the jacket states she is, would be more likely to demand proof. Her off-hand conclusions are not based on any arguments or proof that I found in her writing.
I believe there were civilizations prior to the Egyptian/Mesopotamian civilizations but this book is shallow and offers only wild speculation.
Save your money and eyesight.
Poorly written but worth the read.......2007-02-01
This book would be excellent if it were better written. My guess is that English is not the author's primary language. But beneath the annoyingly dropped words (especially "the"), incomplete and awkward sentences, and randomly placed commas is a wealth of substance. The author makes an excellent case that scholars should take cultural myths and legends more seriously, that there are important truths within the stories.
The tour of mysterious sites around the world, along with other evidence of long-lost great civilizations in our distant past, is relatively comprehensive and interesting. Yes, the "ancient astronauts" theory has for some time now been an object of merciless ridicule, but the ever growing body of anomalous evidence, in my opinion, continues to call conventional notions of human origins into question. Although this poorly written book would never suffice in an academic setting, it most certainly can serve well to introduce the reader to related theories proposed by the likes of Velikovsky, Alford, Hancock, Sitchen, and of course the controversial and giggle-factor encrusted popularizer, Erich von Daniken. If one is willing and able to push aside the ridicule, approach these theories objectively (and also tolerate annoying grammatical errors and typos) for the sake of understanding content, buy Voices, for it serves as a very good compilation of evidence proposed supporting ancient astronauts related claims.
Great book.......2006-08-10
[...]
Voices from Legendary Times by Ellen Lloyd
I have to be honest from the start, I am not a lover of books that deal with visiting "crafts" from outer space as an answer to the mysteries of the past. Ever since reading Daniken's book I always felt that many statements and claims were made without the evidence to back them up, and yet Ellen Lloyd has done a superb job in uncovering a huge and bewildering amount of
data. This is not just a simple tale claiming that ships landed on the pyramids of Giza, no, this is a really good and clever investigation into hundreds of mysteries, from the Hopi indians to the Maya, oh yes, and a really good read.
There are the infamous authors on extraterrestrial visitation such as Sitchin and Daniken with all their flaws and there are many unsung authors such as Ellen Lloyd who deserve to have their voices heard. The simple reason being that Ellen has done more research and uncovered more enigmas than Sitchin and Daniken put together and all this in one book. From the
moment Ellen steps into the "theory of evolution" she had me hooked because I associated with her as she ripped it to shreds. And then, without blinking she moved headlong into a territory many so-called authors would fear to
tread - Atlantis. In her cleverly deduced assumption there was much more to this ancient tale than previously believed - not least of which involved much more advanced technical abilities in ancient times.
Whatever your thoughts on little green me
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