History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Lavoisier in the Year One: The Birth of a New Science in an Age of Revolution (Great Discoveries)

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Revolutionizing Chemistry In a Time of Revolution
Lavoisier Great scientist
Lavoisier: "Father of Modern Chemistry"
Lavoisier: A Man of Mysteries
The Chemical Revolution

Lavoisier in the Year One: The Birth of a New Science in an Age of Revolution (Great Discoveries)
Madison Smartt Bell
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0393051552

Book Description

A literate and lucid account of the eighteenth century's great race to understand the elements—and found a modern science.

Antoine Lavoisier—who lived at the zenith of the Enlightenment and died at the hands of the Revolution—was himself a revolutionary. Closely followed by the burgeoning international scientific community, he competed with the best minds of his time to be the first to explain how chemical processes really work. Aided by a large fortune and his accomplished wife, he employed the most ingenious and expensive technology of his time in a series of innovative experiments that forever buried medieval alchemy and established a chemical language still in use today. Yet his personal triumph was short-lived, and the glory his achievement brought France could not protect him from the ravages of the Terror.

Madison Smartt Bell, building on his celebrated trilogy about the eighteenth-century Haitian uprisings, dramatically re-creates this turbulent era of reason and revolution, and the work of a man who so thoroughly exemplified its spirit. 8 illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Revolutionizing Chemistry In a Time of Revolution.......2007-08-30

The legacy of Antoine Lavoisier, a meticulous laboratory chemist, is not due to a particular experimental discovery; he is remembered more for developing an effective language for chemistry. Unfortunately, Lavoisier is also remembered for his tragic death by guillotine.

Many accounts of the early years of chemistry are at best confusing, some even bewildering, largely because alchemy's secrets (in many cases poorly understood to begin with) had been deliberately disguised and obfuscated by codes, ciphers, arcane terms, and even literary metaphors. Also, there was no unifying theoretical construct (at least none that was consistent with laboratory results). Despite these inherent difficulties, Madison Smartt Bell's examination of the formative years of modern chemistry is surprisingly clear and lucid. Lavoisier in Year One will appeal to a wide audience.

The young Lavoisier was taught that the presence of phlogiston (the 'matter of fire') in a substance was responsible for the combustibility of that substance. Charcoal, wood, and sulfur burned readily because they contained significant phlogiston. Smelting ores involved the transfer of phlogiston from charcoal to the ore; the ores absorbed the phlogiston, thereby becoming refined metals. In calcinations (now call oxidation) metals were heated and transformed back into ores, thereby releasing their phlogiston. Obviously, one serious drawback to this widely accepted explanation was that phlogiston had never been observed in the laboratory.

For years Lavoisier directed his efforts toward understanding the essence of fire and the nature of air. He compiled a detailed account of all earlier research on on free air and 'fixed air' (typically, carbon dioxide) by French, English, German, and other European scientists. He carefully repeated earlier experiments, using state of the art scientific instrumentation, some that he devised himself.

There is disagreement on whether the discovery of oxygen should be attributed to France (Lavoisier's eminently breathable air), England (Joseph Priestly's dephlogisticated air), or Sweden (Carl Wilhelm Scheele's fire air). The basic problem is that Lavoisier, Priestly, and Scheele were slow to understand exactly what they had discovered. Finally, in a paper to the French Academy of Sciences in 1777, Lavoisier stated: "I shall henceforward designate dephlogisticated air or eminently breathable air ...by that of le principe oxygine." With this new term 'oxygen', Lavoisier clearly won the nomenclature battle.

But even more importantly, in his later years Lavoisier brought forth an entire new language for naming substances. This new lexicon would no longer employ arbitrary names, but use terms which expressed chemical relationships. For example, from the name alone a chemist can immediately recognize that calcium nitrate is a product that has a higher oxygen content than calcium nitrite. This language for naming substances encapsulated the results of laboratory measurements. Lavoisier indeed changed the face of chemistry.

Bell's historical account of Lavoisier is equally a story of a revolution gone awry, a tale of terror and senseless executions. The French Revolution envisioned fundamental changes to all aspects of society. Some innovations, such as the metric system survived, while others have been forgotten. A new calendar divided each month into ten three-day cycles, and each day into ten periods of 100 minutes. Each minute consisted of 100 seconds. The French Revolutionary calendar began year one on September 22, 1792, the day on which the French Republic was formally established. Lavoisier's encounter with the French Revolution's dread Committee of Public Safety was in Year One.

Lavoisier in the Year One is a good addition to the Great Discoveries Series. It is among my favorites. I also recommend Incompleteness: The Proof and Paradox of Kurt Godel (by Rebecca Goldstein), and Einstein's Cosmos: How Einstein's Vision Transformed Our Understanding of Space and Time (by Michio Kaku), and Miss Leavitt's Stars: The Untold Story of the Woman Who Discovered How to Measure the Universe (by George Johnson).

Lavoisier Great scientist.......2007-08-02

Very good book. Explains the dificult times of the French revolution, that caught Lavoisier in the guillotine. Interesting detail on his experiments, and how he did careful scientific research. Many interesting tid-bits on his personal life. Explains how he was careful in doing his experiments & careful in drawing his conclusions. Good examples even today on good experimental procedures. Explains how he discovered Oxygen, at about the same time as Priestly in England.

Lavoisier: "Father of Modern Chemistry".......2006-04-17

In Lavoisier in the Year One, Madison Smartt Bell makes a good effort in giving a glimpse into the life of one of the most well-known scientist of his time, and also a rather influential politician. Bell starts by giving an insight into the influential figures, such as Abb'e Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, who first brought Antoine Lavoisier in contact with the scientific world. Bell reveals the benefits that Lavoisier received as a politician, such as having taxes support for his research; a benefit that other aspiring scientists lacked. Bell illustrates that as Lavoisier made strides, he introduced different theories that differed from the statues quo, such as his theory about combustion. Bell essentially makes it noticeable that Lavoisier did not face resistance for such theories, but Bell does introduce an antagonist force known by as Jean-Paul Marat. Bell achieves his goal of giving detailed insight into a scientist's life.
However, the biography at times presents itself unclear as it tends to go off topic and fails to make connections. More importantly it is unclear to see at times how what Lavoisier had accomplished, influenced the future. Since Lavoisier is "Father of Modern Chemistry," he has much to pass on to major figures in the scientific world. Besides some misguiding in the biography, it presents itself well and it is worthy of respectful recognition.

Lavoisier: A Man of Mysteries.......2006-04-17

Lavoisier in the Year One is a complex biography that discusses both the life of Antoine Lavoisier and also the times that he lived in. Lavoisier was a very intelligent man that lived a multifaceted life. Lavoisier is best known for his work as a scientist, and more specifically a chemist. Known as the "Father of Chemistry," Lavoisier turned chemistry into a mainstream science that was respected by the scientific community as a whole. Before Lavoisier, chemistry was simply a hobby that was essentially a fact-based form of alchemy. This biography discusses how Lavoisier became the man that would change the world of science permanently.

Lavoisier was much more than a chemist. He served various other roles as a scientist, such as a debunker of false scientific claims submitted to the French Royal Society. Lavoisier should also be remembered for the role he played as a member of the French government. He was an inspector for the Tobacco Commission of France, and cracked down both on tobacco smugglers and on those who grew adulterated tobacco. Later, Lavoisier was the head of the Gunpowder Administration, and his efforts to increase the French arsenal proved vital to the American Revolution, as the American revolutionaries received most of their arms from the French. Other major government affairs that Lavoisier was involved in include financing, and the construction of a wall around Paris to prevent goods from being imported into the city without the transporters paying a tax on the goods. Unfortunately, it was his role in these various government affairs that led to his downfall; Lavoisier would be executed by the radical Jacobins during the Reign of Terror in May of 1794.

Chemistry is a subject that is based around elements. In the mid-to-late 18th century, the Aristotelian theory of four elements (fire, earth, air, and water) was beginning to lose popularity after having existed for centuries as the unquestioned truth. Georg Stahl, a German physicist and chemist, came up with the idea of the "phlogiston," which he believed was essentially the driving force behind every effervescent reaction. Lavoisier didn't really believe that the phlogiston existed, even though the idea was gaining popularity at exponential rates. Lavoisier exploited many new inventions, most importantly one which could collect gases that were released during a reaction, to discover and develop the theory of the existence of oxygen. Oxygen was the first element that was discovered, and with its discovery came a chemical revolution.

I believe that Madison Bell was compelled to recount this story because very few people really know about the man that Lavoisier was. Antoine Lavoisier was truly an ingenious man that was involved in just about every part of French society. I believe that Bell simply wanted to share the true story of this complex man.

Anyone interested in reading this book should read it. It is a very well written novel, and Bell shows his mastery of the English language repeatedly throughout the story to bring it to life. This book shows how Lavoisier had ability not only as a scientist, but also as a government reformer, and also how well he was able to keep balance in his life between the two subjects. Bell really did his research with this biography, as he shows how the social developments of the time affected Lavoisier and his work. It truly is a deep book that will show any reader just how intelligent and diligent a man Lavoisier was.

The Chemical Revolution.......2005-08-25

There was the French Revolution in the eighteenth century, but there was an even greater and more far-reaching revolution in France at the time. It was a chemical revolution, an abandonment of ancient ideas about the material around and in us, and an adoption of the products of experiment and rationality. The greatest of the revolutionaries in chemistry was Antoine Lavoisier, whose story has been told many times before. It is brightly summarized within W. W. Norton's valuable "Great Discoveries" series by Madison Smartt Bell in _Lavoisier in the Year One: The Birth of a New Science in an Age of Revolution_ (Atlas Books). Bell is usually a novelist, not a biographer, and he knows how to tell a good story. The title is an exaggeration, as it only concentrates on events around "Year One" of the French Revolutionary Calendar which started at the establishment of the French Republic in 1793. The important accomplishments of Lavoisier's life, and the stupid blood festival that put an end to it, are thus highlighted in a useful and accessible biography.

Lavoisier was born into a prosperous bourgeois family in 1743, and gained his fortune as a private investor working as a tax collector for the government. His wealth enabled him to practice his passion, science. Perhaps more than anyone else, Lavoisier pulled scientific chemistry out of the ancient and respected practice of alchemy. He also dethroned the well-accepted theory that burning represented the release of a peculiar element called phlogiston. He also quite spectacularly decomposed water into hydrogen and oxygen, and recomposed it again from the two gases. The importance of such a literally elemental deconstruction cannot be overstated; water was everywhere, and had been thought of since Aristotle as one of the four basic elements. But deposing the old chemistry did not come only scientifically. It was a political and rhetorical effort. Scientists before Lavoisier had isolated "eminently breathable air," but Lavoisier called it oxygen and further built a new system of chemical nomenclature. For instance, calcium nitrate by its very name reveals that it has more oxygen in it than calcium nitrite. It is the same nomenclature that we use today. Lavoisier's new chemistry was intensely resisted, with phlogiston fans finding new and convoluted ways that their element accomplished everything. His new nomenclature, however, was useful and was an irresistible aid to teaching. Once chemists came to Lavoisier's terms, they had to start accepting his theories.

Some of Lavoisier's previous scientific work endangered him after the Revolution. The Jacobin firebrand Jean-Paul Marat denounced him in 1791 because twelve years before, Lavoisier had discredited Marat as having a charlatan's views of science. Lavoisier had served on the famous committee (alongside his friend Benjamin Franklin) that showed that Mesmerism was bunk, although it had been supported by Marat and by another future member of the Jacobin government Jacques-Pierre Brissot. Brissot went on to champion the abolishment of the national academies of the arts and sciences, insisting that they were elitist and tyrannical. Lavoisier did have a magnificent scientific record, but in gaining it he had made enemies. It was his involvement in the tax system that was his undoing, even though he had been scrupulously fair and honest in his public responsibilities. It may be apocryphal that at his kangaroo court someone said, "The Revolution has no need for scientists," but the outcome once he had been arrested was never in doubt. He was guillotined along with 27 other tax assessors in 1794, facing death with good cheer; he wrote, "The events in which I find myself enveloped will probably spare me the inconveniences of old age." Bell's book rightly concentrates on the scientific accomplishments and explains the way that many of Lavoisier's experiments were performed. It serves well as a reminder of how little we knew of our material world just a couple of centuries ago. It must make us appreciate anew the famous remark of one of Lavoisier's colleagues: "It took them no more than a moment to make that head fall and a hundred years may not be enough to produce another one like it."

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