Has anyone here read any books by Graham Hancock?

www.grahamhancock.com...
www.grahamhancock.com...

He has done an incredibly successful job of challenging and pointing out the flaws of many conventional views about the past and history. He's very intelligent, knowledgable and experienced.

An interesting one is Heaven's Mirror : Quest for the Lost Civilization"

Quote:
Hancock's previous work, including the popular and controversial Fingerprints of the Gods, has drawn criticism for its leaps of faith and allegedly pseudoscientific conclusions, but Heaven's Mirror proves at least a little more substantial. His chief thesis is that numerous ancient sites and monuments--the pyramids of Mexico and Egypt, the ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, the monuments of Yonaguni in the Pacific, and the megaliths of Peru and Bolivia--are situated in such a way, geodetically, that they point towards some separate and uniform influence, some lost civilization or "invisible college" of astronomer-priests. And that civilization, as evidenced in the mathematics and architecture of the sites, points towards some gnosis, or body of knowledge, that would allow humanity to transcend the trap of mortality, a worldview in which the knowledge-giving serpent of Eden is not a villain but a hero.

Here is an interesting article by him:
www.grahamhancock.com...

the basic theory:
Quote:
"First of all, there is a common legacy of all these world wide ancient civilizations that they do not even address. This legacy lies not in the 'modern' myth of Atlantis, but in the myths and legends of each of these civilizations which make common reference to cataclysms, especially floods, similar gods or god experiences, and precessional and other astronomically significant numbers, etc, etc. The writing, architecture, and agriculture of these ancients are by products of their development which had its roots in a lost civilization of 12000 years ago. Who today remembers his great grandfather much less thousands of years ago, yet we are subtly influenced by him in ways unknown to us. We have built our lives on the legacy of our ancestors.

A survivor of some cataclysm, say a flood, who barely escapes with his life, lands on an island that was a mountain top with little or nothing left of his former life but the knowledge and resourcefulness of how to survive. He may have used a computer or driven a car, but he can't build one nor does he have the materials. He may have organizational skills, however, and be able to bring order to a confused more primitive people who have become cannibalistic as well as chaotic as they crowd together on the top of this mountain. Although he , of course, can read and write, there is nothing to read and no one can read what he writes, so he draws pictures to communicate where language does not work. Others copy his pictures and add their own personality to them until after many millennia a system of picture writing has been established. A system used to record the memory of 'he' who taught them in the beginning.

Likewise,the use of certain building techniques spring from those first shelters that 'he' helped them build. Certain architectural styles stem from 'his' own architectural background. These are modified to fit the materials and function of their civilization.

Though 'he' probably was not keeping seeds on board 'his' boat at the time of 'his' escape, 'he' knows enough about planting to make use of the indigenous plant life in order to introduce agriculture. Most people today have a basic understanding of growing food which they could use in a time of crisis. Again 'his' agriculture would be in keeping with the resources at hand. As the years went by, everything 'he' taught them would appear as if it were developed by the people themselves.

The legacy of the ancients of the lost civilization lies in their knowledge and know-how. They imparted this to those lesser informed, then died. Some of the knowledge was retained and passed on either in myths or in functionality as in the development of structures, agriculture, and picture writing. Around the world this development would be similar, but appropriate to the area that each ancient influenced. And there was a universal symbol left by the ancients, which even school children know, --the serpent, with or without feathers."

www.grahamhancock.com...

And
www.sciencedaily.com...
www.hermetics.org...
www.world-mysteries.com...
paranormal.about.com...
ancienthistory.about.com...://www.hvk.org/articles/0501/118.html

Graham Hancock has raised many issues ignored by conventional scientists. He has done a good job of challenging the commonly held beliefs, and has withstood and answered scrutiny. His work is definitley based in reality and facts. It shows there are lost civilizations far back in history long before how far the current understanding goes.

I remember a show where he showed that the bimini road blocks, are all raised above the sea floor about 6 inches, by almost cone shaped( but stable, not pointed on the end) pillars at each corner. That doesn't look natural. He pointed out that the geologists who claimed it was natural did not even probably look underneath the blocks, or completely ignored that part.

The Underworld show showed, that at least some of them, are still propped above the ground by stones at the corners. WHy? Well, it would be a mystery then, like stonehenge

And even though this article claims there are no blocks placed on top of each other at bimini, I saw on the Underworld show that there are smaller pillar blocks placed underneath at the corners, almost holding the main blocks off the ground by several inches. There' also the fact that geologists themselves can't even agree on the age.
www.intersurf.com...

in like 10,000 years a lot of things are going to just simply disappear, or perhaps be only known in a few small traditions.

There are also some interesting above water sites around the bimini area. Ones that were not first discovered by archaeologists, but by the ARE( association of research and enlightenment) organization.


edgarcayce.org...

We know ancient cultures were very concerned with Feng Shui and astronomy, Grahan Hancock I'm sure is correct in his theories, as they are quite detailed and clearly documented with evidence, and the fact I just said, Feng Shui is a big part of ancient knowledge in many cultures.

I suggest you download a Horizon documentry shown in the UK a few years ago.

Some interesting facts about mr Hancock. Including his habit of lying and altering facts to fit theories.

I've read a lot of Hancock and I agree with the previous poster, not only has he been debunked on several occasions, he also stretches the facts somewhat and has a habit of claiming exclusivity to things that have been public domain for some time. However, like Gray Intel he includes enough truths in his work to act as a reasonable starting point to some of the subjects he covers. Like anything it's worth researching these subjects independently and drawing your own conclusions. I notice he's dropped off the radar (comparitively speaking) since he was debunked. It's a shame really as he was responsible for raising awareness of many things but went off on one and (rather like Mr D. Brown) started making it up.

researchers that hold differing views from the mainstream are ALWAYS considered 'shady' or manipulating facts to fit thier views. the evidence that contridcts the mainstream is purposly not studied...'cause if you don't know about it, it never existed.....see how that works
could you imagine the turmoil that it would cause to release to true history of the earth? that our existence on this planet may be cyclic? that huge earth cayticlisms may have destroyed whole cultures?
notice i say ...'may'......if we have to rely on the current delusions of granduer from the current interprtation of science....will we ever really know??

All well and good, but Hancock was just a plain old fashioned fraud, in the same league for accuracy as Von Daiken.

I read his beeoks and treated them as Gospel until i saw the Horizon about him, the man is a liar.

Uncle Joe, on one of the points you raise about the BBC 2's Horizon programme was that in the end if got taken to the Broadcasting Standards Commission and lost out on two of the ten points.

As well as Horizon saying they treated him and his theories unfairly including misreprosenting him and I do believe he was awarded damages because of it and the damage to his career it caused.

His books are interesting, for a long time he was a journality for papers like The Times, The Sunday Times, The Independent, and The Guardian and raised many important points.

His conclusions are "Far out" but it gives a different view which is good. We'll only come to the truth by getting all of the possibilities and then working towards disprooving or prooving all of them.

A better book to read though is; "Was God a Spaceman" although it's so hard to get a hold of but is an amazing book. It doesn't give a conclusion but takes Religious texts from all over the World as well as myths, legends and what we now know and he gives several alternative views on the subjects and tells the reader to make their own conclusion (Not Hancock though.)

I saw the horizon thing. I found it pretty unconvincing, and the comparisons were not good comparisons. The new york public library is as aligned with the stars as Giza? I don't think so. The only one ommitting facts and being dishonest was the Horizon.

I also thought they were ordered to stop showing their show and retract their statements, as they were not fair to Mr. Hancock.

I don't think it really had to do with the hrizon scandal, the fact that Hancock isn't making as big of noise these days. I think it has to do with that he's now working on a new project with a little bit different focus, Shamanism or something. And the fact that reality tv shows are more popular, like all I see on the channels that used to play a lot of his shows, and other shows about that kind of thing, they don't play as much, in favor of "while you were out" ot "trading spaces", reality type shows

Basically what we have is several people claiming someone is a "fraud" while providing no evidence or examples. Very convincing!

Oh, another thing that shows his knowledge, the Yonaguni megalith. 10 years ago several scientist who examined it thought it was natural, or maybe only altered by humans. Dr. Robert Schoch and John Anthony West thought it was natural upon first examination. However, even more high level scientists like Dr. Kimura stated, and risked their reputatiopn in stating it was man-made. Graham Hanock also thought it was man made. NOw, with the new discoveries of the giant statue and standium in another area nearby, I don't think many people think it's natural anymore

[edit on 18-8-2005 by Kilik11]

[edit on 18-8-2005 by Kilik11]

Thats still 8 points where Hancock was wrong.

I especially liked the part where the pyramids of Egypt match up to Orions belt.

Except the Egyptians built them the wrong way round.

Hancock looks for what isnt there. His sites are too wodely seperated in time and the evidence doesnt add up.

As far as I know I've read all of them. He's my favorite investigative writer. He doesn't have to be right to be a good writer. I leave the judgement to myself. I don't buy a book, such as what Graham writes, to "buy a concept", I buy it to research a concept. I throw out the parts that I can't fit comfortably into my own logical analysis of the situation.

He's great!

It means no such thing. It does not mean anything is valid. Only that 2 were invalid, and fraudulent.

It's called Heaven's mirror. You see, mirrors can be backwards. It doesn't matter at all, cultures all over the world have been shown to build and practice on a north/south access. Anyone can realize the connection of Feng SHui in many cultures, this is fact. Giza is aligned with the stars

www.grahamhancock.com...

Where is the egyptian writing on Feng Shui?

Or the Aztec?

Im not just being argumentative, im curious as to if there is any evidence for this.

The Pyramids are built along a north/south alignment, and the shafts are directed towards certain constellations. That in itself is similar.
[edit on 18-8-2005 by Kilik11]

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[edit on 21-8-2005 by Byrd]