This is one of the books that started the ideas that an extraterrestrial race had contact with humans thousands of years ago. Zecharia Sitchin and Erich Von Daniken had similar books on the same subject. Where Herr Von Daniken suggests aliens may have built the monuments, Mr Temple states the aliens may not have done so.

The book is updated from its original release in 1975. Since then, a lot has been learned about Sirius, including the finding of Sirius C, a red dwarf. Now after publication of this book, many astronomers think a red dwarf would be ideal for a planet to evolve life on. Those types of stars last much longer than other stars, and are very stable.

The start of the book is about the belief system of the Dogon. They have symbols of Sirius A having two companions revolving around it in elliptical orbits. The symbols also show the path of the white dwarf that is now known and its path around the larger and brighter star. The symbol for the third star also has a planet orbiting it. When the book first came out, Mr Temple was ridiculed about there being another companion star. Now that one has been found, he is vindicated a bit in the latest edition. The above news about planets and red dwarfs should make Mr Temple feel even better, as some red dwarfs have been found to have planets orbiting them.

The book also looks at Egyptian mythology, and they have a similar story. Sothis, Anukis and Satis are three goddesses who are identified with Sirius (Sothis is also known as Isis). The goddess Satis is also depicted with two buckets of water, possibly indicating water bearing planets. There are many other myths that are looked into with the same story.

The Nommo (the fish like aliens from Sirius C) are also linked to the Sumerians and other cultures. The Nommo themselves are quite interesting, and much of the statements are speculation.

Mr Temple also states he does not believe there was a large advanced civilization likened to Atlantis. While I think there was both an older civilization and possible extraterrestrial contact, I do think Mr Temple makes some good points. The book is quite fascinating, and with the newer facts available makes the ideas in the book even more real. I do hope that both the Ancient ET and ancient lost civilization proponents can come together and look at the possibility they are both right. (I don't think this will happen soon as Graham Hancock writes in his latest book he does not think flying saucers are nuts and bolts craft from another world.) I can hope, though.

Highly recommended for those starting to look into the ancient astronaut theories.

I remember reading some years ago about the discovery of Sirius C, and immediately regretted getting rid of Temple's book in a cull. Fortunately I was able to find a first edition hardback, which is really cool, because there's no denying the published date, which preceded the discovery of Sirius C by many years.

Isn't there also something in the author's foreword to the revised edition where he says attempts have been made to "warn him off" the topic?

Thanks for reminding me about author Robert Temple. Several years ago I had the pleasure of reading his work "The Crystal Sun" in which he presents evidence that the science of optics was fairly highly developed in ancient times.

I've always admired the courage of professional and amateur historians who will dare to delve into alternate theories in spite of the potential repercussions for doing so. Much of their evidence is very compelling and worthy of at least some open minded consideration by mainstream theory adherents. Too bad that in most cases they get publicly dissed or 'warned off'.