Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization

I read this book fairly quickly as I could not put it down once I started. It presents a fascinating look back on human history, presenting thought-provoking questions based upon well-researched material. Read this before reading Hancock's follow-on book, "Magicians of the Gods"; both are riveting reads.

Excellent book, the author has a good way of tying things together that to me makes it very logical. it has several pics inside and not all in the same spot of the book. The detail of the explanations are excellent. A very good book. He goes into a lot of detail, including explaining physical locations that he has visited and areas that he explored. i have read a lot of books similar to this, but this one is organized into easy to read, well defined and logical grouping. It is a BIG BOOK too.

Graham Hancock is a smart and engaging fellow; many of his lectures can be seen on Youtube, and he always manages to pique my interest. In this rather weighty tome, he broaches the theory that there was an ancient civilization which preceded what are now accepted as the earliest ones. He strongly believes that mainstream historians would rather hide their heads in the sand rather than consider the compelling evidence that earlier models of highly civilized man existed in distant prehistory (10,000 BC, and beyond). Traveling to a number of archeological sites across the globe, Hancock presents the reader with a virtual travelog of the ancient world, from South and Central America to the Middle east and Egypt to South Asia. Though he has been dismissed as a crackpot by the great majority of egyptologists, archaeologists, etc., he seems to realize that he is walking a thin line, and never comes across as one of the tinfoil-helmet crowd. Instead, he lays out a great deal of fascinating evidence and lets the reader decide what is pertinent. The book becomes a little dense when Hancock delves into the rather ponderous subject of early astronomy and the incredible accuracy that ancient astronomers managed to achieve in their calculations, but to his credit he manages to engage our interest so thoroughly that we feel obliged to stick with him. Hancock, a journalist, is a good writer, and the parts of this book that make us see that all is not known, and that many mysteries, hugely important ones, have not yet been answered are terrifically interesting. We owe it to ourselves and the pursuit of knowledge, to keep our minds open, and Graham Hancock would like to help us do that.

Before any comment on Hancock’s thesis or conclusions, I must say this: the guy can write. I suppose I should expect that from a journalist, but still, the reason this book has four stars instead of three is the quality of the writing. It all reads like a long form magazine or newspaper piece (who remembers those? Show me some hands!). I blasted through 450 pages of this puppy in 2 days, almost 300 on one of those. Now to the content: I was of the opinion, on picking up this book, that the “ancient lost civilization” position was, while intriguing, wackadoo in the extreme. The mythological golden age that innumerable cultures share is a longing for a past that never was, idealized fantasy, which, though rich in material, metaphor, cultural insight, etc, never actually existed. My reaction was that of the skeptics quoted and profiled in the text: “Show me the evidence.” However, while Hancock and his sources didn’t convince me, I have to say that the suggestions they put forward are fascinating. They have a much stronger leg to stand on than I supposed, and while I, again, remain unconvinced, it is making me think about the possibilities and historical implications their argument implies. The lynchpin, as far as I can tell, the the grounding of the same argument in 1) the problematic date-ability of certain megalithic structures and 2) the synchronization of elements of those megaliths with scientifically sound astronomy. It is compelling if nothing else, and has made me consider that the archaeological establishment may not have such an airtight hold on historical fact. A disclaimer: I am NOT a scientist, historian, astronomer, or physicist, and I have no professional academic training or credentials on which to base my opinions or reactions. That being said, it’s interesting, thought-provoking, and a page turner. If you like history and can get past the knee-jerk eye roll towards some of the zanier suggestions, you may be surprised how credible some of the arguments are. Loses a star for its lack of reputable sources and hard data, and supposition of coincidence equaling direct correlation, BUT definitely worth the time for the sheer mind blowing implications and wonderful readability.

Great value for money. Interesting read. Easy to read. Great book to have in your book collection.

Very interesting and revealing book. A MUST read!!

Masterpiece. Tutti dovrebbero leggerlo

A really nice piece. Shout out to the packaging employees for the exceptional job.

Me encanta!