the good: Robin Heath is a cutting edge researcher into megalithic sites and astronomy, building on past work and adding a lot of his own. This book the good: Robin Heath is a cutting edge researcher into megalithic sites and astronomy, building on past work and adding a lot of his own. This book describes a new discovery which links the Preseli Hills in Wales, where the bluestone found at Stonehenge originated, with Stonehenge on an astronomical and metrical (systems of measurement) basis. Amazing new original research.
the bad: Heath's writing style is too chatty, and he spends too much time making snide comments about orthodox archaeology.
This would have made a good book combined with Proto Stonehenge in Wales which talks about another aspect of the Preseli area megalithic and landscape archaeoastronony (?is that a word?).
This is really the only place as far as I know to find this kind of work, however, so if you're interested you just need to deal with these self published pitfalls....more
the good: Robin Heath is a cutting edge researcher into megalithic sites and astronomy, building on past work and adding a lot of his own. This book dthe good: Robin Heath is a cutting edge researcher into megalithic sites and astronomy, building on past work and adding a lot of his own. This book describes a new discovery which links the Preseli Hills in Wales, where the bluestone found at Stonehenge originated, with Stonehenge on an astronomical and metrical (systems of measurement) basis. Amazing new original research.
the bad: Heath's writing style is too chatty, he spends too much time making snide comments about orthodox archaeology, and the actual topic of this book only takes up one chapter and feels quite rushed, and the rest of which is devoted to recapping his findings on Stonehenge.
So, if you haven't read Sun Moon Stonehenge, that could be a plus. If you have, much of this is repetitive.
This would have made a good book combined with Temple in the Hills which talks about another aspect of the Preseli area megalithic and landscape archaeoastronony (?is that a word?).
This is really the only place as far as I know to find this kind of work, however, so if you're interested you just need to deal with these self published pitfalls....more
This is a great book written by a long time student of labyrinths and earth mysteries, and contains much useful and rare information. Lots of picturesThis is a great book written by a long time student of labyrinths and earth mysteries, and contains much useful and rare information. Lots of pictures, lots of experiential exercises, really casts a wide net. Recommended.
Unfortunately the prose is amateurish. It's completely readable but the clumsy wording is distracting in places, and at times simple things are ridiculously over explained and unusual complicated things are given few words-- the meaning is not always clear.
Nor is all the information here to be taken as given-- there are contradictions with some information Jeff Saward's site, who is a friend and fellow labyrinth enthusiast. Also some incorrect information regarding tunnels under Macchu Picchu which many experts get wrong, admittedly. So while this book is a real treasure trove of info be a little careful....more
This is a book about Marma science, which is the Indian version of the Chinese meridian system. It was apparently written by a master in this field whThis is a book about Marma science, which is the Indian version of the Chinese meridian system. It was apparently written by a master in this field who was in year 2000 selling a line of skin care products and rejuvenation treatments based on this science.
Joseph Kurian not so long after he wrote this disappeared, like, people have looked for him and cannot find him. Whether someone else disappeared him or whether he disappeared himself, I don't know.
So somewhere buried amongst extensive verbiage devoted to touting his products, there might be esoteric knowledge not normally seen by the uninitiated. Or maybe if you read it you will find it a frustrating bunch of marketing for makeup.
There are a number of very good maps of the Marma energy systems, rare, some common mudras, and instructions on a mahamudra series of movements I can't find anywhere on the internet as of this writing, which I find both easy and very beneficial.
Prices on the limited number of these books out there are already getting pushed high by used resellers......more
This needs to be two separate reviews. One for past readers of Sheldrake, and one for newbies.
Newbies, you get three things here: *The historical backThis needs to be two separate reviews. One for past readers of Sheldrake, and one for newbies.
Newbies, you get three things here: *The historical background and philosophical/metaphysical background of contemporary scientific ideas. *A collection of areas of scientific thought which have EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE which challenge widely held assumptions. *Alternative theories which might explain the challenging evidence.
Some people make the mistake of dismissing the first two aspects of the book because they do not like the sound of the alternative theories. This is a demonstration of the primary complaint by Sheldrake that the materialist assumptions underpinning much of modern science are dogmatic, ideological, and unscientific. But if you have already made up your mind, don't bother reading the book.
For past readers of Sheldrake, you may have a similar experience to my own, which was to find much of the material to be a repeat of previous writings, with less detail than the originals because of the broader scope of this book.
However, I did find the discussion of reverse-time causation to be rather fresh and thought provoking, and if you have not read the updated editions of Sheldrake's work he has been producing in the last few years, then there will be some data that will be new to you....more
The coincidences referred to in the title are the arrangements of the planets and sun of our solar system. This book points out many measurement relatThe coincidences referred to in the title are the arrangements of the planets and sun of our solar system. This book points out many measurement relationships that correspond to platonic solids, musical ratios, and other geometric relationships familiar to students of sacred geometry.
There are lots of pretty spirograph like pictures mapping orbits against eachother, as well as showing other relationships.
Reading this book definitely gave me the sacred geometry flavored buzz of pleasure.
I see in other reviews here that people would like to have had some explanations of why these relationships occur. That's the point of the title-- that our contemporary science has no explanation for these relationships and that they must therefore be coincidences.
If you are looking for explanations you will have to look outside of mainstream science. Have a look at Michael Schneider: A Beginner's Guide to Constructing the Universe; John Michell: How the World is Made-- the Story of Creation According to Sacred Geometry....more
This book is organized in classic toilet reading style in chapters of 2-4 pages. As the style suggests, the information here is broad but superficial,This book is organized in classic toilet reading style in chapters of 2-4 pages. As the style suggests, the information here is broad but superficial, and in fact contains =incorrect= summaries of more in-depth works.
For instance she gets "Your body's many cries for water" by Dr. Batmanghelidj dead wrong-- it's not drink lots of pure filtered water, it's add a wee bit of salt to the water you are drinking, especially 30 min before meals and upon awakening.
SO read this as an introduction only to different eating strategies, and by all means read further in any topics before making radical changes to your lifestyle.
The bibliography is excellent however the author does not always manage to extract key insights from the books she is referencing. So again, please read the books in the bibliography before making changes to your diet.
One thought on the paleo diet-- the last 10,000 years or so since the introduction of agriculture have seen a larger change in human genetics than the previous 40,000 years. Following the =theorized= diets of ice age humans when you have different genetics may not be your best course of action.
On the other hand, the Weston Price research observed actual diets, =methods= of food preparation, and the different effects different diets had on genetically homogenous populations in genetically modern humans. Much better....more
This book is a real gem. It is clearly written, well researched and documented, and solidly grounded in real world astronomy and geometry.
The majorityThis book is a real gem. It is clearly written, well researched and documented, and solidly grounded in real world astronomy and geometry.
The majority of the book is taken up with the examination of Stonehenge and other stone circle monuments in Northern Europe. A variety of complicated calendrical alignments with sun and moon cycles are demonstrated, and the geometrical construction of the circles is examined.
All of the above rests on solid materialist science, and the author makes an unshakeable case that these circles were aligned to sun and moon cycles and laid out according to precise geometry. Status quo science does not entirely agree that the people of 3500 - 2000 BC were capable of such things, but the evidence that they were is lying all over Europe.
In the smaller part of the text the author goes further still, exploring possible connections with middle eastern cultures, finds connections with Celtic legends, and explores further sacred geometry relationships. He never wavers from the solid approach taken in the main part of the book and presents evidence and suggests interesting questions and possible answers without being dogmatic or unduly speculative....more
This book is an invaluable guide to those attempting The_Temple_of_Man or other Schwaller de Lubicz books. It is far more accessible and also containsThis book is an invaluable guide to those attempting The_Temple_of_Man or other Schwaller de Lubicz books. It is far more accessible and also contains West's own groundbreaking research into weathering patterns on the Sphinx that support this alternative interpretation of Egyptian history, and is even more important to read if you aren't going to attempt Schwaller de Lubicz at all.
Lots of juicy and evidentially well supported alternative interpretations of Egyptian history may be found in this book.
My single criticism is that the author spends much time bitterly complaining about the established scientific orthodoxy, and such whining while occasionally informative quickly becomes repetitive and just isn't any fun to read. Though of course those who are unfamiliar with outsider critiques of the current scientific status quo will may find this more informative....more
3 stars is perhaps unjust. This book does a very good job of describing archetypal configurations of the outer planets and how they relate to historic3 stars is perhaps unjust. This book does a very good job of describing archetypal configurations of the outer planets and how they relate to historical events. It is very worthwhile in this regard. However, for me, it was preaching to the converted, and the vast amount of historical data that this author has mastered and correlated with movements of the planets was not terribly interesting to me.
While Tarnas writes well, he writes with a lot of words. I am currently interested in learning new things and expanding my frontiers of knowledge, and so for me this book was not terribly helpful....more
This mostly a very concise presentation of different ways to visualize the fourth dimension, with some fascinating esoterica thrown in. Slow going butThis mostly a very concise presentation of different ways to visualize the fourth dimension, with some fascinating esoterica thrown in. Slow going but very good. I finally understand why if you head off in one direction in spacetime you eventually come back the other side.
Like a lot of Steiner books, this is a collection of notes other people took at his lectures (given in German), organized by topic. So there are some filters between the reader and Steiner's thoughts....more
This book is staggering in its achievement, and staggering in the effort it demands from the reader. Worth it, but lots of work. I've sunk hours and hThis book is staggering in its achievement, and staggering in the effort it demands from the reader. Worth it, but lots of work. I've sunk hours and hours into it and am proud to be on page 60 (when I first wrote this).
Sacred Geometry, Egyptian worldview, the doctrine of the study of man as the universe.
Best quote so far:
You are I are not two. In the identity of form, in the origin and in the end, we are one. I am responsible for your evil and your good, for your truth and your falsehood. I can do nothing to change you now, but I can improve you by improving myself.
I'm updating this review and downranking it to 4 stars. After spending a lot of time with this and its undeniable revelations and transmitive power, I do feel there is an aspect of sacred geometry where, without knowing what was in the mind of the builder, one can after the fact apply analytical tools and perhaps find meaning and order that was not consciously intended by the builder, and I do think some of that is in evidence here.
The thing is, in an inspired construction not all meaning is conscious. Same as an inspired analysis.
I consider RAW to be one of my three greatest teachers, the two other being my chi gung instructor Bernard Langan and my current spiritual teacher JilI consider RAW to be one of my three greatest teachers, the two other being my chi gung instructor Bernard Langan and my current spiritual teacher Jill Purce.
This book may put you off if you are still firmly grounded in the rationist materialist paradigm. Try Quantum Psychology instead.
But if you are already living with a worldview outside the scientific reductionist materialist paradigm, then Quantum Psychology might seem a bit tame. Prometheus rising presents similar material but goes farther in exploring the potentials latent in the human consciousness, AND HOW TO GET THERE.
I cannot recommend it highly enough. And DO THE EXERCIZES! They will take you into a world where things you never thought possible will happen....more
This book opened up vast worlds of possibility and experience for me. I have since read most of RAW's books, and I consider him to be one of my two grThis book opened up vast worlds of possibility and experience for me. I have since read most of RAW's books, and I consider him to be one of my two greatest teachers, the other being my chi gung instructor.
From where I was at the time, still mired in the reductionist materialist worldview and looking for a way to escape, this book was perfect. Chapter by chapter, it provides valuable tools to set your mind free(er). I have read it several times and was lucky enough to take a class on it as well.
I cannot recommend it highly enough. And DO THE EXERCIZES! They will take you into a world where things you never thought possible will happen.
OK then.
That said, I recently picked it up again and I found it a bit tame. The very fact that it is accessible to someone coming from a place of more mainstream thinking, as I was at the time, means that to someone who is now well out of the mainstream, the presentation of the ideas seems overly cautious.
So if you are already capable of entertaining multiple reality tunnels depending on your needs at any moment, then I would suggest his other most seminal work, Prometheus Rising....more
This Sheldrake book differs from New Science of Life and Presence of the Past in that it is less technical and more accessible. But I did not like it This Sheldrake book differs from New Science of Life and Presence of the Past in that it is less technical and more accessible. But I did not like it as much.
I am already familiar with the extensive (but poorly publicized) rigorously scientific evidence for extrasensory perception, so the very readable but lengthy description of psychic phenomena was a bit boring for me. In addition, I don’t agree with Sheldrake’s view of consciousness.
One notable new tidbit for me—since the 1970’s the Chinese government has encouraged people to report unusual animal behaviour, and used this to evacuate cites before they experience devastating earthquakes, SAVING TENS OF THOUSANDS OF LIVES.
For all you that live in earthquake prone regions, you should be asking, why doesn’t my government do this for us?
In this book the most exciting part, which I am finding is typical of his books, are the very last few pages where he loosens his focus slightly and talks about the wider theoretical possibilities. But this section is woefully brief—to please a more general audience? To please thinkers more grounded in the current reductionist materialist worldview?
As he says, “…the sense of being stared at must depend on an influence of the looker on the person being looked at…” I agree. But in the second half of this sentence he says, on a projection of influences outwards.” Here I disagree. In fact, his model is that one perceives incoming data, and then reprojects the image outwards onto the subject.
This just rings wrong for me. I think it is because he is trying to take his valid findings that are beyond our current scientific theoretical underpinnings, and then shoehorn them back into the whole 3-4 dimension spacetime model.
In his footnotes he admits, “Maybe, at some time in the future, new ways of thinking about interactions at a distance will be possible.” I agree. Let us start thinking of these ways now, along with the data he has done such a good job in assembling.
What does ring true for me is his description of arabian scientist Al-Kindi—“In an astonishing vision of interconnectedness, he thought that radiation bound the world into a vast network in which everything acted on everything else to produce natural effects.”
Having made a case for the “extended mind,” why confine it? ...more
For a more timely overview of morphic resonance and the most current supporting experimental data I recommend the much newer 3rd edition of New SciencFor a more timely overview of morphic resonance and the most current supporting experimental data I recommend the much newer 3rd edition of New Science of Life.
Having read New Science of Life first, I lightly skimmed the first half of this book which is an older telling of the same hypothesis of morphic resonance.
And as with New Science of Life, one of things that makes Sheldrake so compelling to me is his open acknowledgement that scientific theories are embedded in a metaphysic, his dissection of current popular ways of scientific thinking in terms of metaphysics, and his exploration of the metaphysics underlying the hypothesis of morphic resonance.
What is interesting in this book in particular is the relation of morphic resonance to animal and human behavior. This occurs in the second half of the book and I read it in detail.
Morphic resonance to me prompts this most important question: in a universe that exhibits conservative tendencies (things that happened before tend to happen again) rather than everything being random chance, where does new behavior come from?
His exploration of this idea is much more extensive in this book than in New Science of Life. While contemplating Sheldrake's ideas along these lines I dissolved into Robert Anton Wilson space: What we are looking for is the thing that is doing the looking.
This is a really important book. I've heard about Sheldrake and the morphogenic field for years, but never pursued it until now.
As other reviewers herThis is a really important book. I've heard about Sheldrake and the morphogenic field for years, but never pursued it until now.
As other reviewers here note, this book is rather technical. Accessible if you have a good science education, otherwise I would suggest downloading one of the excellent talks from the author's website http://www.sheldrake.org/B&R/audi...
Sheldrake like Einstein proposes what seems like a small modification to the equations that we use to predict the physical world that has hugely profound effects. Small modifications that explain current unexplainables and make testable predictions.
Like Einstein? Maybe I should say like Galileo, for as Sir John Maddox wrote as editor of Nature, "Sheldrake is putting forth magic instead of science, and that should be condemned using exactly the same language that the Pope used to condemn Galileo, and for the same reason. It is heresy."
Heresy indeed. For although the book is chokka with very good science and science history, Sheldrake points out in his incisive analysis of the current paradigm that it is based on religious metaphysics we inherit from the Greeks, and he ends his book with an analysis of possible metaphysics that can encompass his theories.
Maddox speaking of magic is perhaps referring to Sheldrake's telepathy experiments. I've known about scientifically iron clad verifications of telepathy for quite a while, but it's the data from the physical world that really blow me away and give his work a powerful extra bite.
Did you know that boiling points of compounds, which are in our current understanding constant, with new manufactured compounds actually start low and slowly increase? Go to the website and give it a listen.
everything I disliked about Fingerprints of the Gods is even worse in this book: Boring adventures of the author, long winded repetition.
I am hoping meverything I disliked about Fingerprints of the Gods is even worse in this book: Boring adventures of the author, long winded repetition.
I am hoping my friend who got this for me lets me know that there is nothing more shocking than the idea that hallucinogens were responsible for early human spirituality, so that I can stop reading it.
Because I am over my limit for reading about Graham's drug trips and written descriptions of cave art pictures.
update: I hyper skimmed to about halfway through and didn't really find more that couldn't be summed up in a few sentences, and now the owner has asked for it back.
Someone come up with a comic book version of this, please? GOD what a boring book....more
It's worth reading the science skeptic reviews on this book.
For me, it passes the science test, and for open minded types who are interested in alterIt's worth reading the science skeptic reviews on this book.
For me, it passes the science test, and for open minded types who are interested in alternate historical explanations that don't require aliens or other deus ex machina to explain some unexplainables, this is a special treat.
My main issues with this book are its excessive length due to the intermittent travelogue, and the heavy amount of repetition.
The basic thesis is that the pyramids (and other megalithic structures around the world) were built earlier than conventional wisdom supposes, probably around 10,450 BC, and here is where the skeptics really get tweaked, because we MUST know more than any other humans previously, that there was a technologically advanced civilization around then which built them. To me this is a no brainer-- contemporary still can't duplicate some of those engineering feats, so however they got there it's some way we can't figure out.
(Hancock says) this advanced civilization was destroyed by the periodic catastrophic events around ice ages.
There is a lot more to it, but the basic concept is pretty sound, and it's enjoyable reading the support for it, as well as his speculations about what are obviously a lot more details.
===> update. It's been two days since I finished it and I keep thinking about it. This book has the virtue of presenting you with a lot of information that contradicts status quo ideas about the past. Hancock makes his interpretation, but he isn't ultra dogmatic about it. All those wacky tidbits of information (accurate maps of the topography of antarctica, which has been under an ice sheet for thousands of years) are still churning around in my head and making new interesting patterns.
The point being, there is food for thought here. The stuff you don't hear about from regular sources because it does not support regular theories. An uncertainty about what the actual interpretation of this data might be which invites you to make your own.
andnow, an observation about the goodreads rankings. This book has a lower rating than Flower of Life by Drunvalo Melchizedek. Of course one must take writing style into account, but it is now clear to me that books are ranked by the people who read (and feel like ranking) them. I theorize that people with a greater preference for the default view of history are liklier to read this book than flower of life. And that they may find it too far beyond their views for their liking. Where to read Flower of Life, which bases its story of ancient civilizations on far far far less actual data, and tells the reader how it is rather than inviting the reader along on a voyage of discovery and interpretation. OTOH, this book is twice as long, so maybe that has something to do with it ;-)...more
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