Civilization One: The World Is Not As You Thought It Was (2005) - Plot & Excerpts
This book was a very interesting read, and particularly the math in the first half was very convincing.I think it was right that the author flirted with the "external teachers" theory without just declaring "aliens", but like many books on esoteric science without much in the way of peer review, it drifted around and got lost at the end.They spend some time lamenting how mainstream science and archaeology won't ever agree with them because the system is flawed, but they just need to inspire popular interest for popular research to follow. Unfortunately, this book won't fly off the shelves because:1) they drift around a lot of ideas - clearly trying to make the argument seem more persuasive by make the evidence more empirical, but ultimately diluting the argument with trivia. They need to stick to their strongest points because clutching for every hint of the Megalithic numbers only makes the argument look weaker.2) Concluding the book by outright declaring they'd found evidence of God was a complete turn-off. Readers will make their own theories and speculate on where the evidence leads, and I think this book should be covering the possibilities without succumbing to bias.I'm rating the book rather than the theory, which is why the score is lower. It really is worth a read, but don't expect the last half of the book to rock your world.
The first half of the book is very interesting and presents some new ideas that I haven't seen presented anywhere else before. I am by no means an engineer, nor am I particularly good at math, but I was able to comprehend the maths that were presented, it was simple and easy to understand and as far as i can tell should all be easily verifiable by people trained in engineering, surveying, and also probably astronomy.I know that isn't very helpful for the average reader but it is important because of what the second half of the book ends up being like. The authors start wandering into realms of speculation with little or no connection to the evidence presented earlier in the volume. I gave the book three stars because I think there are some interesting ideas with real merit that deserve some honest review by archeologists, historians, and engineers. Unfortunately the end of the book was a let down for me. I don't know if the authors wanted to say that they think aliens or angels or whatever taught us how to do the things that are proposed but they may as well have gone ahead rather than beating around the bush.
What do You think about Civilization One: The World Is Not As You Thought It Was (2005)?
There is no way to easily explain the relationship between the modern meter, imperial units and the circumference of the planet earth, or how a supposedly primitive society knew and used knowledge of the shape and size of our world to establish a uniform measurement system, one seemingly shared by the Minoan culture, Sumer, the old Indus valley culture, and pre-modern Japan. A true eye-opener albeit one written in a manner conducive to shuteye syndrome. There must be a better way to write about this astonishing topic. For masochists only.
—Tom Kenis
very interesting stuff. it's a book about the history of civilizations told from the standpoint that there's a single common measurement, such as a yardstick, that shows up in the engineering and building of widely separated totally isolated and divergent peoples. this yardstick, all these peoples had in common and indeed many of the systems of measurement we use today are derived from it, yet these civilizations lived thousands of miles from other with no way to communicate and no knowledge of the other's existence.
—Nelson
The authors promote an idea that there was once a universal unit of measurement based on the circumference of the earth. It was used by ancient man prior to any known civilization. the unit used in the british isles they dub the Megalithic Yard. It is, through a complicated and maybe not correct way, connected to the Minoan Foot. It may or may not have been the precursor to the metric system.The megalithic yard was discovered by measuring henges around the british isles and realizing they all were formed to a common unit. the authors make some pretty neat discoveries and extrapolate a lot more. They tie into the units of measurement for just about anything, volume, time etc.mostly they rehash ideas from other people and add their own thoughts to it. its an interesting book i bought on a whim at half price books.
—Jacob
