Hancock is a very talented writer and his ideas are presented with great skill. Regardless of what one thinks about his ideas, one can always profit from reading his books as he presents many anomalies that sometimes get swept under the carpets of archaeology and anthropology. ( )

A good distillation of various speculative histories (for instance: mixing nutty Egyptology and Atlantis theories with Hapgood's Antarctic thesis). Although probably not correct in many, or even any, respects, there is much food for thought here and many connections that the enterprising reader can discover. ( )

A really good read! Highly recommended. Graham Hancock takes other peoples research and has a knack for summarizing it and drawing unique conclusions from it....I found his summary of Hapgoods' MAPS OF THE ANCIENT SEA KINGS was a brilliant pivotal point to start his analysis of everything from general mythology to precession....I truly believe that this is going to become a very important text for people beginning their quest of the "woo-woo" and a wonderful refresher course for those who have read in the areas for many years. I really liked this book!

Hancock is a Scots journalist who made a fortune writing Best Sellers, most of which have the theme that everything we were taught about Fertile Crescent origins is wrong. He presents evidence of an ancestral people inhabiting coastlines which were flooded by rapid sea-rise as Ice Age melt raised the oceans. "Orthodox" historians regard him as a pseudo-scientist because he is selective with the material. He does not try for "balanced" views. He seems to enjoy putting the mystery back into the discoveries. As if it is disquieting to anyone that cultural evolution diversified in starts and stops, little boltings, instead of one smooth linear advancement. The importance of Hancock's work is that he knows how to get rich using beautiful and even hard-to-collect information, and it really is "information". Interpretion? He is better at asking questions than answering them. Aren't all civilizations "vanishing" right before our eyes?

This work begins with an introduction to "the maps". For example, one wonderful map was found in 1929, in the Imperial Palace of Constantinople, (the library of which is neglected and remains unexplored to this day). The Piri Reis riparian chart clearly depicts the New World coastlines, as well as portions of Antarctica -- Queen Maud's Land -- which were under ice at the time of Admiral Reis's recopying efforts. Piri Reis, a reknowned officer in the navy of the Ottoman Turks [12]was beheaded by Islamic fanatics in 1554. Hence, the map appears to be a legacy of a "lost civilization" or at least a voyage we do not know much about.

And what explains the accuracy of the number of early maps used, for example, by Mercator (the pseudonym of Gerard Kremer), and which were not matched by the technologies of his peers in the 1560's? John Harrison's marine chronometer was not developed until 1761 [28].

The "gods" of the title do not appear to be divine. Maybe they were "Viracochas" -- the bearded ones from across the sea who pieced together the 100-ton polygonal block walls of Sacsayhuaman. Even when relying upon Watch Tower Tracts [499] and Christian psychics [Edgar Cayce, 500], Hancock does not pretend a personal contemporary contact with a transcendental God, or even a numinous experience.

Hancock's vivid and present-tense presentation -- "I'm in southern Peru, flying over the Nazca lines" -- reveals a man on a quest, and it is an honor to accompany him. Feel like Watson to Hancock's Holmes. ( )

A revealing look into the numerous similarities and beliefs of civilizations that emerged around the world.The evidence put forward by Graham Hancock is very convincing,such as pyramids being built both sides of the Atlantic,myths and legends that appear to have a common origin and how were such megalithic buildings created with such precision?Maps that could only have been drawn when Antarctica was FREE of ice thousands of years ago.This is a compelling read and one of those books that once you start reading you do notwant to put down.Theories once considered `wacky'are given a new lease of life with the proper investigative journalism of the author. ( )