David Icke

Sometimes even the kookiest conspiracy theorist stumbles upon something important. This isn't one of those times.

American presidents, European royals, the wealthiest of the world's families, all are tied together in this book through their bloodline. Of course, it isn't news that most of the royal families in Europe are related, or that most US presidents can find distant blood ties to the English royal family. But did you know that the reason they're all related is because they are all show more space aliens? Shape-shifting reptilians, to be exact, who participate in human sacrifice and other blood rituals. And they're planning to take over the world! That's why the Rothschilds and the Rockefellers are in on this - he who controls the world's gold can make the world's rules.

Oh, I can see you rolling your eyes. You aren't taking me seriously, are you? Okay. Fine. When you stop laughing, let me know and I'll dig another choice nugget out of the book.

Some books are so bad that you can't bring yourself to let anyone borrow your copy; you would feel guilty after they soiled their mind on the garbage. This book is one of those. A used book store might give me a couple of dollars for it, but then the book is available to spread. I'd rather keep it harmless in a box in my attic. show less

David Icke has had several careers. He started out as a professional footballer, playing in goal for Coventry City and then Hereford United before having to retire from the game while still in his twenties, having fallen prey to pernicious arthritis. He then became a sports reporter before progressing to local television presenter, appearing regularly as the sports anchor on BBC television’s ‘Midlands Today’ programme. That catapulted him into nationwide recognition, and he soon became show more a regular presenter of BBC’s flagship sports programme ‘Grandstand’ and host of its coverage of any number of one-off sporting events.

That career came to an early end in the late 1980s when after he became one of the leading national spokesmen for the then emergent Green Party, falling foul of the Corporation’s need to avoid any appearance of political affiliation. In 1990, however, he reinvented himself as a Messianic figure, calling himself a ‘Son of the Godhead’ (the Godhead being, in this context, the Infinite Mind) and dressing only in turquoise clothes, which he saw as a conduit for positive energy. He then made a series of bizarre prophecies, including the end of the world in 1997. At first the prevailing view was that he seemed to be going through a very public nervous breakdown. He did, however, prove to have a further career as a new age guru, in which role he has delivered popular lectures (often lasting more than ten hours) at venues all around the world. He has also become a raving conspiracist, compiling ever more intricate and implausible explanations for what most people might consider natural phenomena.

This book deals with his first incarnation as aspiring, though ultimately disappointed, footballer. It was written almost as a warning or manual for young boys who also thought that a career in football might be their salvation and route to wealth and fame. I was surprised to read that Icke had left school early, with few qualifications, as my principal recollections of him were as a very articulate presenter, whose remarks had the added value of someone who had undergone rigorous sporting application of their own.

He writes as clearly as he used to speak on television. There is no purple prose; just a clear explanation of his experiences in the game and the pitfalls he encountered. He doesn’t glamourise the game (he played in an era far before the influx of huge sums of money – when his arthritis forced him from the game he had just £36 in the bank), but his love of the game shines through.

He also offers some vivid pen portraits of prominent players of the day, including Peter Shilton (to some extent his idol as an East Midlands goalkeeper) and Steve Perryman. His description of the first time he saw the legendary George Best is also engaging and touching.

This is not a book that I would ever have dreamt of reading in the ordinary course of events, but was passed it by my boss who had uncovered it at the back of a cupboard when clearing out his mother’s house. That was serendipitous as it proved a very enjoyable and nostalgic read, though I do not feel even vaguely tempted to venture into his more new age works. show less

The 3 stars is more because it was compelling to read for a conspiracy theory fan like me. It's definitely not for how believable I found it. I also get how he got condemned for using the discredited Protocols of Zion, (for which he doesn't blame Jewish people but the shadowy Brotherhood who control the world, where goyim is a word for those who do not belong, rather like the way knitters sometimes use muggles to refer to non-knitters)

Yes, there is a core of interesting ideas about how we're show more unthinkingly walking into a world of being controled by the 1%, where we look to today and not to tomorrow and the damage being done. Where Walmart employees have to rely on handouts to survive instead of having a living wage. Yes these things are not good, but I don't think there's an alien race imposing this on humanity, I think we need to take ownership of the situation and actually do something about it rather than trying to blame someone else.

Yes, there is probably propaganda and people who work at keeping people accepting of the status quo, and there are always going to be people who want others to make their decisions for them, whether that's through religion, science or whatever but there are also a lot of frustrated people who are too tired to make changes.

Made me angry where it needs citations, he makes claims or uses the phrase "I believe..." and doesn't offer expliantions, he's saying throughout that you should questions received wisdom but then saying that you should trust him. I really did want a "citation needed" stamp throughout. He also has a bibliography that doesn't reflect the book, text that appear in your work should be in the bibliography, otherwise it's "extra reading" or "recommended further reading" or "recommended reads". In many instances there are quotes from people that lack sources which is just not good enough. He also talks about religion as being wrong and evil but fails to see the people within many of those religions who have strived for good.

Interesting, wrongheaded, with some food for thought and eyerolling moment as well. show less

As so often is the case, I didn’t manage to get through this library book, since I wasn’t able to renew it, and it’s a weighty tome.

David informs/reminds us that we are programmed by the System and thus are only Phantom Selves.

We sleepwalk through life believing ourselves to be wide awake and look through blindfolded eyes believing we can see.

“Phantom Self lives in the subconscious and dictates conscious behaviour, responses and perceptions which the conscious mind falsely believes show more it is instigating.”

Phantom Selves get their views and opinions from other Phantom Selves programmed by the System.

Education is acquiring knowledge, but this knowledge is not necessarily true. It is only what you believe is true and what others have told you is true.

David Icke’s books are refreshing reading because he writes just like he talks. Here he shows us how the lives we live constitute madness. He quotes Ellen Goodman as saying: “‘Normal’ is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car you’ll still paying for in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.”

He calls human society “cuckoo-crazy”.

Mainstream religion condemns anyone suggesting that we are ‘God’. “We are told to believe that we are inferior, subordinate sinners that must worship ‘God’ when, in fact, we are a point of attention within ‘God’ as ‘God ‘experiences itself; but this ‘God’ is not the ‘God of religion – it is Infinite Awareness.”

This is a typical Icke book – exciting, erudite and well-written (though he mixes British and American spelling); it includes material about the Archon-Reptilian elite. We’re told that the Queen’s grandmother, Mary of Teck, is descended from the family of Vlad the Impaler – “one of history’s most infamous human sacrificers and blood drinkers.

Actually, I’m in part glad I wasn’t able to finish the book, since Icke’s books, though imparting valuable information, are invariably depressing, and I recall not being able to complete the last one of his I attempted to read for that very reason.

On glancing through the book I see a wealth of interesting, though abhorrent, information, for example personal stories about the paedophile and Satanist Ted Heath ( a witness describes how he was also a shapeshifting ‘reptiloid’). show less