Atlantis and the Kingdom of the Neanderthals: 100,000 Years of Lost History

by Colin Wilson and Nikolai Karayev

Book Overview

The history of Neanderthal influence from Atlantis to the contemporary era - Provides evidence of Neanderthal man's superior intelligence - Explores the unexplained scientific and architectural feats of ancient civilizations - Presents an alternative history of humankind since 7500 B.C. with an emphasis on esoteric traditions and the history of Christianity from the Essenes onward In Atlantis and the Kingdom of the Neanderthals Colin Wilson presents...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1591430593
• ISBN13: 9781591430599
• Release Date: June 2006
• Publisher: Bear & Company
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.7" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

An easy & informative read

I always enjoy Colin Wilson's books, but this one is exceptionally good. It is an easy to read, lucid, logical "tour de force" of an amazingly wide range of sources all succinctly described and well and convincingly presented to lead one compellingly to agree with Plato that "things are far better looked after than we can possibly imagine."

Atlantis and the Kingdom of the Neanderthals

This is a hard review to write. Did I enjoy reading Atlantis and the Kingdom of the Neanderthals? Absolutely, without a doubt. Did I feel that the author made a good case for a connection between Atlantis and Neanderthals? No, not really. He never really got to that part in any real depth. I started reading Atlantis and the Kingdom of the Neanderthals with great interest and enthusiasm. The author discussed the concepts that in the past our continental plates have shifted and that the earth's tilt has also changed. These are scientific facts that most people learn in high school. I was eager to see an examination of this movement as relates to Antarctica, how the author would place Neanderthals on Antarctica, how he would connect the two. Unfortunately, the book quickly evolved in an attempt to present as much information as possible about every ancient mystery know to man: the pyramids of the Piri Reis map, Egypt, Mu, the Biblical floods, the man in the iron mask, the death of Jesus, and the Priory of Sion. Information about these topics ranged from scientific reports and solid data collection methodology to popular ancient mystery books and PBS specials to hearsay and theories by author friends. My best advice is that you don't pick up this book because you wish to find out the connection between Atlantis and Neanderthals. Instead, pick up this book because it is full of interesting theories, summaries of information collected about a number of ancient mysteries, and contains a really great bibliography of like minded material.

NOT AS CRACKPOT AS IT SOUNDS

While it is de rigueur for philosophically inclined authors to feel that they have done something clever when they devise a "scientifically" sound basis for complete pessimism, Wilson insists it is far more realistic to be optimistic. This is one of the reasons why Colin Wilson is one of my favorite authors, and even why he is one of the most important authors of our time. For all of that, Atlantis as a Neanderthal kingdom struck me as being quite far-fetched. However, while Wilson's evidence was less than compelling, he convinced me that the idea was not completely crackpot. Though I found the summary of the evidence supporting the idea of Christ having escaped from the cross and come to live in France rather interesting, it had nothing to do with the topic. According to the Discovery channel, DNA tests of the Merovingian line indicate no trace of mid-eastern ancestors. The suggestion that it is the sun's magnetic field affecting babies at the moment of conception that is responsible for mankind's long-held belief in astrology was interesting; though, even if true, it does not imply that horoscopes are not bunk. Wilson tosses out the suggestion that introverts are born in even-numbered months and extroverts in odd-numbered months. I checked this and found it to not be so. Admittedly, I did not subject it to statistical analysis, so perhaps it is true some tiny but significant number of times. The fact that clairvoyants tried to discern the structure of matter and produced a work called Occult Chemistry is interesting, but upon reading the first few pages, it struck me as a bit of a stretch to claim that it anticipated quark theory. The length of the foot was determined by whoever happened to be king, and hence changed whenever the king died; yet Wilson Quotes John Mitchell's claim that ancient philosophers established the foot is the "astronomical standard measure of the universe." The fact that the ancient Mayans established a calendar capable of measuring the year to within a few ten thousandths of a day, that Stonehenge is a kind of Stone Age computer, and that the ancient Ninevah number is apparently the "highest common factor into which all the numbers denoting planetary orbits and so on divide evenly" does suggest that these ancients had thought processes similar to the idiot savants. The connection to Neanderthals is considerably more tenuous, though possible. Wilson points out that those modern anthropologists who work with shamans come to accept that they have paranormal powers. Jagadis Chandra Bose established that metals exhibit such traits as fatigue, laziness, and memory, while Rev. Franklin Loehr demonstrated that plants respond to love and hate. It is strange that Susan Blackmore, who started out as a parapsychologist, has come to the conclusion that there probably are no paranormal events, while all of these other researchers find such abundant evidence of it. Who is one to believe? My only encounter with para

I was hoping for more about Neanderthals

I loved the book, finished it in a day and a half. I think his basic theory about neanderthals having been the source of much of the knowledge of ancient civilization has a lot of merit. HOWEVER, so much of the book seems to have little or nothing to do with any of this. He goes on for a long time about Christianity and the Merovingians and I can't tell you what any of that has to do with Neanderthals or Atlantis. It seemed, at times, more like a collection of recent writings than a concerted work. He spent a lot of time summarizing other books (Which I have already read and are not all of relevance to the point) and not enough giving us anything new. If he couldn't come up with anything more to say that was new. I would have at least enjoyed it if he had spent some time giving us more, even basic, information on Neanderthals; where they have been found, theories on why they died out (Did they die out?), maybe spend some time comparing and contrasting them physically with humans, discussing how we are related to them and what we may know about when we split off. Perhaps hints in mythology that back up his thesis? The section actually on them (While extraordinarily interesting) was almost unforgivably brief compared to the length of the whole work. I wanted more neanderthals!!! Beyond that, he spoke a lot about intuitive knowledge and I thought that this was all very interesting, but had to wonder if it worked against his main thesis. That is to say, he provided us with another explanation for the source of ancient knowledge that didn't require resorting to neanderthals. I am, however, giving the book 4 stars. The thesis is extremely interresting and revolutionary. It is an enjoyable read. I just wish...well...I would have liked him to talk more about neanderthals and less about Christ and other topics that didn't belong organically in this book.