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A Letter from Brian Selznick Dear readers, When I was a kid, two of my favorite books were by an amazing man named Remy Charlip. Fortunately and Thirteen fascinated me in part because, in both books, the very act of turning the pages plays a pivotal role in telling the story. Each turn reveals something new in a way that builds on the image on the previous page. Now that I'm an illustrator myself, I've often thought about this dramatic storytelling device and all of its creative possibilities. My new book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret, is a 550 page novel in words and pictures. But unlike most novels, the images in my new book don't just illustrate the story; they help tell it. I've used the lessons I learned from Remy Charlip and other masters of the picture book to create something that is not a exactly a novel, not quite a picture book, not really a graphic novel, or a flip book or a movie, but a combination of all these things. I began thinking about this book ten years ago after seeing some of the magical films of Georges Méliès, the father of science-fiction movies. But it wasn't until I read a book called Edison's Eve: The Quest for Mechanical Life by Gaby Woods that my story began to come into focus. I discovered that Méliès had a collection of mechanical, wind-up figures (called automata) that were donated to a museum, but which were later destroyed and thrown away. Instantly, I imagined a boy discovering these broken, rusty machines in the garbage, stealing one and attempting to fix it. At that moment, Hugo Cabret was born. A few years ago, I had the honor of meeting Remy Charlip, and I'm proud to say that we've become friends. Last December he was asking me what I was working on, and as I was describing this book to him, I realized that Remy looks exactly like Georges Méliès. I excitedly asked him to pose as the character in my book, and fortunately, he said yes. So every time you see Méliès in The Invention of Hugo Cabret, the person you are really looking at is my dear friend Remy Charlip, who continues to inspire everyone who has the great pleasure of knowing him or seeing his work. Paris in the 1930's, a thief, a broken machine, a strange girl, a mean old man, and the secrets that tie them all together... Welcome to The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Yours, Brian Selznick

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Amazon.com Exclusive

Brian Selznick on a "Deleted Scene" from The Invention of Hugo Cabret This is a finished drawing that I had to cut from The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I was still rewriting the book when I had to begin the final art. There was originally a scene in the story where this character, Etienne, is working in a camera shop. On one of my research trips to Paris I spent an entire day visiting old camera shops and photographing cameras from the 1930's and earlier, as well as the facades of the shops themselves. I researched original French camera posters and made sure that the counter and the shelves were accurate to the time period. I did all the drawings in the book at 1/4 scale, so they were very small and I often had to use a magnifying glass to help me see what I was drawing. After I finished this drawing I continued to rewrite, and for various reasons I realized that I needed to move this scene from the camera shop to the French Film Academy, which meant that I had to cut this picture. I tried really hard to find ANOTHER moment when I could have Etienne in a camera shop, but, as painful as it was, I knew the picture had to go. I'm glad to see it up on the Amazon website because otherwise no one would have ever seen all those tiny cameras I researched and drew so carefully! --Brian Selznick

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Customer Reviews:

The type of book you want your kids to read!.......2007-10-08

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is about an independent, intelligent young boy who maintains the clocks in a train station. Inheriting the job from his deadbeat uncle, Hugo lives within the walls of the station and must deal with the daily struggle of taking care of himself without any money. While he isn't working he obsesses over an automaton that his father had once worked on. Throughout the novel he strives to make it work again, hoping it will connect him to his dead father. Along the way he makes a new friend and learns that it is okay to depend on others for help.

What really makes this book unique are the hundreds of illustrations that are wonderfully drawn by Selznick. They actually take the place of words, they don't just illustrate what you have read. They are not meant to be skimmed over, but analyzed and appreciated.

This novel is the type of book you want your kids to read; it is well written, teaches lessons, presents strong characters and has a unique story.

Great Book for Boys.......2007-10-07

My 11-year-old son read this book in 2 days. He absolutely loved it, both the illustrations and the writing. "I liked the way the pictures told the story," he said. He wants to read more Brian Selznick now. Great books for boys don't grow on trees; this is a real winner.

Wonderful Blend of Pictures and Words.......2007-10-05

This was just an incredible book. A wonderful mix of pictures and words, it is fifty per cent graphic novel and fifty percent prose. An intriguing mystery set in Paris, certain to be enjoyed by readers both young and old.
It flows quickly - you will get much more out of it if you take your time with the pictures particularly. The detail in some of the scenes is well worth the time.
The characters are believable - youngsters forced to be older than their years in some cases, but still children at heart.
I was amazed to read the author notes at the end, about how much was based on actual creations.
Definitely an interesting, and recommended, read.

Unexpectedly Educational.......2007-09-30

Although it doesn't come across as a historical fiction piece, that's exactly what this book is. Much like the film Amadeus, The Invention of Hugo Cabret uses real life historical people to create an exaggerated (if not downright false) interpretive biography.

Works of this particular genre contain a strange mixture of true and false elements, and are actually good tools for teaching. True, they may lead to some initial misconceptions, but adequate research after the reading can clear these misconceptions up in a hurry. I wouldn't make a big deal out of a minor conception though, if in turn you get a wondrous discovery to go along with it.

From this book I learned that intricate machines were being invented long before computers and television. Robots that could draw and write as far back as perhaps the 18th century. Amazing. Why aren't we taught things like this in school? Probably because the textbooks that are issued make people of the past look like complete dimwits when that really isn't the case.

The revelation of the existence of ancient robots alone is enough for me to give this book a high amount of praise. But the artistry in the book brings it to another level. So much work went into the dozens and dozens of beautiful pencil illustrations that you'd have to be a complete jerk to not give Selznick at least a little respect for his efforts.

Often I have to read five or six unexciting books before I get to one that really makes me say, "Wow!" This is a "Wow!" book, and makes a fitting addition to any library. The risk of constructing it in such an unusual style has greatly paid off. Books like this are the reason I read.

I know I'm not the first one to say this, but this might be the book of the future we're looking at here.

wonderful fresh story.......2007-09-27

I originally bought this book for my husband and son to read. They enjoyed it so much that I had to read it myself. What a lovely story. The illustrations were outstanding and placed perfectly within the story. I went strictly off of the description from Amazon and the one picture that they showed. I was so impressed with the drawing and the idea of them being inside the book that I just knew it would be worth having. What a pleasure to read. Thank you Mr. Selznick.

Average customer rating: Calculations are only as good as your numbers Pants on fire? Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. Very Interesting History as Science Fiction

History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1) Anatoly Fomenko Manufacturer: Mithec ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Chinese | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Irish | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Japanese | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Augustine, Saint | ( A ) | People, A-Z | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books Doctors & Medicine | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books Lawyers & Criminals | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books Love, Sex & Marriage | Humor | Entertainment | Subjects | Books Assyria, Babylonia & Sumer | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books Early Civilization | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books General | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books Historiography | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books General | World | History | Subjects | Books General | Asian American | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Asian American | Poetry | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books French | Erotica | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Victorian | Erotica | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Epic | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books German | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Russian | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Spanish | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Chinese | Classics | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Conspiracy Theories | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books War on Drugs | Crime & Criminals | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books English (All) | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Arabic | Foreign Language | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Armenian | Foreign Language | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Czech | Foreign Language | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Greek | Foreign Language | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Hungarian | Foreign Language | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Japanese | Foreign Language | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Korean | Foreign Language | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Norwegian | Foreign Language | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Persian & Farsi | Foreign Language | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Polish | Foreign Language | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Portuguese | Foreign Language | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Romanian | Foreign Language | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Russian | Foreign Language | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Swedish | Foreign Language | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Turkish | Foreign Language | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Science | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books Online Research | Genealogy | Reference | Subjects | Books Native American | Earth-Based Religions | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books General | Science | Subjects | Books General | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books History of Science | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books Magic & Wizards | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books Sailor Moon | Popular Characters | Children's Books | Subjects | Books Pilates | Exercise & Fitness | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books History | Fashion | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books Look Inside Art Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Biographies | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Children's Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Entertainment Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Health Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Romance Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Science Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Science Fiction & Fantasy Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books Similar Items: History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology) History: Fiction or Science? Astronomical methods as applied to chronology. Ptolemy's Almagest. Chronology III Discovering the Mysteries of Ancient America: Lost History And Legends, Unearthed And Explored Before the Pharaohs: Egypt's Mysterious Prehistory They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies ASIN: 2913621058

Book Description

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Average customer rating: It had potential..... Interesting Book, Needs to Decide What Story to Tell Slow Moving An engrossing murder mystery combined with a portrait of the life of Edgar Allen Poe. Very interesting

The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder Daniel Stashower Manufacturer: Dutton Adult ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover 19th Century | History & Criticism | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books General | History & Criticism | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Similar Items: Thunderstruck The Pale Blue Eye: A Novel The Meaning of Night: A Confession A Pickpocket's Tale: The Underworld of Nineteenth-Century New York The Interpretation of Murder: A Novel ASIN: B000N3T40G

Book Description

On July 28, 1841, the body of Mary Rogers, a twenty-year-old cigar girl, was found floating in the Hudson-and New York's unregulated police force proved incapable of solving the crime. One year later, a struggling writer named Edgar Allan Poe decided to take on the case-and sent his fictional detective, C. Auguste Dupin, to solve the baffling murder of Mary Rogers in "The Mystery of Marie Rogt."

Customer Reviews:

It had potential............2007-09-12

This book could have been more interesting with better editing. The same point is repeated over and over again. How stupid does one need to be to get the point of what the author is trying to convey?

Poe's story is interesting. The fervor of the press at the time is just like the paparazzi today, so it was interesting to see how little things have improved with tabloid journalism. The reports of the bumbling of the coroner and the police also shows how those departments have been picked on since they came to be.

The author either did not have enough interesting material or simply lacked the imagination to fill this book.

Interesting Book, Needs to Decide What Story to Tell.......2007-09-10

There are parts of this book that are very engaging and interesting -- life in lower Manhattan in the 1830s and 40s, for example; the beach and spring scene in Hoboken along the Hudson River, the sad and tragic case of Mary Rogers, and of course Poe's life story.

But this book fails to find a convincing narrative that links all of these parts together. Instead, the author gets bogged down in side stories, and works too hard to link it all together, not very convincingly.

As a result, the book is slow going, and somewhat frustrating. A good editor was needed here.

Slow Moving.......2007-07-17

This book was very slow paced. It seemed to dive into great detail about side characters and devote entire chapters to characters that maybe didn't need to be developed as well as they were, for example an entire chapter was written about the creator of a newspaper just to give detail about the author of an article about a trial, further slowing the pace of the book. The book in no way caught my interest and I actually gave up on the book about half way through.

An engrossing murder mystery combined with a portrait of the life of Edgar Allen Poe........2007-06-21

I would certainly tend to agree with some of the other reviewers who point out quite correctly that "The Beautiful Cigar Girl" appears to be more about the life of Edgar Allan Poe than about the unfortunate murder of a beautiful young woman. Nevertheless, author Daniel Stashower does a workmanlike job of weaving together the two stories that were so representative of life in New York City in the late 1830's and early 1940's. Times were tough indeed as the nation limped through a severe downturn in the economy.
The young lady who came to be known as "The Beautiful Cigar Girl" was Mary Rogers. In 1938 the proprietor of a local cigar emporium named John Anderson hired Mary to work as a salesgirl in his store. Thanks to his new hire and the convenient location Anderson's Tobacco Emporium proved to be an immediate and smashing success. Newspaper moguls, business leaders and government officials all frequented the store. Suddenly, Mary Rogers was somewhat of an "item" and her name would appear from time to time in various newspapers. As things turned out Mary Rogers only worked at Anderson's for a short period of time. However, when her her battered and bludgeoned body was fished out of the Hudson River in 1941 the apparent murder of Mary Rogers became a sensation in the newspapers.
The stories were rife with speculation and inuendo. Over the next year or so the story would take any number of strange twists and turns. And while the murder of Mary Rogers has never been conclusively solved the most likely scenario turns out to be quite surprising indeed!
In the meantime, it seems that Daniel Stashower devotes more than half of the pages of "The Beautiful Cigar Girl" to the life of Edgar Allan Poe. While Poe certainly did become involved in the case of Mary Rogers with his fascinating article "The Mystery of Marie Roget" I certainly had no reason to expect that so much of this book would be devoted to him. Since I knew very little about Edgar Allan Poe to begin with I really did not mind learning about his life here. It turns out that despite his obvious and enormous talent, Poe's penchant for self-destructive behavior would severely limit his ability to earn a living in the literary world. Time and time again, in job after job, Edgar Allan Poe would wear out his welcome. His story is both sad and tragic and one cannot help but wonder what might have been had Poe been able to overcome his personal problems.
In any event, the bottom line is that "The Beautiful Cigar Girl" was not quite what I had expected. Too many pages devoted to Poe really did seem to detract from the real reason I was reading this book--the murder of Mary Rogers. Despite its shortcomings, this is still a book that managed to hold my interest from cover to cover.

Very interesting.......2007-05-16

Being a Poe enthusiast as well as a history and true crime buff, I have found this book fascinating. The author does a good job of telling two stories at the same time - first the story of Poe, his upbringing and his erratic behavior throughout his life and second the story of the beautiful and tragic Mary Rogers. I love the way he intertwines the stories and draw the paralells between the two. The author draws you into the story in the way a good mystery novel would and makes it come to life on the page. I am glad that I bought this book!

Average customer rating: Check and see Suprise! Suprise! Prescient St Augustine? Something of a disappointment Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy..

History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2 (Chronology) Anatoly T Fomenko Manufacturer: Delamere Resources LLC ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Assyria, Babylonia & Sumer | Ancient | History | Subjects | Books Historiography | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books General | World | History | Subjects | Books Medieval | World | History | Subjects | Books Medieval | Movements & Periods | History & Criticism | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books German | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Russian | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Spanish | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Chinese | Classics | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books Mythology & Folklore | Encyclopedias | Reference | Subjects | Books General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books Controversial Knowledge | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books History | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books Gnosticism | Church History | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books Historical Jesus | Jesus | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books Celtic | Earth-Based Religions | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books Magic & Wizards | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books Today's Heroes | Series | Christianity | Religions | Children's Books | Subjects | Books History | Fashion | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books Look Inside Art Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Children's Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside History Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Science Fiction & Fantasy Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Similar Items: History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1) History: Fiction or Science? Astronomical methods as applied to chronology. Ptolemy's Almagest. Chronology III They Cast No Shadows: A Collection of Essays on the Illuminati, Revisionist History, and Suppressed Technologies The Medieval Empire of the Israelites Discovering the Mysteries of Ancient America: Lost History And Legends, Unearthed And Explored ASIN: 2913621066

Product Description

`History: Fiction or Science? Chronology 2` is the second volume of the most explosive and astounding tractate on history ever written - however, every theory it contains, no matter how unorthodox, is backed by rock solid scientific data. The book is easy and pleasant to read; it is well-illustrated, contains hundreds of charts, graphs and illustrations, copies of ancient manuscripts, and countless facts attesting to the falsity of the chronology used nowadays. You will be amazed to discover: - That the chronology universally accepted today and taken for granted is simply wrong; - That ALL methods of dating of ancient sources and artefacts known today are erroneous or non-exact; - That there is not a single document that could be reliably dated earlier than the XIth century; The Author refers to the Middle Ages as the “Antiquity” and proves mutual superimposition of the Second and the Third Roman Empire, both of which become identified as the respective kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Furthermore, he asserts that the famous reform of the Occidental Church in the XI century by “Pope Gregory Hildebrand” was the reflection of the XII century reforms of Byzantine emperor Andronicus who in his turn identifies with Jesus Christ. The Trojan war counted by Homer happened only as late as of the XIII century A.D. and the great poet actually lived in XIV century A.D. No stone in history of Antiquity is left unturned. Literally. This book is the beginning of a major correction to the chronology we live with.

Customer Reviews:

Check and see.......2007-06-21

I don't care what other people say of this book. Those affirmig it's fake, they hadn't ever read it. Or have some special reasons to do so. "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see..." This book won't make you feel comfortable. It'll make you feel free. It'll make you feel you're "not the only one" to feel you'd been lied to for centuries.

Suprise! Suprise!.......2007-03-22

Here is a serie of books which turns "the whole world" upside down. I learned a lot of it and I hope that a new book from A.T. Fomenko will follow very quick. A absolute must for everybody who is interested in history or even a little bit from it.

Prescient St Augustine?.......2006-02-05

We can so far divide the New Chronology into the following three parts:

a) The verifiable theory that proves consensual chronology wrong with the aid of astronomy, statistics and mathematics;

b) The new chronology hypothesis based on a new understanding of known historical facts and the most likely logical explanation of the most obvious inconsistencies inherent in the official version of history;

c) The history conjectures, that is experimental historical reconstructions based on assumptions that the authors believe to make sense in the light of their research and linguistic parallels - void of ironclad factual support to date.

Fomenko's theory complies with the most rigid scientific standards as a whole:

It gives a coherent explanation of what we already know.

- It is consistent: independent lines of inquiry all lead to the same conclusion.

- The predictions it makes are confirmed empirically.

Fomenko goes by the following axioms:

- Chronology is the basis of history;

- Human evolution has always been linear, gradual and irreversible;

- The "cyclic" nature of human civilization is a myth, likewise all the gaps, duplicates, "dark ages" and "renaissances" that we know from consensual history;

- The accumulation of geographical knowledge as reflected in cartography is a gradual and irreversible process;

- The chronological distance between a given manuscript and the events described therein is proportional to the amount of distortions it contains;

- There is no "useless" information in authentic ancient sources.

Why the mainstream historians do not shower mathematician Academician Dr.Prof Fomenko with thanks and laurels?

The Russians:

Because Fomenko asserts that there was no such thing as the Tartar and Mongol invasion followed by three centuries of slavery, providing a formidable body of documental evidence to prove his assertion. The so-called "Tartars and Mongols" were the actual ancestors of the modern Russians, living in a bilingual state with Arabic spoken as freely as Russian. The ancient Russian state was governed by a double structure of civil and military authorities. The hordes were actually professional armies with a tradition of lifelong conscription (the recruitment being the so-called "blood tax"). Their "invasions" were punitive operations against the regions that attempted tax evasion. Fomenko proves that Russian history as we know it today is a blatant forgery concocted by a host of German scientists brought to Russia by the usurper dynasty of the Romanovs, whose ascension to the throne was the result of coup d'état, charged with the mission of making their reign look legitimate. Fomenko proves Ivan the Terrible to be a collation of four rulers, no less. They represented the two rival dynasties - the legitimate rulers and the ambitious upstarts. The winner took it all! Over some 30 years of controversy, Russian historians have made a most remarkable transition - they were initially accusing the young mathematician Fomenko of anticommunist dissident activity and attempts to deface the historical legacy of Soviet Russia; nowadays the middle-aged mathematician is accused of adhering to "pro-communist Russian nationalism" and defacing the proud historical legacy of Great Russia.

The Westerners:

Because Fomenko blows consensual Russian history to smithereens, successfully removing a crucial cornerstone from underneath the otherwise impeccable edifice of World History. Fomenko adds insult to injury, wiping out one by one the Ancient Rome (the foundation of Rome in Italy is dated to the XIV century A. D.), the Ancient Greece and its numerous poleis, which he identifies as the mediaeval crusader settlements on the territory of Greece, and the Ancient Egypt (the pyramids of Giza become dated to the XI-XV century A. D. and identified as the royal cemetery of the Global "Mongolian" Empire, no less). The civilization of the Ancient Egypt is irrefutably dated to the XII-XV century A. D. with the aid of the ancient Egyptian horoscopes cut in stone. He was the first one to decipher and date all such horoscopes, coming up with mediaeval dates in every case. English historians rage at the suggestion that the history of Ancient England was de facto a Byzantine import transplanted to the English soil by the fugitive Byzantine nobility. To reward the English historians who consider themselves the true scribes of World History, the cover of the present book portrays Tintoretto's Jesus Christ crucified on the Big Ben.

The Chinese:

Because Fomenko wipes out the Ancient History of China outright. No such thing. Full point. The compilation of the so-called Ancient Chinese History is reliably datable to the XVII-XVIII century only. It is perfectly recognizable as the Ancient European history, reworked and transcribed in hieroglyphs as yet another historical transplantation, this time performed on the Chinese soil by the loving Jesuit hands. The Chinese are the next in line to go berserk. Chinese history is inevitably bound to get both more ancient and more eventful, proportionally to the growing involvement of China in the world affairs. Chinese historians will keep on finding valid proof of prehistoric Chinese spaceflights until the Politburo orders them to shut up.

The Arabs:

Too bad. Islam with all its key figures is datable to XV-XVI century A. D. Arabic historians may find consolation in the crucial historical role of the Ottoman Empire in the XVI-XVII century. The trouble is that this empire was initially a Christian state, with Hagia Sophia identifiable as Temple of Solomon, according to Fomenko! We can only guess if the acquisition of Alexander the Great (a Macedonian and a Christian) as the founder of the Muslim World Empire will make Fomenko's theories more acceptable to the Arabic mainstream. He certainly does not spare any holy cows at all, claiming The Stone of Qa'Aba in Mecca to contain the lost Arch of the Covenant.

The Divinity:

Despite of reiterated statement that his theory is all about chronology and not Religion, Fomenko stirs up a whole condominium of wasp nests. His collection of anathemas, fatwa, and other condemnations from all parties concerned is already considerable. Little wonder, considering that the history of religions à la Fomenko looks as follows: the pre-Christian period (before the XI century and JC), Bacchic Christianity (XI-XII century, before and after JC), JC Christianity (XII-XVI century) and its subsequent mutations into Orthodox Christianity, the Catholicism, Islam, Buddhism, and so on.

According to Fomenko we know strictly NOTHING about the events that predate the X century A. D.

St Augustin was prescient when he spoke unto us: "be wary of mathematicians, particularly when they speak the truth."

Something of a disappointment.......2005-09-09

After having read the first volume of this expected series of 7 volumes I was triggered by the thesis of these authors that ancient Greek and Roman history did in fact take place in the Middle Ages. So I started studying medieval history of the Middle East - also known as Islamic history - to find out if the opponents of the ancient Greeks and Romans - the Acheamenid Persians, Sassanids, Scythians, Egyptians, etc. - also have their duplicates in medieval history. My search was disappointing: none of the many medieval Islamic dynasties seemed to correspond to the ancient middle eastern rulers.

However, I did find a close correspondence between Herodotus' Persian kings and medieval events:

- the defeat and capture of an Anatolian king - the Lydian Croesus - by the Persian conqueror Cyrus is identical to the defeat and capture of another Anatolian king - sultan Bayezid - by the Asian/Mongol conqueror Tamerlane;
- the Persian conquest of Egypt by the cruel tyrant Cambyses reds almost exactly as the Ottoman conquest of Egypt by Selim the Grim (note the nickname!);
- Darius the Lawgiver of the Persian Empire looks very much alike to Sulayman the Magnificent, the Lawgiver in Islamic history;
- Xerxes, whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by the Greeks at the naval battle of Salamis, looks like Selim II (the Sot) whose main claim to fame is to be defeated by a Spanish-Italian alliance at the naval battle of Lepanto.

I should have expected Fomenko et al. to arrive at similar conclusions, however, they claim that the Persian kings are the alter egos of the Angevin kings of Sicily whose biographies do not contain the exploits of the Persian kings.

The similiarities I indicate lead to the conclusion that Herodotus must have written his Histories at the close of the 16th century. But this is extremely late, given that Herodotus is "the Father of History", so therefore all other "ancient" histories must have been fabricated even later. Yet, the founders of modern chronology - Scaliger and Petavius - laid their foundations also at the close of the 16th century and had the full corpus of ancient histories already at their disposal.

It seems to me that Fomenko has to address these inconsistencies, maybe in the forthcoming 5 volumes?

Another critique of their book is that the correspondencies between different rulers are often based on a superficial comparison of the biographies; upon a more thorough comparison many details appear that do not correspond at all.

Finally, the authors rely heavily on the works of Gregorovius (1821-1891!!) - his medieval histories of Rome and Athens - as the source of medieval history; these works are - at least in the West - hoplessly outdated and have been superceded by more up-to-date works (for instance, Julius Norwich's trilogy on Byzantine history is not even cited).

Romulus courts Helen, Paris founds Rome, Moses goes to Troy.........2005-07-30

If you agree with Fomenko that Roman chronology is basically the foundation of the entire edifice of global chronology; you would also certainly agree that despite its numerous gaps and inconsistencies, Roman history is the best-documented field of ancient history, and thus a reference scale. But how well is the actual date of the Eternal City's foundation known?

Firstly, Rome is supposed to have been founded by the Trojans who had to flee after the fall of Troy. Some claim Rome to have been founded by Aeneas and Ulysses shortly after Troy had fallen; others are of the opinion that there was an entire dynasty that ruled for 500 years between the fall of Troy and the foundation of Rome.

Well, that's just an innocent 500 years long misunderstanding compared with what heretic Fomenko says, asserts, proves in his second volume: Second Roman Empire, Third Roman Empire, Biblical Kingdom of Israel, Biblical Kingdom of Judah, Holy Roman Empire are stories about basically same events, written from different points of view at different times. The underlying events have actually taken place during xii-xv cy. These histories have been written and perfected by multitude of highly talented humanist and clerical writers of xiii-xvi cy disguised as "ancients" with glorious names like Homer, Pluto, Thucydides etc..Chronology 2.0 beta..

Historians are kindly invited to report the bugs.

Average customer rating: God this book bored me to tears I'm not convinced The Truth & Proof About The Secret Gospel of Mark A HILARIOUS pack of LIES Morton Smith among the Lilliputians, Part I

The Gospel Hoax: Morton Smith's Invention of Secret Mark Stephen C. Carlson Manufacturer: Baylor University Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback General | Commentaries | Reference | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books New Testament | Commentaries | Reference | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books General | Church History | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books General | Literature & Fiction | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books Controversial Knowledge | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books Apocrypha | Bible & Other Sacred Texts | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books Look Inside Art Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Fiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Similar Items: The Secret Gospel: The Discovery and Interpretation of the Secret Gospel According to Mark The Secret Gospel of Mark Unveiled: Imagined Rituals of Sex, Death, and Madness in a Biblical Forgery Mark’s Other Gospel: Rethinking Morton Smith’s Controversial Discovery (ESCJ) Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony The Gospel of Judas ASIN: 1932792481

Product Description

Secret Mark first became known to modern scholarship in 1958 when a newly hired assistant professor at Columbia University in New York by the name of Morton Smith visited the monastery of Mar Saba near Jerusalem and photographed its fragments. Secret Mark was announced on the heels of many spectacular discoveries of ancient manuscripts in the Near East, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Nag Hammadi gnostic corpus in the late 1940s, and promised to be just as revolutionary. Secret Mark presents what appears to be a valuable, albeit fragmentary, witness to early Christian traditions, traditions that might shed light on Jesus's most intimate behavior. In this book, Stephen C. Carlson uses state of the art science to demonstrate that Secret Mark was an elaborate hoax created by Morton Smith. Carlson's discussion places Smith s trick alongside many other hoaxes before probing the reasons why so many scholars have been taken in by it.

Customer Reviews:

God this book bored me to tears.......2007-07-22

I love detective novels about forged books, my all time favorite being, "An Enquiry into the Nature of Certain Nineteenth-Century Pamphlets", by John Carter, and Graham Pollard. The very best books about forgeries tell you a great deal about books and manuscripts, not just the fraud in question. I had hoped that this book would be in that vein -- cool, dry, utterly objective, facts-only, and absolutely convincing, while at the same time opening up the world of ancient manuscripts and how to reason about them.

Instead it is unconvincing and inflamed in the *weirdest* sort of way. It seems as though Stephen Carlson really wants to settle a score with Morton Smith. I was looking for an exquisitely argued piecing together of a puzzle. Instead I got a very erudite, very lengthy disquisition bundled up with a huge number of angry neurosies, not all of them Smith's by any means.

I'm not convinced.......2007-06-30

I'm just not convinced. A lot of people seem to have a very strong vested interest in seeing Morton Smith proved wrong. And yet his work passed serious academic scrutiny for decades until -- speaking of "convenient" -- after his death, at which point this guy steps up to indict him as a hoaxer.

"The Secret Gospel" is not Smith's only book-length work of Biblical history. He pursued many of the issues raised by this work in the later "Jesus the Magician," which is a fascinating and persuasive book -- more so, in my opinion, than the earlier volume -- and his arguments and analysis would seem to be valid regardless of the historical status of the "secret" gospel of Mark.

I kind of suspect a different sort of intellectual dishonesty at work here: hardcore Christianists who can't stand their core assumptions being called into question.

The Truth & Proof About The Secret Gospel of Mark.......2007-05-13

Utilizing the little-known presence of word Puzzle-like mosaics called "chiasms," nationally recognized author John Dart painstakingly reconstructs Mark's Gospel in his recent book entitled 'Decoding Mark', showing exactly how the previously removed and concealed sections of the `Secret Gospel' indubitably belong in the original, and identifying sections that were added by a later editor (redactor). Any noteworthy biblical researcher worth their salt should recognize the peculiar presence of an ancient writing device called "chiasms", and educated scholars have proposed a few dozen in the Gospel of Mark alone.

However, veteran commentator John Dart, a popular interpreter of biblical research and word-puzzle militant, reports that Mark contains within its encrypted pages more than 150 chiastic patterns, large and small! The bigger shock is that this concentric mosaic word matrix prove, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that the barely clothed beloved young man affair from the Secret Gospel of Mark discovered by Professor Morton Smith at Mar Saba Monastery in 1958, was indeed a part of the original Gospel of Mark! Another hidden key to the Kingdom presented in Decoding Mark is an editor who deleted the original story and inserted a miracle-laden section that 'Luke' never saw. The Secret Gospel reveals the critically important lost testimonial role played by this rich young man, beloved by Jesus, as the foremost interior joint-hero -along with the risen Christ- of the original narrative core of the Gospel of Mark. This book will lead its readers into the Innermost Sanctuary itself of that Truth, which lays veiled beneath Seven. An absolute must read for any scholar on the Golden Path that leads to lifting the veil of the Disciple Whom Jesus Loved.

And he says to me, "Write: Happy are they who have been called to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb" ...These are the true words of God.

The Greatest Story Never Told! This book hints of a very controversial story of a long-lost disciple loved by Jesus who stays with him for six days,and on the evening of the seventh day: the young man comes to Him wearing nothing but a linen veil over his naked body for an all-night ceremonial rite where Jesus teaches him the Secret Mystery of the Kingdom of God. Dart's book details how this is by far an integral part to the original version of the Gospel of Mark.


Author John Dart (Los Angeles Times, Christian Century), is a popular interpreter of biblical research and incorporates his intrinsic bible-decoding skills astonishingly making a solidified case that the ancient writing device known as 'chiasmus' sets the hacked story neatly back into the earliest version of the oldest biblical gospel, where it comes to rest... beautifully illuminating a rather evocative account of Jesus and a young man.

Moreover, when placed back in Mark 10:46a: "Then they come to Jericho," and 10:46b: "As he was leaving Jericho..." the place where Clement of Alexandria indicates these secret fragments occured, it fills a well-known lacuna in the Markan narrative.

This young man seems to play a rather important, yet veiled, role in Mark. Most notably, his reappearance in the empty tomb announcing 'He is not here, He has risen!'(Mk 16:5)suggest that this secret story of this young man's own ressurection served to foreshadow Jesus'.

And the Scripture was fulfilled which says:
'His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a Rich Man in His death, Because he had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in his mouth' [Is.53:9]....but that all the Writings may be fulfilled:
"And having left Him they all fled; and a certain young man was following Him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth about his naked body, and the young men lay hold on him, and he, having left the cloth behind, did flee from them naked."
[Mark 14:50-52] Only to return and follow the Lamb wherever He goes [Rev. 14:4]. Thus, Simon Peter was following Jesus, and another disciple[Jon 18:15]. Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following; the one who laying back on His bosom at the Supper and said, "Lord, who is the one who betrays You?" [Jon. 21:20]

Jesus said, "Recognize what is in front of your face, and that which is hidden from you will be disclosed to you. For there is nothing hidden that won't be revealed, and nothing buried that will not be raised, and there is nothing covered up that will remain unexposed." [GrGospThom 5:1-2; 6:5-6]

The beginning of the Knowledge of the Truth is to Marvel at what is already present, laying this down as the first step toward the Knowledge of the Secret things beyond. This book is crucial proof that 'the Secret Gospel' is NOT a hoax, and never was. Among good scholars, the debates the late Professor Morton Smith's research has initiated are just 'the top of the Ark'; no doubt they will continue for decades to come.

Meanwhile, 'The Secret Gospel' invites readers to peek back behind the veil, and behold the Two Witnesses of the Testimony of God joined One to Another atop the Mercy Seat. Then, and only then, may the 'Secret of the Kingdom of God' be revealed to you; "...yet for those on the outside everything is in parables; so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven." [Mark 4:10]

Jesus said, "After all, there is nothing hidden except to be brought to Light, nor anything kept Secret that won't be exposed. If anyone here has two good ears, use them!"
[Mark 4:22-23]

And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which even if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that were written.
[Jon. 21:25]
Decoding Mark
The Secret Gospel: The Discovery and Interpretation of the Secret Gospel According to Mark

A HILARIOUS pack of LIES.......2007-04-04

If Carlson *truly* believed that Secret Mark was a modern forgery, he would simply track down the manuscript and carbon-date the parchment/ink.

However, since he knows it's genuine, (but doesn't fit with his version of Christianity) his only option is embarrass himself with his feeble arguments about how Morton Smith "forged" it: Clement is TOO much like Clement. The Morton Salt theory (hilarious). Etc.

Bottom Line: Don't waste your time or your money.

Morton Smith among the Lilliputians, Part I.......2007-01-23

Given the breathless cover blurbs by Mark Goodacre and Larry Hurtado, one might expect that Stephen Carlson had uncovered some previously unknown and utterly spectacular new manuscript evidence or made a similarly startling scholarly breakthrough on the subject of the Secret Gospel of Mark. Instead, Gospel Hoax is a tendentious, lawyerly daisy chain of micro-arguments that forcibly reminded me of Kierkegaard's complaint about being trampled by geese. Carlson comes to the question of authenticity already convinced that Secret Mark has been falsified and announces in his preface, "Now that I knew what to look for and where to look for it, all I had to do was find it." (xviii) If there is anything axiomatic in New Testament studies, it is that a priori conclusions are always confirmed by "evidence" and Carlson's hoax has become the most recent Exhibit A of this sad fact.

Much of Carlson's evidence for forgery revolves upon the flimsy spindle of handwriting analysis. Mr. Carlson, to the best of my knowledge, has no particular training in paleography or document verification, has never published in this field, nor has his work been vetted by disinterested experts. The inadequacy of this amateur exercise has been thoroughly revealed by Scott Brown in "Factualizing the Folklore: Stephen Carlson's Case Against Morton Smith" in the Harvard Theological Review (99:291, ff).

A close reading of the supposed evidence for forgery shows that Carlson actually negates much of his own argument. The features of supposed forgery cited by Carlson "can be attributed to the writer's age, fatigue, stress level, or other causes for a loss of fine motor control." (26) A further objection which readily comes to mind is the fact that the text in question was copied in a small cursive hand into the end pages of a small book. Did the copyist have the luxury of placing the book on a steady surface, or did he hold it in his lap? Questions of this kind could be multiplied, but there is obviously no way to answer them. Indeed, the apparent strength of Carlson's arguments disappears once it is pointed out that they are, in the final analysis, speculative and can therefore never be either proven or disconfirmed.

A second major claim of this very minor book is that the overweening Smith planted references to himself within the Clement letter to tweak the noses of his fellow academics. Only a very clever person indeed would be able to identify these hidden signatures and Carlson imagines himself to be that very person, a delusion which may account for the smirking, self-congratulatory tone of his writing. The silliness of this project culminates in the identification of a passing mention of salt --"even the salt loses its flavor"-- as a reference to Morton Smith (Morton Smith = Morton Salt). A critique of this bizarre line of argumentation has been written by Kyle Smith (no relation to Morton) of Duke University, "Mixed with Inventions: Salt and Metaphor in Secret Mark" (available online on Wieland Willker's New Testament homepage). Kyle Smith concludes, "...by my reckoning, Carlson is down 0-1."

Naturally Carlson does not fail to raise the non-issue of Smith's sexuality. In point of fact one must wonder if this is part of the reason the book was released by Baylor University Press, the publishing arm of the notoriously homophobic Baylor University which has the dubious distinction of being the world's largest, and no doubt grandest, Baptist school. I supply this bit of information lest the unsuspecting reader assume that Baylor represents a source of reasoned inquiry. The intellectual universe of Baylor University is in fact one of the outer planets of the Bible Belt and closely reflects denominational prejudice and hostility to contrary opinion. On this question the interested reader is referred to Scott Brown's refutation of The Hoax, "The Question of Motive in the Case against Morton Smith," in the Journal of Biblical Literature (125:351,ff)

It is quite ironic that Carlson castigates Smith for cluttering the presentation of his evidence with "historically worthless testimonia" (88) which Carlson has decreed to have no relevance to the authenticity of Secret Mark, but uses up 23 pages (by my count) of his slender volume to expatiate on such subjects as faked artifacts, Piltdown Man, Pfaff's forgery of Irenaeus, the Coleman-Norton agraphon, and how CBS supposedly got it all wrong about George Bush's exit strategy from Vietnam. In Stephen Carlson's parallel universe these wildly disparate subjects apparently have some material bearing on the letter of Clement.

There is little point in cataloging each and every claim made in Gospel Hoax, claims which are already being examined and dismantled on a regular basis. In fact, I predict that Carlson's hoax will catalyze a more sober and thorough examination of the evidence and will in fact result in the publication of additional opinion favoring the authenticity of Secret Mark. Contrary to Carlson's intent, this book has not buried the longer gospel of Mark, but instead helped to raise the whole matter once again. Having served this purpose, the book will be retired to the science fiction section of Christian bookstores.

For those readers in search of intelligent discussions of Secret Mark and the ways in which it may illuminate our understanding of Jesus' life and career, the following are recommended (with some reservations): Crossan's Four Other Gospels: Shadows on the Contours of Canon, Meyer's Secret Gospels: Essays on Thomas and the Secret Gospel of Mark, Brown's Mark's Other Gospel, and my own Jesus the Sorcerer: Exorcist and Prophet of the Apocalypse. Dr. Wieland Willker's home page has an excellent section on the Secret Gospel of Mark with links to a number of important and informative articles.

On cross examination Carlson's Hoax fails in each and every particular argument. In short, it is a painful book to read, but at least the pain is over quickly.

Robert Conner

Average customer rating: I'm a bit disappointed Fascinating Tale of Discovery & Use of the Compass Interesting but Left Some Explanations Open Amateurish and poorly researched. The Invention with a Mysterious Past that Changed the World

The Riddle of the Compass: The Invention That Changed the World Amir D. Aczel Manufacturer: Harcourt ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Atlases & Maps | Reference | Subjects | Books | Atlases | Canada | Historical | Maps | United States | World Controversial Knowledge | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books Scientific Instruments | Experiments, Instruments & Measurement | Science | Subjects | Books General | Science | Subjects | Books History of Science | History & Philosophy | Science | Subjects | Books General | Electromagnetism | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books Electromagnetic Theory | Electrical & Electronics | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Similar Items: Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time The Illustrated Longitude Fermat's Last Theorem: Unlocking the Secret of an Ancient Mathematical Problem Compass: A Story of Exploration and Innovation God's Equation: Einstein, Relativity, and the Expanding Universe ASIN: 0151005060

Book Description

Sometimes it pays to be in the right place at the right time. Certainly the mariners in Amalfi in the twelfth century were. Here the compass was first invented and used in navigation, eventually helping to make Italians the world's greatest sailors.
But the story of the compass is shrouded in mystery and myth. It begins in ancient China around the birth of Christ. A mysterious lodestone whose powers affected metal was known to the Emperor. This piece of metal suspended in water always pointed north and was put to excellent use in feng shui, the Chinese art of finding the right location. However, it was the Italians who unleashed the compass's formidable powers on ships at sea.

Throughout the ancient world, sailors navigated by wind, and stars, and the routes of migrating birds, but bad weather and winter storms impeded their travels. When the compass migrated to Italy, the modern world began: Venice, trade with the East, the Age of Discovery. The compass made it all possible, and this is its fascinating story.

Customer Reviews:

I'm a bit disappointed.......2007-01-02

It started out strong then the author began to continuously repeat himself and the book became reminiscent of a section out a high school text book. He was very vague about most if not all his accounts of significant accomplishments through the use of the compass. When it comes down to it the book seemed a bit rushed and lacked the detail most readers would like from a book tackling such a "riddle". Overall it's a short enough read providing a few interesting points and tid-bits that may warrant your precious time.

Fascinating Tale of Discovery & Use of the Compass.......2005-04-14

The "Riddle" is well researched and written in a down to earth, flowing, enjoyable, fascinating and educational journey of discovery. Good illustrations help clarify text descriptions. To emphasize the *importance of the compass to navigation*, there is a quote from an English Augustinian monk, Alexander Neckam (1157-1217) from his book, `De Naturis Rerun':

"The sailors, moreover, as they sail over the sea, when in cloudy weather they can no longer profit by the light of the sun, or when the world is wrapped in the darkness of the shades of night, and they are ignorant to what point of the compass their ship's course is directed, they touch the magnet with a needle. This then whirls round in a circle until, when its motion ceases, its point looks direct to the north." (p 30-31)

Aczel opens the story of the "Riddle" by first relating his childhood memories of growing up on a passenger ship in the Mediterranean where learned how to navigate from his father, the ship's captain. "As the years went by, I developed a feel for the compass and the wheel" (p 2)

This gives him a unique perspective in tracing the origins of the compass and the discovery of magnetism and it's application to the navigational compass. So years later, when he set sail on the journey to find the origins of the compass, he was first directed to Amalfi, Italy where the first European invention of the compass was supposedly credited to a man named Flavio Gioia in 1302. Although the city of Amalfi boasts of the discovery of the compass with statues and the like, it doesn't take long to find serious flaws in this legend and the unfolding of that story makes for a fascinating tale in itself.

The true history of magnetism and the compass is presented in a fascinating overview that also includes the historical use of the stars, reading of ocean currents, weather and migrating birds that helped early mariners in navigation over the centuries.

The Chinese are credited by most historians as being the discoverors of magnetism and this possibly as far back as 1000 BC. They found that magnetic lodestone had an effect on metal and when a piece of spoon-shaped metal was magnetised by it and then placed in water, it always pointed South. Initially, this discovery was used for divination and land coordinates, but eventually was adapted to sailing for navigation.

From the ancient Chinese, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Europeans to the modern times, the story of the compass and so much more is thoroughly covered. This is an excellent read!

As a companion to Aczel's fine book and for more compass info, I also recommend "The Compass" by Paula Z. Hogan, 1980. Although written for children, it is informative and suitable for all ages and backgrounds and in 60 pages, packs more compass facts than any other book I have seen.

Interesting but Left Some Explanations Open.......2004-11-03

The topic was certainly interesting, but the device is so simple that it's a little difficult to go much deeper than the author did. He certainly cites enough documents, but, not too unexpectedly, they seem to talk to human events rather than of anything technical. It's good to know about how the sixteen points came about, but he offered no explanation about what I consider the somewhat bizarre naming of the points. Maybe I'm missing something, but is the scheme for name ordering the points between, say, N and E, the same as from, say, E to S?

The section of Flavio Gioia left me almost as confused about the supposed inventor of the 'modern' (1302?!!) compass as the Italians who erected a statue in 1902 to this apparently fictional character. The name Gioia appears from nowhere.

I would like to have more detail about how early navigators actually did some of their navigation, but what he did supply was still interesting. Not too long ago I was in the Maritime Museum in Greenwich, and saw some interesting devices the Scandinavians used. Unfortunately, a huge crowd of students made it difficult to really figure out and even see what the exhibit had to offer. It would have been good to see the detail offered there expressed in such a book as this.

I found a section near the very end of the book a little puzzling. He talks about how the Chinese were very secretive about their discoveries, and mentions they had a cure for malaria for some two centuries. Only recently has it become known to the West. It's based on a herb that's not only found in China but in N. America. He never mentions what it is! This is somehow how I felt about the book. It seemed to leave the door open for other answers to items discussed in the book.

Amateurish and poorly researched........2004-09-01

I'll put it simply: this is a poor history of the compass. For almost ten years, publishers have been throwing money at anyone who might attempt to repeat the success of Dava Sobel's 'Longitude', and here we see the worst outcome of that lust for success. This book is worthless.

The Invention with a Mysterious Past that Changed the World.......2004-08-25

+++++

The author, Amir Aczel states, "This book explores the series of riddles that make up the story of the [magnetic] compass--the mysteries of the invention that changed navigation, commerce, and the world economy."

Some riddles or questions discussed are as follows:

(1) Who or what group of people are thought to have invented the magnetic compass?
(2) How did people discover that a magnetic needle, suspended in air or water, could be used to indicate the north?
(3) What year is it thought that the magnetic compass was invented?
(4) Was the compass developed independently in two or more different countries?
(5) Where did what we now call compass directions (north, south, east, and west) originate?
(6) Where was the compass perfected so it could be adapted for navigation?
(7) How did mariners learn to use the compass directions of riddle (5) above?
(8) How did sailors navigate the seas before the advent of the compass?
(9) How did sailors begin to use the compass for navigation?
(10) What was the immediate consequence of the invention of the compass for navigation?

This book composed of twelve chapters can be roughly divided into three parts:

1. This part consists of chapters one to seven. It is here that the possible answers to the riddles of the compass are explored.
2. The next part consists of chapters eight to eleven. It attempts to answer the riddle of how the compass became known throughout the world. Here, the "Great Age of Exploration" is examined where "Columbus, da Gama, Magellan, [Cook], and other Spanish and Portuguese navigators conquered the oceans."
3. The last part consists of chapter twelve. It states the author's conclusions and summarizes chapters one to eleven.

This book is very easy to read and thus is a fast read. There are illustrations throughout it. Personally, I learned a lot from this slim book.

People who like concrete answers will probably not enjoy this book. Why? Because much about the compass is unknown and "shrouded in mystery." Thus, what Aczel has done is gather the best evidence he could from "books, manuscripts, and pamphlets of specialized academic circulation" some of which were written "hundreds of years ago" and "often written in Italian, French, or German" (of which he had to translate). From this mass of material, he drew certain inferences and conclusions.

The author briefly mentions the navigational chronometer and refers the reader to the excellent book by Dava Sobel entitled "Longitude" (1995). Interested readers may also want to check out the book entitled "The Illustrated Longitude" (1998).

Finally, there were a few problems I had with this book:

1. The book's title. Some readers may try to look for a single riddle. This book is not about a riddle but about a series of riddles or better still, mysteries. Thus, a better title might be "The Riddles of the Compass" or "The Mysteries of the Compass."

2. The author includes a diagram that has the caption "How the magnetic compass works." Actually, what is depicted is the Earth's magnetic lines of force. The author explains that the Earth's magnetic poles have a different location than its geographical poles. Yet, the diagram shows the magnetic lines of force running from the Earth's geographic North Pole to its geographic South Pole. Why?

3. There is a chapter on Marco Polo and his navigational journeys. The author states that Polo said nothing about the compass in his writings. Thus, I could not understand why this chapter was included.

4. The author tells us that he did not list all his footnote sources. In a work of this nature, I felt he should of (even though there was a "large number of sources used and...these materials are not accessible to most readers").

In conclusion, this is a good, solid, concise story about the compass. Once you read this book, you will agree with the author when he says that the compass is "the invention that changed the world."

(first published 2001; preface; 12 chapters; main narrative 160 pages; illustrated; references; acknowledgements; index)

+++++

Average customer rating: The Wiz Kid books Alvin is Being Re-Published for 2006!!! My library fees on this one are outrageous OUTSTANDING! The Marvelous Inventions of Arnold Fernald

The Marvelous Inventions of Alvin Fernald Clifford B. Hicks Manufacturer: Purple House Press ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Action & Adventure | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books General | Classics by Age | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books Mysteries, Espionage, & Detectives | Science Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery & Horror | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books Similar Items: Alvin's Secret Code (Secret Panel Books) The Mad Scientists' Club (Mad Scientist Club) The Big Chunk of Ice: The Last Known Adventure of the Mad Scientists' Club (Mad Scientist Club) The Big Kerplop!: The Original Adventure of the Mad Scientists' Club (Mad Scientist Club) Alvin Fernald, Foreign Trader (Alvin Fernald Mysteries) ASIN: 193090021X

Book Description

Since 1960, children have been enthralled by the adventures of Alvin Fernald. Whenever Alvin's Magnificent Brain kicks into action, it's time to watch out! For Alvin is always thinking up another marvelous invention. Maybe it's the Foolproof Burglar Alarm for his bedroom door, or a Sure Shot Paper Slinger for delivering newspapers from his bike. But there's no doubt about it, as his sister the Pest says, "Alvin is a genius!"

With his best friend Wilfred Shoemaker (Shoie for short) and the Pest, who always tags along, there is never a dull moment as Alvin unfolds the most brilliant plan of his career to solve the mystery surrounding the old Huntley place.

New cover by Charles Geer.

Customer Reviews:

The Wiz Kid books.......2007-03-10

The Alvin Fernald books were in fact made into movies for the Wonderful World Of Disney. They are Alvin the Magnificent, The Wiz Kid and The Mystery of Riverton, The Wiz Kid and the Carnival Caper. I just wanted to let any fans know. The bad news is that none of them have been released on video or DVD. But how knows, maybe Disney will get smart and release them.

Alvin is Being Re-Published for 2006!!!.......2006-01-04

The Magnificent Inventions of Alvin Fernald is coming back in print in 2006! For those who have enjoyed this book and its companion books over the decades, Bethlehem Press is bringing it back! You can find out the publishing dates, etc., at www.bethlehembooks.com and it will be available here through Amazon as well. There is a such an enduring universality of the themes of the Alvin books, that this series will just go on forever...and deservedly so.

My library fees on this one are outrageous.......2004-07-24

This is the one that started it all for me. The most exciting book about a smart kid you will ever find. It's been overdue ...for a long time.

OUTSTANDING!.......2001-11-02

This is the first title in an outstanding series of Alvin books by Clifford Hicks. Sadly, they all seem to be out of print.
The Alvin books were my favorites as a kid. I checked them out from the library repeatedly and devoured them. As a 10 year old, I wanted to hang out with Alvin and Shoey. The books are full of laughs, adventure, and great storytelling. They take us back to small town America, before kids had to deal with grownup problems.
If you have a kid, buy this book for him. Buy it used, buy it on Ebay, buy it at a used bookstore! The other titles (all very good) in the series are ALVIN'S SECRET CODE, ALVIN'S SWAP SHOP, ALVIN FERNALD FOREIGN TRADER, ALVIN FERNALD MAYOR FOR A DAY, and ALVIN FERNALD SUPERWEASEL. All are great. Another great series if you like the Alvin books is the Mad Scientists Club books by Bertrand Brinley. Check them out.

The Marvelous Inventions of Arnold Fernald.......2000-12-02

I am 45 years old... my 44 year old brother came over and talked about how this book changed his life. He read it as a kid and became an inventor of sorts himself... a perpetual tinkerer. He wasn't sure of the name and I found it for him and ordered him a copy as well as my 9 year old son. It took some insistance to get by boy, Nick, to read it. He couldn't put it down and when my brother came over to visit he quized Nick on select parts of the book. They both smiled and laughed. Having read it myself I can tell you it is a most wonderful book. Buy it! Your kid will remember it always.

Average customer rating: Interesting Ideas For Tesla & Alternative Science Fans Explores the mysteries of early UFO sightings TESLA AND THE NAZIS A MUST HAVE! INFORMATION YOU WON'T GET FROM THE NEWSPAPERS!

Nikola Tesla Journey To Mars: Are We Already There? Sean Casteel Manufacturer: Inner Light - Global Communications ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Conspiracy Theories | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books General | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books Mysticism | New Age | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books Controversial Knowledge | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books UFOs | Occult | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books UFOs | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books General & Reference | Technology | Science | Subjects | Books General | Reference | Subjects | Books Look Inside Reference Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Look Inside Religion & Spirituality Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books Similar Items: Occult Ether Physics: Tesla's Hidden Space Propulsion System and the Conspiracy to Conceal It (2nd Revised Edition) Tesla: Man Out of Time Radio Tesla The Lost Journals of Nikola Tesla : Haarp - Chemtrails and Secret of Alternative 4 Wizard: The Life and Times of Nikola Tesla : Biography of a Genius (Citadel Press Book) ASIN: 1892062313

Book Description

DESTINED TO BE ONE OF THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL BOOK OF THE YEAR. . . SEE AUTHENTIC PHOTOS OF MARTIAN AND LUNAR BASES!!!

Published for the first time are authentic photographs of Martian and Lunar bases occupied NOT by aliens, but by renegade scientists who plan to use these facilities for survival purposes should a worldwide catastrophe transpire in the near future.

Jules Verne -- and other early science fiction pioneers -- wrote what were considered to be far-fetched stories about the exploration of the moon and the planet Mars. They based their classic literary work, not just on their own fertile imaginations, but on "wild rumors" circulating that such voyages had already been made, accomplished by a group of scientists -- all members of the same secret society. They had tapped into an unknown power source, using it to facilitate the birth of flight, years before the Wright Brothers.

TESTIMONY OF THOSE WHO WITNESSED STRANGE EVENTS IN THE SKY MORE THAN l00 YEARS AGO. . .

Who, indeed, was behind the sightings of glowing cigar shaped objects seen throughout North America as long ago as l897? Witnessed long before the advent of the modern-day UFO phenomena, these objects were definitely intelligently controlled -- but by whom?

Contacted by a "secret" fraternal order, Tesla assisted in the development in a craft that worked on the principle of "anti gravity." Years later, his principles of flight were literally stolen out form under him and used by the likes of Hitler and the New World Order. Here is evidence that an unknown Tesla-like technology allowed the Nazis to establish colonies on the moon as far back as the l940s; and that scientists working for a global "secret government" are traveling back and forth between the earth and other planets in his solar system ON A REGULAR BASIS. One such individual can be found interviewed in the pages of this book.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting Ideas For Tesla & Alternative Science Fans.......2003-08-11

This book covers the topics of Tesla's inventions, free energy, suppressed science, The Philadelphia Experiment/Montauk stories, "Alternative 3," Nazi UFO theories, & other avant-garde topics. Pretty interesting stuff! It's hard to draw many conclusions based on the material in this book, although it's evident that things are going on that are very well hidden from the public. The facts seem to suggest that the official space program of NASA is partially a screen to divert people from recognizing that far more advanced technologies and explorations have been used by shadowy elite groups within governemnts. This is an intriguing book, although I would have liked to have seen more depth in the information presented, as this book is pretty thin considering the scope of the topics it examines.

Explores the mysteries of early UFO sightings.......2002-12-08

I am always looking for new and interesting books on Nikola Tesla. When I first saw this book advertised, I knew I had to have it. I couldn't wait to read it and when it arrived, I was not disappointed! This is a very well written book with some excellent interviews with some of the top investigators in the field today. It really makes you think to consider that early UFO sightings, especially in the 19th century, were manmade aircraft built by a secret "club" of scientists and engineers.

My favorite parts were the chapters that dealt with the theory that this secret group bravely attempted SPACEFLIGHT as early as 1903 with the help of Nikola Tesla. You have to read it for yourself. Another excellent book from the same publisher who brought us THE LOST JOURNALS OF NIKOLA - a book that I also highly recommend you have in your collection.