★★★★★ 5
Fascinating, enlightening, troubling
Format: Paperback
55 pages into the book: So far the author (Schoch) has done a very good job of conveying background information on the statues of Easter Island (along with their mysterious Rongorongo script), the dating of the Great Sphinx (in Egypt) to a time millennia before the usually given orthodox figure of 2650 B.C.E., and on the significance of the findings at Gobekli Tepe, which have been dated to 10,000 B.C.E to about 8,000 B.C.E. But the author's style of including anecdotes from his personal and professional life, which do have bearing on the subject matter, provides for a more enriching reading experience. He points out the humanity of scientists, which we and they often need to keep in mind when considering their pronouncements.
And while the book is very well written, and the author is extremely competent in his field (Geology), one or two technical misstatements may be found in these pages. What caught my attention was the statement that by facing due East, the Great Sphinx was also facing the Vernal Equinox. The sentence was unqualified, giving readers the impression that the Vernal Equinox is always, at all times, due East. It is not. Rather, the V.E. (the point on the Ecliptic where the Sun's yearly progress transitions from the southern celestial hemisphere, to the northern) rises and sets every day, just like every other point on the celestial equator, as seen from Earth.
But this is a fairly minor annoyance which does not diminish the overall thesis in the least. And it is a pleasure to read from a scientist who dares to follow the evidence where it leads, instead of where orthodoxy, the status quo, and politicians would rather it go. In Forgotten Civilization, Schoch is tying together a number of disparate subjects which have fascinated me for the past forty years - ancient civilization and technology, astronomical catastrophies, the environmental history of the earth and its impact on the evolution of human beings.
Much of my fascination with ancient enigmas began with Chariots of the Gods by Erich von Daniken, but Schoch is approaching the same set of mysteries armed with the tools of legitimate science, and not reaching for outlandish theories when the evidence does not demand he do so. In writing as a traditionally trained scientist, following the path of reason and insight, I feel greater confidence that the material presented is trustworthy, and will not be a waste of time or effort as I continue reading this excellent volume.
Addendum (2013/04/12) - Finished reading the book, and am left both excited, energized and very concerned.
The main thesis of the book is that one or more major solar outbursts (Coronal Mass Ejection [CME] and/or Solar Proton Events [SPE]) impacted the Earth about 12,000 years ago (c. 9700 BCE) effectively bringing the last true ice age - the Younger Dryas - to an end. As fascinating, and explanatory as this assertion is, the author suggests that we are entering a time of similar solar behavior, implying that we, too, may be the recipients of our own solar outburst, resulting in the end of civilization as we know it.
Schoch (the author) backs up his hypothesis with a fair amount of evidence provided along somewhat tenuous lines of evidence, which added together build a fairly strong case. The most direct evidence are the isotope levels of Beryllium-10 contained in the Greenland ice core samples dating back to that time, which suggest a sudden influx of cosmic rays associated with a major solar event.
Other evidence cited includes the vitrified ("melted into glass") rocks and castles found around the world. And while I'm not used to thinking of castles dating back to the last ice age, it is often suggested by archeologists that succeeding ancient cultures often reused existing sites left behind by preceding cultures. However, there are ancient Indian / Sanskrit accounts of flying houses armed with apparently nuclear missiles, which seemed to have occurred thousands of years before the current thread of civilization begins.
Additionally, Schoch has a tendency to see solar outburst evidence in some very ambiguous situations. Intrigued by the Rongorongo script on Easter Island, the good Doctor's wife suggested the character forms were similar to petroglyphs shown in the video "Symbols of an Alien Sky". To be fair, one classic figure, known as the Squatter Man, does bear an astonishing similarity to one of the Z-Pinch instabilities described by plasma physicist, Anthony L. Peratt. Indeed Peratt himself had noticed that many petroglyphs found around the world looked very much like what one might see if a huge plasma discharge from the Sun impacted our atmosphere.
The upshot of all of this is that Schoch succeeds in proving his case. And he does so with a brilliant display of disparate data from an array of scientific fields and endeavors. The ambiguities which caused me some doubts seem to be the way that science actually advances. It seems that intuition and inspiration are the first step in recognizing a potential truth, however much dismissed by the orthodox scientific community. In one of five excellent appendix articles, Schoch explains the reality of orthodoxy and politics in the scientific establishment, and how inertia, intransigence, and censorship serve vested personal interests at the expense of truth and progress.
Given the wealth of ideas and information presented, and the nearly overabundant food for thought contained in this modest volume, it seems impossible to do full justice to Schoch's work, without a review nearly as long as the book itself. It is far easier to simply read for one's self, to get the fullest sense of what may be the ultimate history lesson.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2013
