Classic in Historical Mysteries

I love all the Graham Hancock titles I've read/listened to so far, and having Graham narrate it is icing on the cake. He has a beautiful British accent and is a very good reader. First of all, to be clear for the skeptics, when Graham Hancock says "lost civilization," he usually means something more akin to a lost culture of advanced knowledge, which at one time or another informed many "lost civilizationS" such as the Egyptians and the Maya; he doesn't believe those two cultures directly influenced each other, just that they both inherited older traditions of myth and astronomy which had been spread around the world before written history began. This is Graham's hypotheses for why many cultures attribute their knowledge of writing, agriculture, and time keeping to a previous race of "gods" - they were probably referring to ancestors who had learned and passed on their great skills.
I'm glad I read "Magicians of the Gods" first, the sort of sequel to this one, because in the 20 years between 'Fingerprints' and its sequel, he's become a better writer. 'Fingerprints' has lengthy descriptions of travel episodes, which sometimes add character to the story (such as when he [illegally] climbed the Great Pyramid), but sometimes make the narrative slow to a crawl. 'Magicians' has the benefit of updated research on the possible events of the end of the last ice age, and older structures around the world which hadn't been discovered in 1995.
All that said, Fingerprints put forth many ideas and hypotheses which still haven't been debunked or explained, and which I never hear from mainstream history books. As just one example, Mercator (of map projection fame) published a map in 1538 which shows a continent identical to Antarctica, in exactly the right place. Antarctica wasn't supposed to have been "discovered" until the 1800s, but Mercator's map was probably based on older source maps now lost -- and Mercator wasn't the only one with such a map. Did the original maps come from the great astronomers and navigators of the Ottoman Empire? Were they passed on from the library at Alexandria? What wasn't mentioned in the book was that Mercator himself corresponded frequently with John Dee, the famous court astronomer of Elizabeth I, who took an interest in old Middle Eastern religious books and texts, many of which weren't translated into English. John Dee had the largest library in England and provided Mercator with materials. This could have been the perfect opportunity for Mercator to update his maps with what he saw as the best information available to him. Interesting stuff, and it's why Hancock's books are so popular. He doesn't need to over-dramatize his material, because there is plenty to choose from, and he presents it all in a rational, questioning way.
The classic controversies brought up in Fingerprints, and still hot topics today, are an Ice Age dating of the Sphinx, by Schwaller de Lubicz, John Anthony West and Robert Schoch, and the Orion Correlation theory of the Giza pyramids by Robert Bauval.
This is a great book if you like the types of historical mysteries that have become fodder for conspiracy theories, even though Graham himself isn't an Ancient Alien theorist, and often argues against them. If you want to understand why Graham is so eschewed by older, stodgier, academic circles, start here, but you'll want to move on to what Magicians of the Gods has to offer: extensive data on the Younger Dryas comet impact hypotheses, hidden pyramids in Indonesia, and an astonishing section on the advanced astronomical observations of the Sabians, a star-worshipping cult in Harran, Turkey.

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119 people found this helpful

EVERYTHING is connected, NOTHING is coincidence!

... At least when you're Graham Hancock. This book of his teeters between thought provoking lessons in world history and groan inducing revelations sold as fact. Enjoy with a grain of salt.

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70 people found this helpful

Valuable coverage of ancient earth human history

Graham Hancock did a wonderful job narrating his 1995 book Fingerprint of the Gods. I started this series with book 2, Magicians of the Gods, 2015, and it is interesting to see how much fine tuning Graham Hancock did in the 20 year span between the two related books. And, they are two entirely different books, with Magicians of the Gods focusing on a very significant geological event and its effect on humans and human's knowledge of their own history. Fingerprints of the Gods is an excellent introduction and foundation into the research going beyond the public narrative of mainstream academia and what is taught in public schools. Humanity's history, and earth's history is far more interesting than what is taught.

This book was pretty serious in parts, and I had to divert to a couple of other books in the meantime before returning to complete it. I've mulled over what I have learned in this book, and see how it fit with the two David Wilcock books read in the meantime. There is so much connection between their work - both authors are "big picture" oriented. David Wilcock even refers to Graham Hancock's work within his books too.

The third book of this trilogy will be coming later this year (2016) and I am looking forward to reading (listening) to that.

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67 people found this helpful

Interesting but disappointing

Let me first state that I am somewhat agree with the theme of this book even before reading it.

Regardless, I am disappointed by the book and have since became more skeptical, mainly because of the consistent realization that the author is not a trained scientist by any stretch of imagination. There are clear holes in the logic of his arguments, miss-quoted facts, biased data, and utter disregard of statistical factors in data accuracy.

Most of Mr. Hancock's argument relies on logic equivalent to: "An excellent cook must also be an achieved molecular biologist so to take advantage of the folding of protein molecule structure under the influence of heat".

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55 people found this helpful

Best Book Ever

Finally finished it.. I'm not very good at reading, I don't give myself time to do it but with the audiobook was very easy for me. Loved it. I would recommend to everyone who wants to open his/her mind to a different reality, different history. Understanding it will give you enough arguments to feel you finally understand the world and civilizations.

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39 people found this helpful

Great book with excellent narration!

I loved every moment of this book! If you're interested in ancient civilizations you should listen to this book. Hancock presents fascinating theories supported by sound research and clear conclusions. He also does and excellent narrarion.

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37 people found this helpful

Repetitive

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No I would not. Too many outlandish stories that were manipulated to tie into worldly facts.

Has Fingerprints of the Gods turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

Which character – as performed by Graham Hancock – was your favorite?

None

Was Fingerprints of the Gods worth the listening time?

Too repetitive!

Any additional comments?

I was tired of hearing about the tall, pale, breaded white skinned man who roamed the world in a long robe, spreading peace and harmony. He was supposed to have taught the natives how to build their great temples, map the stars, create art, etc. The tall, pale, breaded white skinned man would appear out of nowhere, possessing great power, and was worshiped and regarded as a god by the natives he encountered. I guess the writer is implying that white skinned people are Extra-Terrestrials, because the tall, pale, breaded white skinned man was not of this world. No basis to the book. If you enjoy outlandish stories that are manipulated to tie into worldly facts, you will enjoy this book.

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24 people found this helpful

Good but verbose

An enthralling book, but Graham ventures too far into speculation. Nonetheless, the consolidation of so many verified scientific facts does well for the mind to conceive of new possibilities for the past and the future. At times the argument devolves into what fits Graham's theory and not what is most likely, or he will take inconclusive data and draw a conclusion based on his "intuition." Still, a worthwhile prequel to Magicians of the Gods.

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23 people found this helpful

Dragged

Very interesting book. Could have been a lot shorter. When he goes into numbers and scale of things the math gets mind boggling

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22 people found this helpful

So hard to follow

I love Ghram Hancock and his ideas, but why did he read this? it's impossibly hard to follow

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21 people found this helpful