The Lost Civilization Enigma: A New Inquiry Into the Existence of Ancient Cities, Cultures, and Peoples Who Pre-Date Recorded History

This book is like the parson's egg, 'good in parts'! It covers a vast amount of information, backed up by a long list of references. Its strengths are in its coverage; its weaknesses are in its digression into gossipy, back-bitng squabbles among archaeologists and scientists, and its occasional but lengthy accounts of very questionable material, and even hoaxes. As a reliable guide to the evidence for early pre-historic civilisations, it falls down for these reasons. If the author had cut out the questionable stuff such as the accounts of archaeological squabbles such as those around Glozel in France and around the activites of Hawass in Egypt, the Bimini crystal, Mu, the Nazi expedition ot Tibet, Cremos stuff, and so on, the book would be much improved. I was fascinated by the accounts of Gobekli Tepe, Catal Hayak, Cayonu and Neveli Core in Turkey,of Calanish in the Hebrides, the Tassili paintings and carvings in the western Sahara, the copper mining of 3,000 BCE in Michigan, Doggerland in the North Sea, the pyramids of Caral in Peru and so on. There is so much 'good stuff' but this is spoilt by being immersed in things like the carved stones of the 'Jurassic Library in Peru, the Akakor story.This book contains an immense amount of useful and supportable information and the author's tendency to bury it in too much irrelevant detail and accounts of squabbles and back-biting amongst some academics seriously detract from it. I would have liked to review it before publication!

I, as with many others I will presume, was introduced to Philip Coppens through the show Ancient Aliens. While a fan of the show, many theories thrown about appear to me too unfounded and fantastic. However, one man whose ideas always seemed a bit more focused and well-developed were Coppens. As a result, when looking for books on the topics the show brought to life, I ended upon first his "The Ancient Alien Question," and followed with this text.What I love most about this text is two things: 1. The incredible amounts of research brought up and defended throughout. 2. The way Coppens was able to expand upon, defy and generate new theories without once reverting to the notion that ancient astronauts developed our civilization (This is not to say I entirely disagree with this notion, but it led to a much more scientific reading of this text). Not only does Coppens take the time to develop and defend the many ideas expressed in this text, but he also takes the time to break down theories that he does not agree with. Some of these are major scientific concepts (which, of course, the "pseudoscience" fields that Coppens and many others live within tend to disagree with) but others are concepts by some of his own peers in the field. This, to me, reveals his determination to finding and defending the ideas he feels are closest to the truth, rather than blindly following others for fear of making enemies.The best thing Coppens does in this text is focus so much of his theories around anomalies and gaps within Academia. For example, when exploring Vikings, he points out how modern historians have yet to explain why it is that Vikings set sail in the way they did, plundered the way they did, and then peacefully overtook their final destination (Sens, in France) without any death involved. Also, by exploring anomalies, he opens the door to not only his own theories, which he forms and defends as best he can, but also points out that steps need be taken by the other fields of Academia, be it historians, Egyptologists, geologists, scientists, etc. When there are clear aspects of this world that are simply unexplained, or whose "accepted" notions are wrought with holes, it becomes time for a new theories to be explored. Coppens points this out, but doesn't just stop there, as some other authors in his field tend to do.As aforementioned, this is the second text I read by Coppens, and I absolutely loved them both. He is a uniquely talented researcher and writer who passed way before his time. I highly recommend this book not just for anyone interested in history and for fans of Thomas Kuhn's "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions."

I enjoy reading stuff like this because, like Mr. Coppens, I believe that a lot of history has been swept under the rug, particularly anything that does not conform to orthodox science. However, in presenting his case Mr. Coppens too often makes the same mistake as those scientists by insisting that the evidence automatically proves the conclusions. This is not necessarily the case. For example, the "Bosnian pyramids" have the appearance of something man-made and deserve more study rather than automatically being dismissed as natural phenomenon. Mr. Coppens, however, comes dangerously close to taking the giant leap that these "pyramids" indicate the one-time presence of a global pyramid building society. These things indicate something. We don't yet know what because they haven't been fully studied, so making any conclusion in any direction is premature. From that perspective I wish Mr. Coppens had remained a bit more objective in what would otherwise have been a five-star book.

Interesting

Each section somewhat drawn out, slightly repetative

Excellent

Coppens presents compelling evidence that human civilization is thousands of years older than we think.Right off the bat, I took off a full star for poor editing. I can overlook a few errors because even professional editors can miss a typo here and there, but in this case it really is atrocious. Sometimes it's not just spelling, but word choice that is wrong (the author refers to the "tenants" of a religion - oy!).Once you get past the poor editing, however, the content is intriguing. Was there a uniform pan-European megalithic culture? Was it the source of the Atlantis story, or was it a copy of the original Atlantis? Did the even older legendary civilization of Lemuria exist? Are the largest and oldest pyramids in the world lying unexcavated in Bosnia? Coppens tackles all of these questions and more and, in a move quite unusual for most authors of alternative history, does not answer every question in the affirmative. He weighs both sides of the evidence, calls a fake a fake, and in some instances admits there is no firm answer. That doesn't mean all (or even any) of his conclusions are correct, but it does increase my respect for him as a methodical, critical thinker.An excellent introduction to historical mysteries.

I found this to be am absolutely spellbinding book. I have always been intrigued by ancient civilizations; and even more so by "lost" ones. Here, the author describes the work of a great many researchers who have made what appear to be major archaeological discoveries all over the world that could push back the accepted birth of human civilization by possibly millennia. However, these researchers seem to be considered more like misguided rebels in the eyes of mainstream scholars in this field. Consequently, the author's overall message is clear: mainstream science should at least give evidence-based consideration of the archaeological discoveries that are made that don't seem to fall into the currently accepted paradigm.The author writes in a prose that is very clear, lively, accessible and immensely captivating. I found the book almost impossible to put down; the pages were just flying by. I was also very impressed by the author's amazing breadth and depth of knowledge; the great many details that he presents are mind-boggling to me.This book can be enjoyed by any interested reader. It should appeal especially to those with a love of ancient history and pre-history. Hopefully, the author's plea for reasoned open-mindedness will be heard and acted upon in some constructive way by both revisionists and traditionalists in this fascinating field; this may bring us all closer to the Truth.