Customer Reviews
Takes the New out of New World - By: Daniel Jolley, 28 Nov 2002 
The Lost Realms is one of the most speculative & interesting booksin Sitchin's Earth Chronicles series. The ruins & structures of Egypt & the Near East have been wondered at & studied for centuries, & there is a veritable wealth of information from Near Eastern papyri, stelae, monuments, & similar artifacts. The ruins of Mesoamerica have largely been rediscovered onlyin the past couple of hundred years; indeed, unknown wonders surely remain hidden by South America's dense jungles. The immensely important records & artifacts of New World societies such as the Mayan, Inca, & Aztec civilizations were for the most part lost & destroyed at the hands of greedy Spanish conquistadors, & further site degradation has resulted from the pilfering of ancient stones by recent natives of the area for usein the construction of their own buildings. Thus, the earliest history of the lower Americas remains frustratingly impossible to understand. We are left with giant edifices with significant similarities to Near Eastern constructionsin size, orientation, & purpose, many of them seemingly containing very advanced structures built for unknown purposes. Even the age of the artifacts is hotly debated, with many scientists refusing to believe scientific findings point back to as early as 2000 B.C.
Sitchin's arguments fit very nicely with the history of Sumeria, Egypt, & the Near East that he laid outin his earlier books. Basically, he argues that the Americas were exploited by the gods for the production of gold & other metals such as tin, which the Andean mountainsin particular holdin abundance. Metals were refined here & shipped back to the Near Eastern lands long before Columbus ever sailed the ocean blue. Sitchin believes that the Olmecs, of which very little is known besides what has been gleaned from the artifacts they left behind, particularlyin the form of large stone blocks representing men of obvious African descent, did indeed come from Africa very early on--in fact, it was the Egyptian god Thoth who brought his followers here when he was displaced by Marduk. While the Olmecs mysteriously disappeared, other societies were formed by white gods & giants from across the sea. The traditions of the diverse Indian groups all shared a common mythology, including the story of a Great Flood; they also possessed amazing arts, technologies, & sciences (particularly astronomy) very similar to those of Sumeria & Egypt. The inadequacy of artifactsin the Americas necessarily hinder any scientist studying their earliest histories, but Sitchin constructs a remarkably compelling timelinein which the story of Mesoamerica fits very neatly into the history he has gleaned of the Annunaki & their relationships with mankindin its earliest days.
Even if Sitchin were dead wrong on everything he suggests, this book would still be worth reading just for the information about the amazing ancient cities & monuments builtin the lower Americas that are only now emerging from their jungle tombs. The Olmecs, Toltecs, Mayans, Incas, & Aztecs are more mysterious than the Near Eastern cultures, & the suggestion that men traveled from the Old World & Africa centuries before Columbus is as compelling as it is fascinating. The illustrationsin this book are sometimes rather grainy & hard to examine closely, but the images they convey, such as that of the giant stone heads left by the Olmecs, do much to enhance Sitchin's theories. This is thought-provoking, educational, stimulating material.
Entertaining but unconvincing - By: Pieter, 23 Nov 2002 I love all Sitchin's books but I am very cautious about his theories, since he's made very unscientific claims about languages before & he is suspiciously quiet about the later history of his postulated "12th" planet Nibiru that supposedly caused the end of the last ice age & is supposed to come close to the earth every 3600 years. According to his chronology, Nibiru should have passed the earthin 100BC, but there is no historical record of any such thing, nor is there evidence of geological upheavals at that time. The infoin this book is not all original either, I have seen it beforein the work of Robert Bauval, Erich von Daniken & many others. But still an entertaining read.
Outstanding and intelligent offering. - By: , 30 Sep 1997 Few persons are ready to read what this man has researched. His conclusions require an open & somewhat disciplined mind devoid of pre-conceived or conditioned response to anything considered critical to fundimental teachings. He touches what we all crave to understand! Where did we come from & what makes us the way we are. If one chooses not to think, don't read him. Otherwise, feel the thrill of a fresh wind blowing through clogged passages of the mind. I sincerely appreciate his efforts. Clifton H. Bush
