Lost Cities of Ancient Lemuria and the Pacific

I first read "Lost Cities of Ancient Lemuria and the Pacific" in Spring 1994 while a graduate student at Univ. of California at Riverside. I found the book while just aimlessly roaming through the univ's library in their sort of "alternate history" section (sorry; don't know where that is on the Dewey decimal system), where I found a pretty good collection of those kinds of books, going back as far as Churchward and Donnelly .... Childress's book is, as others on here have written, a travelogue, in which he expounds on possible "lost civilizations" ranging from the Indian Ocean as far west as Madagascar all the way eastward to almost the west coast of North America. He brings in all kinds of references -- "academically credible" or not -- from Helena Blavatsky through Nazis and then all the way back to the Hebrew Exodus. But that is just in the "controversial" parts of the book. Otherwise, he really does deliver a travelogue replete with his adventures of combing tiny Pacific islands and even camping out (I'm doing this one from memory) in a beach cave beneath the Easter Island statues. If you learn nothing else from this book, you might learn the tragic history of Easter Island and it's people. Most people probably don't know that there are coral-stone megaliths on tiny Pacific islands and atolls; formations reminiscent of Stonehenge or Baalbek or some South American edifices, on islands not much larger than the formations themselves. Childress makes you wonder how that much labor could be marshalled for that much effort in what has been a sea-desert for as long as anyone knows. The best thing Childress does with the empirical parts of the book is to raise the question of whether some unknown civilization --not necessarily originating in the Pacific-- could have traveled there and built megalithic structures for whatever their purposes might have been.. He gives attention to other areas also not usually included in the "lost civilizations" roll call, most particularly for me Australia. Some will say "Childress is no archaeologist!" or might say his "literature review" is a rehash of old and dubious data. Yeah, I know he isn't, and I can spot cruddy data as quick as or quicker than anyone. He's throwing information at us in shotgun fashion, and it's up to the reader to decide what you'll accept or not. That's fine. I don't think Childress was pretending to "serious scholarship" with this one. Hey, the book is fun! ------- even for a grad student. Live a little!! --which might be David Hatcher Childress's motto.

We are grateful this book was handed to our New Zealand Immigration Services as a gift 7 years ago. Its not the sort of title you go out and shop for yourself if you have never read anything like this before. We couldnt put this book down, our friends try to steal it. Its the kind of book you pick up over and over, alot like a favourite internet page. David, who is American and at the time when he wrote this, a very young man, deserves alot of credit for his gusto on travel blogging, research and investigation skills. His writing and personality draws you into his adventure with humour and a new sense of wonder and appreciation if you are new to ancient geographical history, with interesting maps and details on the secrets of Lemuria and Pacific. David provided in simple, humourous and evokingly well constructed form, a bridge of knowledge to things we never knew about our beautiful continent as well as Asia and India. If : you are keen on getting an insight to life or vacations in the Southern Hemisphere, are searching for unique travel destinations or ideas, are intrigued by archaeology, this book is a perfect start. If : you live in the Pacific Rim, are brand new to subjects regarding the esoteric origins of mans civilisation in your area, talk to people from all walks of life in your work, or even possess a curiosity for things outside or even inside the box. We recommend this book and all his other titles with 50 stars for David.

David Hatcher Childress's book looks at the Lemuria story, the lost continent of the Pacific or maybe Indian ocean, with great imagination and intellectual curiosity. For the first time since the 1930s he approached the subject in detail, and he is not afraid to take on many aspects of the story, however quirky, with an open mind. Moreover, I liked the physical descriptions of the places he visited, and the book can be read as an offbeat travelogue as well as alternative archaeology. Recommended reading for lost continent buffs!

With few books on Lemuria out there, this one gives probably the best run-down on the idea of a lost continent in the Pacific. Atlantis is famous in the Atlantic, but few know of the evidence, via legends, geological and archeological, of a lost civilization in the Pacific. Geologists tell us that ocean levels were 300 feet lower 10,000 years ago--and Childress tells us that this would make mini-continents of some areas of the Pacific. Does civilization stretch back 10,000 or 20,000 years? If so, than Lemuria may have existed!