Uriel's Machine: Uncovering the Secrets of Stonehenge, Noah's Flood, and the Dawn of Civilization

I didn't quite know what to expect to find when I started to read this book. It is a considerable read,consisting of 466 pages. I thought I might be tempted to skip over pages at times;but it held my interest like a vise,and I read every page. I went to High School in the early 50's and we were taught that Civilization began about 3,000 or 4,000 years ago with the Sumarians. The fact that the Bible talks about the Great Flood in Noah's time, was pretty much taken a religious fable . Since that time, much research and study is showing that there was much more in the way of civilized societies existing in Prehistoric times than generally taught or believed. The authors have condensed all this study and evidence into a book that is extremely readible and enlightning . It gives the best explanations possible of where the knowledge came from that produced those magnificient ruins we find as evidence of ancient civilizations. The book is a little hard to "get into" in the beginning;but the more you read,the harder it is to put down. Never mind what the "traditional teaching" is,the facts derived from the evidence left behind,is where the truth of the past and beginnings will be found. There is a lot more to be learned from structures such as Stonehenge,Newgrange,Maes Howe,Skar Brae,Bryn Celli Ddu,Knowth,Hill of Tara,the Dead Sea Scrolls,,Rosslyn Chapel,and the Knights of Templar than one ever imagined. We have come to believe that human developmnt is much older than has been generally taught or accepted. A fascinating read and my interest has been kindled to read more from this author and a number of other references quoted. The book comes with an excellent index and an excellent historical Time Line of civilization. The book does an excellent job of showing the realtionships of Judaiasm, Druidism,Celtic Christianity,Knights of Templar,Freemasons,Science,The Bible;and yes Virginia ,Noah's Flood was real--with worldwide consequences!!!

It is so rare that an author (in this case two of them) can deal with ancient history in such a scientific way. Anyone with a good background in math and science can check out their argument. And, my God, it holds water alright! Wonderful stuff but I guess some readers just won't be able to follow it and that's their loss. One book that bright people should read carefully. Not for everyone though.

If you saw this book (particularly the dust jacket) on your bookseller's shelf, your original opinion might be that it is another sensationalistic work of new-age archaeology. The authors have taken certain traditions learned through their association with Freemasonry and attempted to discover any historical or scientific basis. Paleontologists will claim that the authors are practicing "voodoo science", (as though the paleontologists have never been wrong.) But the authors give you a great read, and they have certainly packed their book with enough information for you to question most of what you grew up believing about pre-history. Aware of that and still a little skeptical, my next book was "Rain of Iron and Ice" by John S. Lewis, a seriously qualified astronomer (Codirector, NASA, U. of Arizona Space Engineering Research Center), which convinced me that the hypotheses of Knight and Lomas were not only interesting and exciting, but highly plausible. I'm going to read Uriel's Machine again to see if there's anything that I missed the first time.