Crazy, Weird, Interesting book!

John Lee is a master of narration. I'd listen to the man read the phone book.. At times during this recording, I almost felt like I was. The worst thing about this book is that it often sounds like John's reading a weird college textbook. It does lay out a series of interesting, even fascinating pieces of information. Fans of history, religion and philosophy will find a host of interesting correlations that they're sure to know the background of better than I did. Especially if they have knowledge of Secret Societies. Still, though, I have an overall positive feeling about this book and have, in fact, recommended it to others.

20 people found this helpful

Unoriginal collection of new age conspiracy theory

It’s a detailed list of esoteric philosophy filled with the typical list of DaVinci code-esque conspiracy theories. Same old same old new age nonsense with nothing original to say. And the book states disproven quack theories again and again has if they were proven facts. The book acts as if the made up duval stones prove Atlantis and actually said that Indian independence was the the most peaceful in history forgetting to mention the millions who died in the partition.

13 people found this helpful

A book you will leave better than when you started

a wonderfully written, thorough account of some of societies biggest secrets and twists. Makes perfect sense to the esoteric mind, and is very nicely narrated.

9 people found this helpful

A unique perspective

Any additional comments?

As as an author and student of esoteric history myself, I wasn't really expecting to learn anything new from this book, but I was happily surprised. What Mark Booth accomplished so deftly was the the tying together of the long and divergent aspects of the secret history of the world into a single, coherent story about the evolution of consciousness. And his observations about the importance of certain historical figures were sometimes quite stunning. I'm a non-believer, and while I've always thought of Jesus as a charismatic man, great teacher, and someone crucial to the history of civilization, Booth's assertion that he was pivotal in the evolution of human psychology -- being the first person to espouse the virtue of an individual loving one's fellow man -- hit me like a brick. Likewise, I've always been peeved at Freud for his male-centric theories, but Mark Booth points out that Freud introduced the world to the notion of the subconscious. Suddenly these two figures (as well as several others) assumed their rightful positions in the evolution of human thought. This book is jam-packed with facts and is sometimes a bit dense, but it's never dull. I suggest if you start feeling bogged down, skip ahead a little. You'll surely find yourself immersed in something fascinating in the next chapter. The reader, John Lee, has a very cultured British accent. I liked it very much.

85 people found this helpful

Interesting, Thought Provoking

This was a really cool listen. Aside from the great narration, it was really interesting to see so many esoteric connections made across history. However, it wasn’t so esoteric that it was not relatable. This genre/type of book was new for me, and I really enjoyed it!

7 people found this helpful

Extremely thorough and transparent

Not for the faint of imagination, but thoroughly covers the esoteric side of history. Will look for more works by the author.

6 people found this helpful

Pretty little secrets

The audiobook starts off with a highly unusual story of creation, providing some unconventional versions of the story of creation as presented in the Bible. It goes on to integrate classical mythology, spirituality and eventually, a not-so-secret "secret society" testimony on how the world got to where it is.

It doesn't shy away from attacking conventional norms about human life and nature, which could upset plenty of people. All in all, it is worth listening to if you want to know what some people secretly believe. Mileage may vary.

42 people found this helpful

I knew it!

Imagination is the key... not just interesting but aligned with all religious bits and pieces we know about from every corner of the world..

3 people found this helpful

History told as a struggle between Idealism & Materialism

Did mind come before matter or matter before mind? The author suggests a secret history running through esoteric traditions and secret societies which has influenced some of the worlds greatest thinkers. These thinkers, he asserts, have adopted the philosophy of Idealism, famously set forth by Plato, in which the world is mental or comprised of consciousness.

The work is a heroic attempt to synthesize thousands of years of permutations of such a philosophy up to the present day and to do so in such a way that is easily digestible to a modern reader. This attempt requires the author at moments to paint with a broad strokes pointing readers in directions for their own, later research.

An interesting read for those interested in examining modern materialism, esoteric Christianity, kabbalistic thought, truths hidden in plain sight in our myths & architecture and how materialism has influenced the origins aims of secret societies.

23 people found this helpful

Simply a Mess.

I expected at the very least, a chronological arrangement of interesting but strange ideas. This book presented lots of strange ideas in a bizarre collection of unrelated events, references and proclaimations. Many of the ideas were interesting, but came in a messy torrent that jumped through the centuries and millenia sometimes in one sentence. There were no explanations and very few examples to support his ideas, just a lot of random fragments, illogicaly clumped together.

35 people found this helpful