Lost Discoveries :
The Ancient Roots of Modern Science--from the Babylonians to the Maya
by Dick Teresi is a book that probably shouldn't have been written.
I just don't have a lot of good things to say about it. Based on the
premise I had high expectations that the book would investigate the
technologies of ancient civilizations for things that we, today,
don't understand or can't duplicate. I thought I'd get an
examination into the pyramids, Mayan building techniques, and perhaps
Pacific Island navigation methods. What I got instead was a lot of
unsubstantiated speculation and loosely strung hypothesis. Teresi
also filled his book with indigenous mythology cribbed right from
Joseph Campbell's mythology books. Unfortunately I read Campbell's
library and it's much more interesting in the unabridged version.
The worst thing I can say about a nonfiction book is that I didn't learn anything new from it. That's the truth of this volume.
- CV Rick, May 2008
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