This book is a clone of Sitchin's theories. If you like Sitchin; chances are you read this book already. I should give this book 2 or 3 stars because of no originality, but Sitchin's theories are interesting.

I truly enjoyed every paper included in this book. It was wonderful to read the expanded views of others. The writers span many vocations and have so many thoughts that I shared while reading the Earth Chronicles! If you have the series, add this also.

This book of essays presented at the first Sitchin Studies day is a must for those of us that have read the Earth Chronicles. Upon reading the first few pages, I discovered that I was not alone in my love of Sitchin, I was in fact in very good company. I especially appreciated the essay by Neil Freer with his "take no prisoners" logic. While all the essays clear up confusion and answer my questions, his was my favorite. This is not a book of theory, of the perception of myths, or wishful thinking. This book tells it like it is. I think it can stand on it's own to capture the interest of even those unaware of Sitchins work. For those of us who are aware, it validates our thinking and lets us know that we are not alone!

This is a great book to take with you if you are going to vacation in Cancun. It's a quick read and then you can go off to Tulum or see the great pyramid or any of the 80 or so sites and judge for yourself. Even if you only accept the dates of 800 years ago, stand there and tell yourself that people built these cities bare handed without the use of any technology!

If there is a down side to these books (12th Planet et al) it is that the points tend to be made over and over. You can either accept what is said with an open mind or not. Even if the assertions are not true they're fun to read. It often reminds me of episodes of the old Dr. Who program (remember the Cyber Men?)

I have always enjoyed reading these books and then checking out the evidence for myself. The pictoglyphs of the pre-native americans are very interesting as well. Maybe we'll all live to see the answer.....

This book must be read with an open mind. You must allow your mind to travel at the speed of Mr Sitching staggering theories. He does not try to prove anything, but all the clues and evidences he finds, makes you reach really astounding conclusions. I was compelled to ask myrself many times while reading this book:what if it's true? My ancestors come from South America, and more specifically, from the High Andes of Ecuador (Riobamba, the capital of Chimborazo province), so I think I felt a little more impressed than a regular reader. But I am not saying that no one else will find this book just amazing as well as informative.

This was the first of Sitchen's books that I read, and I immediately bought the rest of The Earth Chronicles and read them all. While I do not agree with all of Sitchen's interpretations of the historical information presented, I now know that my North American Euro-centric education about world history is mostly garbage. We are taught in grammer and secondary school that if the white Europeans didn't do something or discover something, it just didn't happen. Well, we are wrong.

I am a practicing attorney in Washington, D.C., and consider myself to be a skeptic. But I am a widely read skeptic. Sitchen's book The Lost Realms has opened new doors for the study of history for me.

Buy the book and read it. You will never think the same about our history again.

Although I must admit that Zecharia Sitchin has lost a lot of credibility in the last few years with his last two books "The Cosmic Code" and that other one about the emissaries of the gods, this book still offers a valid theory about our origins and the forgotten history about mankind. He brings forth evidence that has been dismissed as pure myth by the experts and sheds new light on ancient ageless mysteries. Please note that these other "experts" have never even once debated with Sitchin, except perhaps about those two last books of his. The Wars of Gods and Men truly is his best books, and it will truly show you the origins of Giza, Baalbek, Jerusalem and other mysterious sites.

I've now read ALL of Sitchin's Earth Chronicles series, starting with 12th Planet, and have decided that this is the best of the lot! Especially if you're into the mysteries of the Giza pyramids. Not that I would recommend anyone START with it without reading the others preceeding it in the series as they would be at a great loss for background. To do that would leave one with many doubts on where he is coming from and how he has derived a lot of things assumed in this part. I feel that this one is the high-point of the set, giving readers progressing through the series, something to look forward to if they are already bored with the first books in the series.

As always, Mr Sitchin, supports every step of his postulations with multi-sourced, cross-referenced, generally irrefutable evidence from uncorrupted ancient sources. He clearly states when he is making a personal assumption or conjecture, which is not often. Personally, I find his habit (present in most of his works) of misleading the reader temporarily, by following the traditional reasoning process, only to later refute it and explain the truth via his version, somewhat frustrating.

Time-wise, he begins, in this segment, with the earliest recorded times on earth, right up to practically thru the old testament. You'll find out what the Pyramids were used for, who built them, why they were closed off and even who was imprisioned in them. He even gets into who the biblical Abraham really was.

Again, prepare by reading the first two FIRST, but don't miss this one to tie everything together!

Before i go on to state what i think of this book let me say what i generally think of Sitchin's books: they are so controversial and dogma-shattering that simply on the premise that one should challenge his mind by putting it against the "unthinkable" can one ensure that his mind is what is called an "open mind". This, after all, is the greatest of the Socratean principles.
Dont expect from this review, or from any review, or from anybody, to "push" you to read books like the "Wars of Gods...".Consider it your...obligation to your mind to be allowed to be challenged by books like this. This is my suggestion/proposition.
Now to the book itself: what you get here is first of all a rather brief recapitulation of what Sitchin has already proposed in the first 2 books of the "chronicles". Then, he develops his incredible theory(?) further by stating the following:
Internal rivalries amongst the aliens that had inhabited this planet 100s of millenia ago (these were the "gods") led to brutal and merciless wars for supremacy. Humans -who for the uninitiated, were the result of genetic cloning of these aliens- were eventually also entered into the picture to either fight the wars for their "gods" or in many instances to fight alongside them.
While Sitchin is narrating all this he inevitably comes upon ancient architectural mysteries like the pyramids and he offers a stunning theory for their purpose: the pyramids were space centers equipped with high technology and were vital for the control of space activity above this planet. They became main targets in certain wars between "gods and men" and much of what they contained was either destroyed or looted.
As any serious professional or amateur pyramid researcher knows, the mainstream explanations offered about how they were built and why are laughable. Sitchin's theory on them makes sense if, of course, you come to accept his overall picture. But I'll get to that a bit further on.
This book is concluded in a booming close-out as the author professes that the space facilities in the Sinai peninsula were destroyed in an ancient nuclear war and that there are deep geographical "scars" to attest to this, visible even today!
This is a very strict summary of what you will encounter in the "Wars of gods and men". There are other equally engaging issues that Sitchin tackles here but the aforementioned ones are of higher significance.
It goes without saying that you should actually read Sitchin in the chronological and logical order of his books. Start from the fascinating "Twelfth planet" first before you venture onto this book here.
Sitchin, as those who have read him, know, is no great writer. As an author he is actually tiring, not that he can help it much considering the task he lays to himself, but he obviously lacks the talent for narration. He compensates for that by being a tremendous researcher and a fearless mind. You can be great at researching but if your mind is too dogmatic it wont allow you to arrive at the right conclusions anyway. Sitchin is a totally daring mind though. I'm not sure that any researcher with his knowledge and talent would dare go against what is considered sacred dogma about our species: that we originate from apes (by the way: so how come some apes developed into humans and some didnt? and what keeps the rest of the apes all these millenia from also developing into humans???).
Anyhow, critics will say that it's extremely difficult to verify Sitchin's translations as one would first have to learn Avyssynian and Sumerian. Well, yes, one would, but you see, the problem is that the people who have offered you the theories you learned about the ancient world at school had not learned those languages. Yet you accept their theories without much questioning. How come? Wouldn't it be absolutely essential to be able to read the scripts in the original before you even attempt any theorising?
This is a tremendous idea that this author offers and is in my opinion recquired reading considering the massive bulk of unanswered questions concerning where we come from , what we are, and what our past is. The most serious reason i can provide you with for reading this is out of respect to your very own mind. Keep it open.

The author makes some compelling links between current scientific discoveries and his interpretations of the ancient Sumerian texts. He deftly demonstrates that the writers of those texts had knowledge far more advanced than present-day archeaologists and paleoanthropogists would lead us to believe. Al in all, a very interesting work. The last chapter is highly speculative, but still makes the reader think. A recommended read for all students of 'how did we get here?

Although on a very busy business trip, I felt compelled to finish this book and read it during any free time. I am eager to read his other books now and would be interested in communicating with others who have read his works. His theories make a lot of sense, are well-documented and answer many questions. I liked the scientific way he presented things. It still leaves plenty of room for your own personal religious beliefs.

Genisis Revisited and The 12th Planet are very scholarly works. Anyone who has studied Geology and found anomolies that didn't make sense, will find a key to why Sitchin says what he does, because we all aren't versed in ancient languages like he is, it should lead to other reading for the curious. To follow this line of thinking, do read The Hidden History of Human Ancestory, or author Charles Happgood, and a few others. Excellent for those not stuck in a cave.

This is a very good book on Atlantis. The primary new theories in this book say that the destruction occurred around 1200 b.c., rather than around 10,000 b.c., as in the lore, also that Atlantis was an island, rather than a continent (no two writers will ever agree on anything to do with Atlantis). I am unconvinced on those two counts, but much of the research the author has brought forward is really interesting. The book starts out fine and I couldn't put it down for the first hundred pages. There's a section where Atlantis and the Great Flood is examined through various ancient myths in the world where the book slows down a little, the material is helpful, but can't help but to be repetitive. And then, in the end, in the summary, it goes back to being more involving again. There's even a section in the Bible, in Revelations, that might be a reference to the destruction of Atlantis, under a different name. Also of note, that the fair-haired Guanche civilization once on the Canary Islands claimed to be descendents of Atlantis. It even touches on the recent underwater ruins discovered off the coast of Cuba. This book takes the topic of Atlantis seriously, without bias, and is a good reference book for people that want to look for the facts so far on the subject, not be flooded with a writer's own natural prejudices. Read it, between this book and certain others, somewhere probably lies a more complete story...

The book deals with all sorts of evidence that Atlantis did exsist but not way most people think. Atlantis most likely did not sink but was hit by a comet, which caused a catastrophic explosion, then hit by another comet close to it's waters causing a massive deluge. The amazing part is that this flood is is talked about in the Old Testament, Sumerian, Egyption, Greek, Mayan, Native American, Indian, and many other ancient cultures all over the world without having any contact with one another and having the same story about a great flood that affected the whole planet. All the evidence points to around 1200bc,a comet hit the earth causing the destruction of Atlantis. Even Plato's description point to 1200bc. When Plato talked about the time of Atlantis being 9,000 years before his time, according to the author Plato meant 900 years before his time, which makes that around 1200bc. The book brings to light the many cultures all over the world talk about a cataclysmic event that affected the whole earth, all of it sounding like the description of a comet striking the earth. This book will amaze you with all the facts the author brings to light. Great book!!!

"The Destruction of Atlantis," written by Frank Joseph, is by far the best book I have read concerning the fall of the lost city of Atlantis. The book brings uses evidence from several civilizations worldwide to futher its claims and is terribly compelling. Jospeh starts slow, first recounting the story of Atlantis as he sees it and then elaborating his details with scientific fact. This book is definantly one that is hard to put down; it coherantly brings together everything scientists know about the city and everything they are afraid to pursue in a manner that is understandable to anyone.

The book is centered around the idea that Atlantis sank to the bottom of the Atlantic during the early days of November 1198 B.C.E. after a meteor struck the ocean setting off a huge cataclysmic event. Joseph explains how the world was reaching the height of civilization when a horrific deluge ensued, knocking back humanity and destroying the Bronze Age.

This book is wonderfully written and I encourage any Atlantean fanatic OR skeptic to check it out; it is definantly worth it.

This book is about Sitchin's theories. If you're into Sitchin's books you'll like this book.

This book, and I've read them all, is terrific! The signs are so obvious, modern archeologists would be well advised to read Sitchin before they take themselves too seriously!

Honestly speaking everything about life and it's origin is a theory. Sitchin has written a great book (I have read most of his) and the theory of time and origin of life on earth explained in this book is quiet remarkable and astonishing. If you are one of those who think 'where did we come from', 'was there a begining' or 'is there an end' then I'd recommened this book. However, a lot of maths has been used in this book which requires reading it over again at times. But in short, I love the book, it has made my understanding of origin more broader and I can think in multiple lines!

Once again Zecharia Sitchin uses his broad-based knowledge of history, science and religion to advance our understanding of fundamental concepts. This book is not an "easy read". Sitchin is not afraid to use mathematics to make his point at times, and make it he does. If you crave a deeper understanding of calendrical and astrological principles and their origin, you need to read this book. But, be ready to spend some time getting a grasp of the fundamentals! It is helpful to be thoroughly familiar with the rest of the "Earth Chronicles", there are many subjects that overlap. Highly recommended.

As already stated in one of the reviews - Sitchin's series of books based upon the actual studies behind the ancient astronaut theory are very good, but this one sticks out from the rest as something that is not worth the purchase.

1) The book is not as long as it seems - In the format that it is written, It would only take an average reader a few hours (if not less) to read.

2) Much of the book is based upon preconceived notions, such as the idea that Nibiru needed gold to restore its diminishing atmosphere... which I don't believe can be backed up by any 'mythos'.

3) Much of the book is composed of completely outlandish guesses... such as the idea that the face on Mars (which doesn't even necessarily exist) is that of Alalu's, serving the purpose of a tomb.

4) It is just plain boring.

I suggest that one is much better off reading Sitchin's series of books "The Earth Chronicles" and from that come to your own conclusions as to how everything went down... because there are so many gaps that cannot be filled in the story by any "scholar", and can only be filled by ones imagination.

So, you think Zach Sitchin is a nut, someone who lacks extensive 'Oliver Sack's' type footnotes to back up his references, and hey - anyone talking about life on other planets must be crazy...right?
I went as far as to start reading the 'official' scholarly translations of the Epic of Gilgamesh, The Lament of Ur, and 'The Descent of Ishtar' and frighteningly, nearly to a few key words, Sitchen's translations of the Sumerian tablets ARE accurate!
In a nutshell: over 14 or so tablet translations, the God Enki scribes his story of how Earth began. He landed searching for the Gold that Alalu first described, set up the ERIDU base and the E.DIN (like garden of), and began mining gold for Nibiru. Nibiru, our 10th planet, which crosses every 3600 yrs. Sitchen has created a riviting story, at times quite moving, of how Enki and his fellow 50 gods, set up camp on Earth and created mankind. The biblical parallels are truly amazing considering these were written 4000 yrs ago! You will learn who really built the pyramids, how agriculture really started, why parallel cultures existed across the atlantic ocean in the 4th millenium, why the 'gods' lived thousands of years, how nuclear wars occured in the remote past, how the inner solar system was formed, and why the gods fate is intertwined with mankind's!
Again - the old testament takes directly from the sumerian stories of old - which are what is translated here. Sitchen has a knack for the difficult translation of sumerian cuneiform, and will make the leap required to translate a 'celestial boat of heaven' into 'starship' - which by the way is the actual sumerian term used!
Get ready to relearn everything you have been taught by those who wish to believe our history is boring, and refuse to reinterpret it in light of thousands of sumerian/akkadian tablets unearthed in mesopotamian cities. Hopefully, when this Iraqi war allows, more unearthing of ancient tablets in these sites will shed more light on the subject. IF you are someone who thinks that ancient "mythology" is just that, don't read this. If you think that thousands of tablets found all have similar versions of these stories, over thousands of years, and that real tombs with skeletons with some of the kings and queens mentioned in these "stories" have been unearthed (ie., Sir Thomas Woolley's excavation at Ur, 1923) - and they are all just myths, you are entitled to your delusion. And so am I :-)
Forget Sitchen's other books until you read this. If you get hooked, then his other books all suddenly make sense!
And just think, some of these "Gods" may still be with us, today.

Any rating of this book below excellent must come from a reader who hasn't yet done his/her own research into the redundantly corroborative evidence which demonstrates that Sitchin's work reveals much of our religio-mythic lore to be unmistakably based upon fact rather than myth.
There is sufficient information in "The 12th Planet" coupled with aerial views of Giza on Earth and Cydonia on Mars to significantly link them to sky patterns which can be overlaid on Cydonia to reveal much of the importance of the "objects" as markers for a representative celestial sphere upon which is shown the path of Nibiru.
For anyone to dismiss "The Lost Book of Enki" as "only fiction" (or some other demeaning term) demonstrates an insufficient depth of understanding of the material as well as the character and scholarship of Zecharia Sitchin so aptly demonstrated in his earlier books.

This would have been an otherwise good book had it not been for the false claims that Sitchin repeatedly makes. First of all, if the 12th planet comes into our orbit and passes by Earth every 3600 years, annihilating everything on Earth through means of cataclysmic flooding, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and a sudden 90-degree pole shift, then how can we still bear witness to the CLEARLY VISIBLE evidence of civilizations that were flourishing over four thousand years ago? Sitchin's research and the excavations of Sumer are a contradiction themselves...If a planet many times denser and larger than our own, with a monumental force of gravity, came within the "vicinity" (cosmically speaking, millions of miles roughly) of Earth every 3600 years, then there would be no evidence remaining to prove it, as it would have been destroyed by the devastation and destruction of Nibiru. I don't doubt the existence of such a planet, i just don't agree with Sitchin's theory of it returning every 3600 years.

Secondly, he makes the terribly uneducated (or perhaps political?) choice of discrediting the Ancient Vedic civilization. In his book, Sitchin explains and accepts the "Aryan invasion theory" as truth, although there is no evidence suporting such an absurd claim. This theory, that a race of light-skinned Europeans came to India and established civilization there, was created by British imperialists to keep India and her people in slavery by fabricating the history of the world's most ancient and advanced civilization. This theory both represents and reflects the western attitude towards indigenous peoples from around the world, believing that they are "too barbaric" or "primitive" to be able to build a highly advanced society with a spiritual foundation. This theory is the epitome of racism and western supremacy and whether he knows it or not, Sitchin is helping to spread misinformation by including the theory in his book and being a major proponent of it. If he's wrong (or blatantly lying) about India's ancient civilzations, then who knows what else he may be wrong (or lying) about.

I've read the Sitchin collection. It's a mind boggling experiance. It's also very scholarly. An expert in Sumerian language, culture, et al.., Mr. Sitchins findings, if remotely accurate, explains a lot of empty holes in our History. I have never bought the fact that ancient cultures could be THAT imaginative. I am a believer that imagination is based on some basis of experience, exposure to or passed on story. You've heard the expression, there are no original thoughts, just original ways of presenting old ideas. I can't imagine that these civilizations just made up all those elaborate stories without some sort of core truth. Was there another more advanced culture? I wouldn't doubt it--there is so much we don't know. Mr. Sitchin's assertions are worth the read if only to spark further inquiry intoour mysterious and ancient past. Also read the works of Graham Hancock. His assertions are the same but different. He looks at the world where Sitchin focuses on a region. Never the less, why is it so hard to believe that our past may have been manipulated, Why couldn't there be a prehistory that has yet to reveal itself to us in detail. It's fascinating and deserves a serious study. Those who mock these ideas now once believed the universe rode on the back of a great turtle, or thought the world was flat or mocked Copernicus. A small question can ignite an inferno of curiosity and lead those who are brave enough into a wonderful world of adventure.

OK, let's get step by step to the point: This book (and the other 5 of the Earth Chronicles series, as well as the 3 companion books) presents a very exciting, revolutionary view to the ancient history, to the universe and to the sacred texts and myths. Sitchin's unique, "brave" interpretations, based on Sumerian/Akkadian clay tablets and cylinder seals and Egyptian papyri, suggest a very extraordinary alternative on the roots of our civilization which claims to replace the mainstream, orthodox understanding of history and universe. His main axis is a mysterious planet (belonging to our very own solar system, lurking in the depths of outer space but still "unknown" to us) which was somehow "hidden" in the mystical and "mythological" bulk of ancient sacred texts. Sitchin spots the "vague point" in myths, then clears the dust and mud carefully, finally points at this "surprising" planet which had been waiting to be discovered by us since millenia: This planet was called NI.BI.RU in ancient Sumerian (meaning "Planet Of Crossing"); had an orbital period of about 3600 years around the sun; and it was symbolized by the holy sign of "Winged Disk" in ancient cultures, as well as the cuneiform sign of "Shar" (meaning "3600" and "destruction".) He deciphers almost all the details about this huge planet and its "inhabitants" from a series of clay tablets, beginning with "Enuma Elish", the Babylonian Creation Epic, with a very careful attitude on ancient symbolism. This finding alone is enough to make his theory one of the most significant approachs on ancient history. But Sitchin goes further.

According to Sitchin, the "inhabitants" of planet Nibiru, "The Anunnaki" as they were called in Sumerian, had landed on Earth 450,000 years ago; had colonized our lonely planet for their mining purposes; had searched for gold and other valuable materials which had been needed in their own planet for the sake of their "atmosphere"; and at one time, when they had needed "extra labour" they had created the mankind "in their own look", by manipulating the genetic structure of the "ape man"; then they naturally had become the "powerful gods" of our ancestors. Seems very radical at first look, but also a very logical explanation, especially when considering the fact that even the "monotheistic" religions had made up their holy books (Old Testament, for example) by borrowing themes from much ancient resources and modifying them. (Thus, biblical Nephilim was nobody but the Anunnaki according to Sitchin.) A more intriguing point is about the two puzzles of modern science: "Planet X" theory (astronomers believe there should be another planet beyond Pluto since last century) and the "missing link" in evolutionist theory between the "humanoids" and "homo sapiens".

I do not want to spoil your reading fun, so I won't mention any other details on Sitchin's unique theory but I feel I'd like to state a "caution" about him: Though his theory of planet Nibiru with a 3600 years orbital period and his powerful explanations on "ancient gods" concept are very important to understand the roots of our civilization, there is something very "disturbing" with Sitchin's approach: His obsession to prove and verify the Old Testament as an actual historical resource. He puts the dawn of Sumerian civilization to 3800 BC (and puts the orbital passage of Nibiru at exactly the same date) just to make his theory to conform with the Jewish calendar, which begins on 3760 BC. He goes even further and suggests 3760 BC as the starting point of the Nippur calendar - which actually is thought to begin around 3100 BC. More disturbing than this, Sitchin takes biblical Abraham as a real personality and claims him as the real descendant of the Sumerians - a "wise" man from Nippur (thus, making the Hebrews literally "the chosen people of the god(s)" as the Old Testament states).

This religous and "nationalistic" approach not only ruins his exciting theory with his prejudice and religious obsessions, but also forces him to make dramatic mistakes on the dawn of civilization (and with the orbital periods of Nibiru) just to make everything "literally" conform to the Old Testament. And in the course of his "Earth Chronicles" series, he uses a method which can hardly be considered as scientific: He begins quoting a Sumerian myth (often without exact references) then inserts his commentary on the events; goes on with another quote from the same story (this time from an Akkadian source); again puts his commentary and then quotes a passage from the Old Testament he believes related to the same myth. This makes up a very eclectical version of the original story: A collage, just made everything to conform his view and of course, the Old Testament.

Strangely enough, Sitchin ignores Maya end-date of 2012 AD (which could contribute well to his theory on orbital periods of Nibiru); does not pay attention on Indus "kaliyuga" (starting of which coincide with Mayans "5th Sun"); and does not mention the Revelation of St John (which is very intriguing and without doubt was borrowed from much older sources.) Because none of them has any use for his efforts to verify the Old Testament. Do read Sitchin's books, they are very important works; but be warned and read with "caution".