Secrets of the soil changed the way that I approach life. The book details the wonders of how everything is connected in the cosmos, and we are but a tiny but powerful influance on our home.This book led me to discover the life saving benifits of minerals. it is simply a good good read.there are NO chemicals used in our garden or home thanks to secrets of the soil. it's a shame this book is out of print. it should be required reading in all of the school systems in the world, it's that informative. Best book I have read to date. Rev.Bruce Curtis

Entertainment... while not knowing entirely what to make of it swallowing my preconceptions gave way to bewilderment and wonder.. There remain many phenomina that sceintific knowledge will never explain. the natural world, the moon, emtions, and sound have many unexamined effects on plants and us. this book explores them all! Purhaps that is what makes the human quest ever scoping new horizons most exiting and meaningful... I went on to read all the biobliograghical citations of interest I could find in libraries. I realized my veiw into this books studies was a drop in the pool.. Many of the reference were old but classic nonetheless. The only reason modern sceince has not delved deeper into the works of these men is there has been of yet no practical way to make money off it! I wholeheartedly recomend this book

BACK IN PRINT!

This is a thoroughly researched book that will astonish you in more ways than one. It is HIGHLY educational, but you won't find any of this valuable information in a standard textbook on soil science, gardening, or whatever.

Some of it might seem a little far-fetched or at least put a little pressure on preconceived beliefs, but the nice thing is, Tomkins & Bird have found a way to present some rather amazing concepts in a take-it-leave it sort of way, because the most assured thing about this book is that you will be inspired with the DESIRE to do SOMETHING no matter how "small" the beneficial act!

While the factual information about mankind's stupidity and carelessness over the last few decades will break your heart all over again, this book offers many different ways for each of us as individuals to help heal the soil - the very foundation of life under our own two feet - and to help heal OURSELVES in the process.

Even if your custodial duties only incude managing your own lawn, a few trees, some flower beds or HEY a little compost pile with kitchen scraps and pulled weeds -- this book will inspire and empower you to begin helping to restore (or at least convince you to stop trying to kill) the vast UNIVERSE of microorganisms which live literally in your own back yard! Given half a chance, these little "buggers" will work hard to produce all the natural chemicals you will ever need to enjoy soft green healthy grass in your lawn, lovely fragrant flowers, nice sturdy and shady trees, and if you're into growing foodstuffs, wonderfully healthy food containing life-giving protoplasm and perfectly cheltated minerals... WOW... and all these things absolutely free of charge!

This book will re-acquaint you with the "lowly" earthworm which is far from being a worthless creature! Ancient peoples who were far more "in tune" with the inner workings of nature and who demonstrated far better common sense than their modern counterparts (us) revered this gentle organism. You will quickly learn the reasons why!

What is all the fuss about "hierloom seed" varieties? It's not just a bunch of sentimental folks who are trying to preserve their grandad's favorite tomato and great grandma's favorite pretty flowers, or who just like collecting a different sort of "antique".

Do you get all upset with WEEDS? Think again. The neat information in this book puts the "we" back into weeds again. It's entirely possible to "make peace with these weeds" and end the bloody war with the use of our backyard chemical weapons. Weeds are visible indicators that our soil needs certain nutrients or minor assistance. If we pay attention, we can learn from them, and they will quietly become less bothersome. Think I'm kidding? No way. And there's much much more!

This book will really change the way you think about the earth as a whole, about the "dirt" under our feet, and about Life in general. And the title is apt, the things you learn are real "secrets" that should no longer be kept secret.

Your Soul will thank you for this read.

This is a book that I recommend to anyone who is baffled by the ancient mexican civilization and wants to know how it got discovered and who were the primary players in bringing it to public attention. Also, this gives a very good view of how in the name of religion, bunch of priests destroyed all records of once magnificent cultur and those who went after finding the last remaining books or parchments that could give a clue behind all that mysterious writings on the walls of ruins in mexico. It is a book full of details with awsome pictures in it. I think the author has collected a ton of evidence in this book to back up his ideas and other opinions about mysteries of mexican pyramids

Peter Kropotkin was one of the major figures of anarchism, and this book offers the reader a wealth of insight into his ideas. While Mikhail Bakunin represented the fire and brimstone revolutionary of anarchism, Kropotkin focused his scientific intellect on making a workable anarchist society. To that end, he rightfully focused a great deal of energy on cooperation and reciprocity as the basis for a workable society. He was far ahead of his time in his understanding of the ideas of mutual aid and cooperation, at the time when capitalist "dog-eat-dog" ideas first came to dominate society.

This book takes a cross-section of his thinking that lets you understand how he came to be such a strong proponent of mutual aid.

Kropotkin's ceaseless attempts at hashing out anarchism in practice and theory are vital for anybody seeking to apply the ideas today. For anyone who considers anarchy synonymous with chaos, destruction, and bloodshed, this book is a must-read, as it should open their eyes to the true ideas behind anarchism.

Well done book filled with arcane references and hard to find information on many occult traditions. A surprisingly broad book given the title.

One of the better books I have read dealing with the possible origins of the great pyramid. It is ojective and candidly written, and covers the many extant theories of the pyramid's origins in good detail. Also good coverage of the probable measures used by the original architect, with measured speculation on the possible encoded meanings embodied in the various dimensions. Compelling arguments for alternative uses of the pyramid (e.g. as an astronomical observatory) during and after its construction. This book has certainly fueled my imagination to a greater extent than any other book written about the great pyramid.

This is easily one of the most fascinating and engagine books I've ever read. This book also started a voyage of discovery for me. Tompkins explores the validity of the assumptions of the best known Pyramid researches, as well as their often sad motives and methods. At the heart of the book is Tompkins revelations about what these researchers believed, and why.

Hints of how the pyramid was constructed and astronomically aligned are included, and fascinating parallels between the grand gallery and druidic observatories are also detailed. Allusions to Freemasonry and other spiritual veins are also quite fascinating, as are the mathematical secrets hidden in the Pyramid. Sacred Geometry is also discussed and is quite interesting.

I can't recommend this book too highly.

I have read over a dozen titles about the pyramids, and no one is more comprehensive, documented and approached seriously and rigorously. A must read for anybody interested in the most mysterious landmark of mankind.

Tompkins starts with an introduction to the genocide of peoples and desecration of the ancient Mesoamerican cultural structures by the Spaniards before getting to a very readable romp about personalities who attempted to preserve or ripoff Teotihuacan and other archeaological sites. The book presents a good overview of this site, which unlike the Giza/Egyptian pyramid complexes was not treated to in depth technical study until the 1950s and later. Even now, large portions remain unexcavated. The later parts of the book delve into Atlantean connections, a natural link with the speculations of Augustus Le Plongeon and others who appear earlier in the text. While it is not directly a history of the Maya, Olmecs, Aztecs, or others, there is enough citation within the interesting sidenotes and extensive bibliography to take serious readers into the bowels of the beast as of the 1970s, when this was published. All in all, this is a very nice little treasure.

This book covers about astrology, geodesic forces of energy on earth, the meaning of rituals in descriptive form, acheologic findings using also intuitive sciences, relates different cultures like the egipcian, atlantis, the people of mu, etc., Talks about the chakras, the dormant serpent This is a great book to read for the lay man as well for archeologists, historians, astrologists, phisicists or anybody intrigued by the ancient sciences and applications to the "new world." sinceramente; TM practitioner

Really fun book to read, specailly the chapter about prehistoric origins of Maya. Recommend it to those who are curious about who and how the mexican pyramids were discovered.

This was a very informative book. It shows how scientists have recently proven plant thought, emotion, and sensing powers. This book must be read by as many people as possible (except parts of chapter two) before any more of the horrible plant abuse that I am constantly witnessing takes place. This book confirmed many beliefs about plants that I had prior to reading it, and it will help in much of my own experimentation. Thank you Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird!

THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS by Peter Tompkins and Christopher Bird is a wonderful book of wisdom about the plant world and life in general. Like many people my age, I cut my teeth on Disney's "Living Desert" back in the 1950s. That film killed the notion for me that nothing lives in Death Valley and if Death Valley can be alive what else is possible?

SECRET LIFE is like the old Disney films because the book describes science that challenges stereotypical mainstream thinking. Anyone who believes plants are sentient beings will love this book. If you've done much reading on this subject you've probably seen Tompkins and Bird quoted elsewhere.

In the first part of their book, the authors explore the attributes of plants and pretty much conclude they have everything in common with animals-except plants probably came first on the evolutionary ladder and prepared the way for animals. In fact, if earth was invaded by alien species, the authors suggest the aliens were probably plants. But, you say, plants have roots and stay put (for the most part) and plants produce chlorophyll. Shell fish (oysters, mussels) and sea anemones can be rooted to one spot and small protozoa-like creatures produce chlorophyll.

Probably the thing I like the best about this book is that finally, someone links the Chakras to real body parts-the seven endocrine centers--and explains the reasons why these "hot spots" are so important. Also, Tompkins and Bird explain the scientific reasoning behind Bach flower remedies and many other "new age" products you can find at Fresh Fields and other holistic stores.

Skeptics will always have doubts, but after 30 years of organic gardening and non-academic exposure to plants, I know Tompkins and Bird are onto something. So do many modern scientists who have discovered belatedly that much of what the authors described 30 years ago may be true afterall.

Cutting edge scientists are frequently ignored. Once upon a time some people thought George Washington Carver was a fruitcake because he thought plants had feelings (they do). Carver discovered many unusual things as did a number of other later Nobel winners, although sometimes folks like Gregor Mendel were not recognized until it was too late.

If you want to be a better person, a wiser consumer, a great gardener, and healthier, you owe it to yourself to read THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS. It isn't all about them.

This book is one of my all-time favorites. I read this book years ago and have since read about numerous other scientific experiments which have supported and recreated the same kinds of phenomena described in this book. I loved the scientific examples of how plants seem to react to our attitudes and emotions in an intelligent fashion and that's only one of several plant related phenomena covered in this book. I have myself recreated experiments dealing with growth-rate and health in plants cultivated with strong love and admiration. I found this book very practical and mind opening to the possibilities inherent not only in horticulture but in all life itself. A must-read for everyone! (And especially gardeners!)

A bizarre, somewhat disjointed read not for the scientific faint-of-heart, but for those familiar with Tompkins' strange excursions and capable of suspending scientific disbelief, another intriguing, startling exposition; includes discussion of Theosophists, Rudolf Steiner, astral planes, occult chemistry, fairies, woodland spirits, and the like. Tompkins is one of those far-out writers who, inexplicably, I consistently get a kick out of reading (and constantly wonder if he himself believes everything he writes about?). Personally I give this wild, rambling read a very high "4" for enjoyability, but it is the sort of volume other folks will either love (if they are inclined toward the metaphysical and esoteric) or...hate.

This is a most excellent book, covering material not generally available to the spiritually curious. I have been completeing a Doctors Thesis with The University of Metaphysics and find this to be one of the books I used most extensively in the thesis. Interestingly enough this gives a more complete story of the movie FAIRY TALE A TRUE STORY. A movie which portrays Sir Arthur Conan Doyles discovery and publishing of the famous Cottingsley fairy pictures As a spiritual hypnotherapist (C.M.Ht//Certified Master Hypnotherapist) I am able to validate some of this material from my research sessions. I wish you would make a better effort to supply this book, which is on my list of 10 most recommended books to students and clients.

This book is a tour de force work on nature spirits (fairies, gnomes, angels, etc.). Peter Tompkins uncovers the history, past mystical organizations (as well as current ones), mystics, scientists and others and then factually pieces together the existence of this hidden worldaround us. This book is out of print (although you can purchase it through Amazon.com of the UK)as I suspect this book was deliberately taken off the market in the U.S. because of the controversial subject matter and discussion of halucigenetic drugs (and growth of the Santo Daime community).

"Serpent in the Sky" is primarily concerned with popularizing the otherwise inaccessible work of R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz, who spent a great deal of time making exhaustive measurements of the Temple of Luxor and subsequently incorporated his findings into a comprehensive reinterpretation of ancient Egypt known as "Symbolism." A final chapter and a pair of appendices summarize West's investigation of an offhand comment of Schwaller de Lubicz that the Sphinx appears to be weathered by water, with the conclusion that such weathering necessitates a redating of the Sphinx's carving to at least 5000-7000 BCE and perhaps much further in the past. As tracts of alternative archaeology go, this is not an easy read, and so the casual reader should be forewarned. The content of this book falls rather neatly into "good, bad and ugly" classifications.

On the good side, I found the application of "Symbolism" to the Egyptian hieroglyphics intriguing. West shows rather nicely (though I would like to see more conventional views in their original context) how literal translations of Old Kingdom pyramid texts seem like complete gibberish, and most likely do not do justice to the people who wrote them. The symbolic translation appears more believable.

On the bad side, West is not reticent about engaging in rants against what he terms the "Church of Progress," meaning the belief in technological and scientific advancement as the measure of human accomplishment, and the depradations of modern society (which, he boldly asserts, is not a civilization) on the human soul. One does not have to be a Luddite to have some sympathy with this view, but its application to studies of ancient Egypt, with the conclusion that this long-lost civilization was far more advanced (in a non-technological sense) than our own, seems misplaced. It is odd, after all, that after castigating modern Egyptologists for the "flimsy" reasoning behind, for example, the conventional dating of the Sphinx, West should use evidence even more flimsy to claim that the ancient Egyptians were healthier than "Western" man, or that they had knowledge of pi, phi, and the zodiac. At best, West's harping on the "Church of Progress" is simply annoying. At worst, he seems unable to recognize when his own prejudices are coloring a too-rosy picture of the past for which there is no evidence.

As for the ugly, West's creationism prompts him to unleash several baseless attacks on Darwinian evolution. Usually, his rants concern the application of evolutionary principles, which were really only meant to apply to the origin and extinction of species over great spans of geological time, to human societies. Certainly, Darwinian evolution has been overextended in non-biological arenas, but the fact of evolution is simply not contestable on rational grounds. West's scientific credentials are compromised further by his claim that astrology has some basis in observable phenomena. It is in these subjects that "Serpent in the Sky" degenerates into complete drivel.

When I returned from my first trip to Egypt in May, 1998, I voraciously read everything I could get my hands on. Before I read Serpent in the Sky, I had viewed John's emmy-award-winning documentary, so I was prepared for excellence in thinking and new ideas about ancient Egypt. Although John West writes with great flair and articulation, his summarizing of Schwaller de Lubicz was tough going. West makes some good points of his own, but some of de Lubicz's theories are too esoteric for me. West acknowledges he's not a mathemetician and much of de Lubicz's theories are based on sacred geometry, and was beyond my scope as well. I found that the quotations on the sides of the pages detracted from the main body of work. It's very apparent that West thoroughly loves ancient Egypt and has devoted many years to study, discussion and leading tours there. I had the good fortune to be with him on a second tour to Egypt in Nov, 1998. I enjoyed the foreword by Robert Masters regarding Sekhmet, as I had some extraordinary experiences with Sekhmet myself both while I was in Egypt and when I returned. All in all, I would recommend reading Serpent in the Sky. John still leads tours to Egypt.

John Anthony West has done the world an enormous service with this bold, brilliance, beautifully written and thoroughly engaging book. He extends the work of Alsation philospher and mathematician, R.A, Schwaller de Lubicz, making it not only comprehensible to the lay reader, but the only plausible explanation for the grandeur and magnificance of ancient Egyptian culture. West is anything but a New Age flake, and he takes some fairly tough-minded positions on the absurdities of modern scholarship. Yet he has the advantage over most orthodox Egyptologists in that he can (a) write -- and write superbly -- and (b) he has a sense of humor, which makes even his most vitriolic attacks on those who persist in ascribing the monuments of Egypt to a race of egomaniacal barbarians the work of a rational giant in a world of Lilliputians. His grasp of the entire sweep of Egyptian history is extraordinary, and his ability to render even the most complex accounts of Pythagorean geometry or symbolism in the hieroglyphs is something every would be academic should take notes on. Besides all this, the book is magnificently illustrated on every page. Without any question, this is one of the best books I have ever read