The Secret History of the World
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Here for the first time is a complete history of the world, from the beginning of time to the present day, based on the beliefs and writings of the secret societies. From the esoteric account of the evolution of the species to the occult roots of science, from the secrets of the Flood to the esoteric motives behind American foreign policy, here is a narrative history that shows the basic facts of human existence on this planet can be viewed from a very different angle. Everything in this history is upside down, inside out and the other way around. At the heart of The Secret History of the World is the belief that we can reach an altered state of consciousness in which we can see things about the way the world works that are hidden from us in our everyday, commonsensical consciousness. This history shows that by using secret techniques, people such as Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton and George Washington have worked themselves into this altered state - and been able to access supernatural levels of intelligence. There have been many books on the subject, but, extraordinarily, no-one has really listened to what the secret societies themselves say. The author has been helped in his researches by his friendship with a man who is an initiate of more than one secret society, and in one case an initiate of the highest level.
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Obviously the topic is interesting to me, otherwise I wouldn't have picked this up. The author covered all the greats and kept me fascinated through all 550 pages. That being said, the organization was rough, and sometimes I was confused by how we had jumped from one topic to another.
I read this as part of a broad research project on the history of alchemy. My review is in two parts:
With my historian hat on, I would say that the book is generalizing and overly reductive, and has a hand-wavey approach to dates that made my head hurt (“no no no,” I whispered while reading, banging my forehead on the pages, “why are we now centuries ahead of where we were in the last paragraph? Is he being misleading on purpose??”). The author is clearly widely read, but this book is in no way an authoritative history: it's more narrative than fact. That isn't necessarily a bad thing if you know to expect it, but it needs to be said. Also, the author struck me as a bit cruel in his descriptions of the scientists & philosophers in his story, which makes the text feel more like gossip than anything else.
With my pop culture mystery-lovers hat on, I would say that the book brings up some interesting points, but must be approached with a GRAIN OF SALT. Many grains, in fact. It's more an exercise in critical thinking than the tell-all “theory of life, the universe, and everything” that it may appear to be.
