Forgotten Worlds: From Atlantis to the X-Woman of Siberia and the Hobbits of Flores [Brossura]

Forgotten Worlds is an excellent book to read if you want some basic info on mysteries of ancient times.

The book starts out with some discussion on the legend of Atlantis. This was quite well done, as it shows the basics of what Plato described and also what some later researchers on the subject came up with. I liked how the book points out that Plato himself actually never claimed Atlantis was the precursor to all other civilisations (indeed, in the account Plato makes it clear there existed other civilisations that were contemporary with Atlantis). That claim was the work of US Congressman Ignatius Donnelly, who inspired numerous later Atlantis researchers.
As for the location of Atlantis, the book doesn't side with any particular theory and but rather presents a few candidates and allows the reader to make up their own mind. I quite liked this approach, as it is both willing to consider possibilities but at the same time not about to uncritically latch onto a single theory. The only thing that disappointed me was that there was no real mention of Rand and Rose Flem-ath's Atlantis in Antarctica theory (save one sentence mentioning Antarctica being one of many proposed locations for Atlantis), which is the Atlantis theory I am most supportive of. There was, however, a brief mention of Charles Hapgood's Earth Crust Displacement Theory, which postulates that a portion of Antarctica was ice free until as recently as several thousand years ago.

The book goes on to discuss numerous historical mysteries, such as mysterious ancient ruins and artifacts, the face on Mars and "ancient astronaut" claims, old Germanic legends and their links to lost civilisations, evidence of ancient Caucasians traveling to places they were not supposed to have discovered until thousands of years later, Mesopotamian legends, Mesoamerican legends, the evidence for a pre-dynastic civilisation in Egypt, the mysteries of ancient China and India, the lost civilisation of Lemuria, and much more.

The book was quite interesting and well written, and I quite liked how it didn't stick to any single theory and say "this is how it is" but rather let the reader make up their own mind.
Perhaps my biggest criticism of the book was that its title is a bit misleading. While the "Hobbits" of Flores are mentioned in the title and shown on the book cover, they are not once mentioned anywhere in the book. I was a bit disappointed by this, but I at least enjoyed reading about the subjects that were included in the book.

Overall, Forgotten Worlds is a book that provides some interesting food for thought concerning the history of the human race.

Overall, Forgotten Worlds is an interesting read with a few major flaws that keep it out of the realm of "Excellent." Beginning with the good, there is some examination of lesser known aspects of forgotten history, such as the caucasoid mummies of China and Mongolia. As a reader of this genre, I was surprised to find I hadn't heard of this phenomenon yet. So, there is some new information in this book. As a fan of alternative history I am sometimes reluctant to make new purchases because I fear I will have heard everything presented in similar books. This is the case with Forgotten Worlds, to some extent.

Moving onto the bad. I have a few main complaints that might make it seem I didn't enjoy the book, which is not true. The book sort of lumbers along, for perhaps too many pages (or screens on my Kindle?) trying to connect ancient myths to Atlantis. There is no new evidence of Atlantis presented, just summarizations of theories most of us have already heard. The author explores Norse mythology and, for several pages, simply recounts many Norse tales and the lineages of their gods.

Additionally, the author borrows so heavily from sources that it becomes difficult at times to separate source material from his own writing. He quotes extensively, so much so that I did lose track if I was reading his words or another author's. He also provides citations for paragraph after paragraph, sometimes five or six in a row, which leaves the impression that he is not bringing many new ideas to the table. Fans of this genre will likely find they are already familiar with the works he sources.

Mr. Chouinard does present some unique theories, and I must confess I was not fully on board. The middle of the book is dedicated to offering evidence of a global "Western European" influence. I am not exaggerating when I say he gives credit to Western Europeans for almost every advanced ancient civilization in the Northern Hemisphere. He presents the idea that Norse-type peoples had contact with the ancient central American tribes, Aztecs and the like. The reasoning behind this is because the god Quetzalcoatl is presented as having a beard and pale skin. This seems to me a huge leap. Indian (Hindu) gods are presented with blue skin, but does that mean they had to have had contact with blue-skinned people? If we are to believe every god has an origin in truth than there must have been some strange people walking around back then. The author, when not utilizing source material, relies on ambiguous terminology such as "evidence suggests..." without presenting evidence. This particular reference is to Celtic expeditions in the Mississippi valley. There are startling claims, including that the expeditions extended all the way into Kentucky. The evidence presented for such a claim is a single sentence about "Ogam inscriptions" being found in Arkansas. It seems the author wanted to remove credit for cultural advancements, such as Mongolian mastery of horse riding, and give it to Western Europeans. It is interesting enough that there are out of place mummies in China and Mongolia and other places. We don't have to usurp the ancient natives of their achievements as a result.

As I said, it may seem like I didn't like the book, which is not true. I do think the new material presented will be interesting to most fans of the genre. Though I don't agree with the author's conclusions I enjoyed reading them.

I am a long time follower of the work being done in the Archeology and Anthropology worlds regarding the lost continents and lost civilizations of this world. Especially Atlantis and Lemuria or Mu.

This book not only gave the history of the studies but current updates and new theories about how we became today's version of man and woman. The book covered the history of written languages all the way to a new set of Runes. It covered new pyramids. The Flood myth and Creation myths around the world were especially interesting in their similarities and for the first time China was included.

The book was written with a great readability factor, which in this subject can be a challenge for an author or even just a person trying to have a discussion. One thing of interest was the Mayan Calendar which is focused upon the date December 21, ...2012. There is a glitch in the computation and the year may well be 2050. We will have to wait and see.

This subject is still fascinating to me and I hope that Mr. Chouinard will write a book just covering one of the many topics we glimpsed.