The Master Game: Unmasking the Secret Rulers of the World [Brossura]

Just to be clear, this book is essentially a new edition of "Talisman," which has been out of print in the US for several years and was something of an underground gem as it was not much publicized by its now defunct publisher, Element Books. Hancock and Bauval have taken the bones of "Talisman" and added on new material that bookends that work into a new theory that addresses the massive global issue of our time: the struggle between Islam and the West.

They are not afraid to be controversial. Some of the material regarding 9/11 in particular is likely to rile establishment parrots and truthers alike. It's a massive book - 636 pages with 81 photos - and it's hard to get through some of it. The payoff comes eventually, though, for those who stay the course - and their controversial conclusions will not seem nearly as far fetched once you've sucked in the couple of millennia's worth of global history leading up to them.

Definitely recommended for those who missed "Talisman," and even for those familiar with that work there is enough new material here to make it a worthwhile purchase, IMHO.

This book is essentially a revised "Talisman", an earlier book by the same authors; it is misleading and cynical to give it a completely new name without even a reference to "Talisman" on the front (or even back) cover to warn potential readers.

Worth getting by those who did not read "Talisman" because of its historic detail and good use of original sources. A big book (600 pages), the authors do excellent work in tracing ancient gnostic "heresy" from Egypt to the contemporary West. They offer a coherent thread for an underground movement spanning millennia; illuminating, for instance, the spiritual and esoteric aspects of the French Revolution that many others overlook. Their coverage of the influence of ancient Egypt on the designs of major cities like London, Paris and Washington D.C. was amazing when "Talisman" was published.

However a number of more recent books explore in more depth the similarities of the Hindu, Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions (really different sects of the same religion) with the earlier Egyptian solar cult. (Just two examples: church congregations face east (the direction of sunrise and solar rebirth) to pray while Muslims pray towards a black stone that was the center of moon cult worship. "Observant Jews" wear two small black boxes - like miniature versions of the Islamic Kaaba. In the Comments section I suggest just a few books explaining much more about the relationships between many religions.)

The Egyptian roots of today's religions have since been far better addressed by many others, including Acharya S, Ralph Ellis and Michael Tsarion. Over the last decade the uncovering of what had been kept secret from us for thousands of years has been moving so rapidly that this book already exhibits a disappointing lack of penetration into the hidden/esoteric secrets underlying religion when compared to the works of Pierre Sabak as well as Tsarion, Ellis & Acharya, all of whom use etymology (tracing the origin and development of words). These, and other excellent books, like Icke's "Human Race" and Farrell's "Babylon's Banksters", Swerdlow's "Blue Blood, True Blood" and Shannon Dorey's books on the Dogon religion all reveal a truer version of humankind's history than we have previously been allowed to know.

Later notes:
- Santos Bonacci is fascinating in his many youtube presentations - finally, everything (absolutely everything!) linked together in a (comparatively) simple manner.
- Mauro Biglino spent a decade translating the original Bible for the Vatican until he found out what they were doing with it. In the comments section I have added the link to Biglino's presentation on youtube (English subtitles).
- Frank O'Collins of Ucadia.com offers massive amounts of information on the "secret rulers" (whom he points out repeatedly are mentally ill) spread over a dozen websites and hundreds of hours of radio presentations on talkshoe - don't miss.

I just received the book today, and although I suspected this might be the case (due to the identical "Book Description" for both "Talisman" and "The Master Game"), I wasn't quite sure until I actually received my long-awaited copy of "The Master Game" this afternoon. Alas, my suspicions were confirmed. The pictures/illustrations are virtually identical; the chapter titles are the same; even the endnotes are largely the same. I suspect this may be a slightly updated version of the ponderous 2004 "Talisman", but buyer beware. If you've already read/have "Talisman" in your library, you're about to add an inferiorly printed rerun of the same book to your repertoire. This is really a shame - or might I say, "sham" - as the listing leaves the impression that this is a brand new title. Where's the "formerly entitled 'Talisman'" disclaimer? Or, even the admission this is an updated version of that earlier work? In short, it's non-existent. I just paid $15.08 for a title that wasn't a very good read to begin with. To be fair, perhaps there's more than just a modest measure of updating inside; maybe Bauval & Hancock just kept the same photos and chapter titles and focused their efforts on refining the content. I can only hope that's the case, but I'm less than optimistic that it will be so. Sigh! And after waiting for nearly five (5) months and multiple delayed release dates. I feel like i just bought a stale dessert purveyed as fresh from the oven. Buyer beware!