Hamlet's Mill: An Essay on Myth and the Frame of Time: A Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge and Its Transmission Through Myth [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Schopenhauer once said that there are three stages for the life of an emerging truth: first it is ignored or scorned, secondly there is violent opposition... and then thirdly, it is accepted as self-evident. It will be some time before you develop the ability to see all of the religious/mythic/astronomical discoveries of deSantillana and von Dechend as self-evident when you immediately put the book down (because there are so many), but oh, when you do, it won't ever be forgotten. Their proven theories create a paradigm shift regarding perspectives on the Ancient and Classical world that send ripples through everything, including our misapplied view of Darwinian theory on prehistoric culture, and the basis of religion and philosophy for the millenia following, right up until today. Their elucidation of the ancient scientific- as opposed to purely gut-instinctual (aka non-existent) mind, done in an almost poetic but still erudite fashion, makes for both a enlightening and page turning read. The stars have a way of becoming more beautiful when you read this book, as they become really meaningful again.

This is the kind of book made more for open minded scholars and those who appreciate their work, as opposed to the realm of the out there, Astronaut theorists. In fact, it made me question the validity of the Bauvals and Hancocks of rogue Egyptology and Babylonia/Sumerology that much more, because of how it ennobles the communal prehistoric mind, beyond the need of extra-terrestrials to explain its achievements. It is made obvious by deSantillana that it is a communal mind that our current prejudices have been made all but incapable of understanding.

The only thing that could keep it from earning a perfect five stars for me would be it's seemingly anxious way of ignoring Egypt to tenously put ancient Sumerian culture at the center and forefront of all knowledge. It is almost the way you would nervously ignore a drop-dead gogeous blonde who walks in to a party in a red mini-skirt and leather, while your wife is staring at you angrily in her best dress. (In other words, it paradoxically works to justify the work of Egyptologists who say that "ovah heeyah" is where all the real beauty is, but in an almost annoying way.) That (let's call it) forgiveable prejudice nonetheless also necessitated leaving out much of the rest of Africa in their thesis, and obscuring some of the ancient Middle East- even in talk of the actual meaning behind the drum and rhythm in religious ritual. I would suggest the work of Gerald Massey (ANCIENT EGYPT, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD) after spending a few nights with this one to pick up from where I feel they drop the ball.

Nonetheless, its relevance and importance cannot be overstated, as much for deSantillana's standing in academia (Professor of the History of Science at MIT), as for what and how he and the equally esteemed von Dechend wrote. They also both gleefully acknowledge their antecedents and intellectual mentors like Dupuis, Lockyer and Godfrey Higgins, further reifying the field of scholarship that makes everyone in stale academia more than a bit uncomfortable, and has for more than a century.

(It also makes you look again at the genuis of Shakespeare with whole new eyes!)

A very special book for all times.