BOOK REVIEW - Forgotten Worlds

[Mike]

Forgotten Worlds From Atlantis to the X-Woman of Siberia and the
Hobbits of Flores by Patrick Chouinard © 2012 Bear and
Company ISBN: 978-1-59413-138-1 Paperback 288 Pages
$20.00 (U.S.) $23.99 (Canada)

The title of this book might be a little misleading (or may not,
depending on how you see it). The “lost worlds” consist of many of
the unexplained anomalies in the archeological record – ranging from
submerged “ruins” to abandoned cities in the Andes; from the
aboriginal people of Japan to the apparent Caucasian mummies found in
China; from the giant heads on Easter Island to the “hobbit” remains
on Flores Island. While these may be considered as “forgotten (or
“ignored”) history”, I'm not sure about them constituting Forgotten
Worlds.

The 21st Century has seen a proliferation of books dealing with
alternative interpretations of the established historical record.
Many of these books suffer by the simple fact that they offer little,
if any, new content or interpretation. Mr. Chouinard has largely
avoided this trap by skillfully bringing forward his own
interpretations. He also avoids being dogmatic by letting the reader
decide what they wish to believe.

He brings in a wide variety of unexplained locales and phenomena,
rather than limiting himself to just a few. Overall, I was familiar
with a majority of the items covered in this book, but there were a
few surprises for me. He doesn't go into great detail with any of the
subjects, since to do so would require multiple volumes. Instead he
opts to provide what basically amounts to introductory data to enable
the interested reader to proceed with their own research.

Many of his assertions have been investigated by members of the
established scientific community and relegated to the “fringe” or
“junk” science bin. Of course, the established scientific community
has been wrong before (e.g., "Louis Pasteur's theory of germs is
ridiculous fiction". -- Pierre Pachet, Professor of Physiology at
Toulouse, 1872), so what is “fringe” or “junk” science today may be
mainstream in the future.

There are occasional errors of fact (on page 82 he says “Even Marco
Polo, two thousand years ago...” when what he obviously meant was “two
thousand years later”) and an occasional missing word, but overall the
quality is what I have come to expect from this publisher. It is a
sad fact that even the best publishers, at this time, rely on the
authors to handle the primary editing of a book, confining themselves
to the job of formatting and printing.

Mr, Chouinard may or may not be on the mark with the contents of this
book. That will be for history to decide. One thing is for sure...he
has brought forth a large amount of material for discussion. And it
is also likely to inspire more books on the same topics. Enjoy this
one for what it is – a starting point.