In Search of Pirates by Robert Stuart
- A Modern-Day Odyssey in the South China Sea

The author reveals what life is like in the area that we in the West see as suffering from piracy. To those living there is it more a way of life. The reader follows "Mr Bob" on his travels as he tracks down the pirates and those controlling them, discovering along the way that the roots run deep and reveal a corrupt society. The book is also filled out with trips to bars where the author consumes his daily dose of whisky and wards off the prostitutes that lurk there. On the one had what you learn from this book could be written in fewer pages if it weren't for all this padding, but on the other it's this almost day-to-day diary-like style that gives you a greater grasp of the problem.

Aeons by Martin Gorst
- The Search for the Beginning of Time

I found this an interesting and manageable book (due partly to it being pocket-sized). It reads as a history of man's search for the beginning of time, from past methods up to present-day theories involving the Hubble Constant.

Funny bit: "[Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon] employed a servant named Joseph to drag him out of bed at five in the morning, with the promise of a crown every time he succeeded. One morning, unable to arouse his mater by shouting, Joseph threw a basin of cold water over his slumbering figure. Buffon woke with a start, promptly got out of bed and duly rewarded him with his crown."

Notes:

p.88 "Fermi supposed that the neutrino's rest mass must be very tiny, or even nonexistent."

p.104 "Realistic invariance - time and space appear to stretch and contract to preserve the absoluteness of the speed of light."

Unearthly Disclosure by Timothy Good

Timothy Good also wrote Alien Base. The picture to the right is of Timothy Good when he appeared on BBC Breakfast in May 2008. I was particularly impressed with air of authority on the topic of UFOs and his seriousness when faced with somewhat light-hearted questions from the hosts.

Book of Shadows by Phyllis W. Curott
- Rediscovering the Ancient Wisdom of Witchcraft and Magic.

I found this an interesting read, although the background story had me thinking of Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

Interesting bit: "...in Germany, France (particularly Brittany), and the British isles-in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales-the Goddess-worshiping culture of the Celts (or Gauls, as the Romans called them) flourished, leaving countless shrines buried beneath the churches and temples of patriarchal religions that usurped Goddess worship." (P.60)

Exploring the World of the Druids by Miranda J. Green

This is more of a reference book, the kind you would pick up to find a piece of information... instead I'm reading it from cover to cover..

Notes: Mona Antiqua Restaurata by Reverand Henry Rowlands, an Anglesey vicar. Published in 1723.

"In France, stone circles were rarer but megalithic tombs and alignments, such as those at Carnac in Brittany, were all eagerly claimed as Druidic."

Finding Merlin by Adam Ardrey
- The Truth Behind The Legend

I am undecided as to my opinion on this book. Some parts I found interesting but others I just glanced over. Basically, Merlin was a Druid leader/chief of sorts, but as to his mystical powers, that's all nonsense because the author doesn't believe in any of that stuff... although he also claims "Egyptians of the earliest dynasties buried their dead in pyramids" (that's actually a misconception) whereas "...early inhabitants of Britain built massive stone circles. Their successors, like the later Egyptians, were less ambitious. They used wood to create woodhenges." This latter piece of information was new to me because I have always believed that woodhenge was replaced by Stonehenge in an effort to make the henge more permanent. What about the real Merlin?

Underworld by Graham Hancock
- Flooded Kingdoms of the Ice Age

This book is huge! 700+ pages! Seeing a book of this size on the shelf in the library can be a bit daunting and to be honest, the reason it's so long is because the author waffled on a fair bit! OK, so that's a bit harsh, I found it an interesting read and it certainly made me more aware of how sea levels have risen and lands been inundated since the end of the last ice age - Hancock just puts in a lot of the details from his research, such as transcripts from conversations he had with experts, where other authors would normally just summarise and then refer you to fine print at the back (and this book even lacks an appendix and instead refers you to www.grahamhancock.com I think the author's method worked well as it made the book more interesting as you feel like your on his journeys with him, and meeting the people he met as he dived at various locations.

p.433: "...the people who built the Mnajdra complex, and all the other megalithic temples on Malta, worked with a fixed unit of measurement. This unit, of 0.83 metres, is identical to the 'megalithic yard' identified by the Scottish archaeoastronomer Alexander Thom and found throughout megalithic sites that he had surveyed from Calanish in northern Scotland to Carnac in Brittany."

The Jesus Mysteries by Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy
- Was the 'Original Jesus' a Pagan God

The book starts off be comparing Jesus to Osiris-Dionysus where there are clear similarities. I then started to wonder "well what of the rest of Christianity"... but the book then lead onto that too so it's certainly kept me entertained. It tells the reader how the New Testament came about and how it has been edited, added to and forged and also the difference between Gnostic (the Inner Mysteries) and Literalist Christianity (the Outer Mysteries). The latter being what Christianity has mostly become where the religion is based largely on the New Testament. The Gnostic form, virtually wiped out by the Literalists teaches us that Jesus was not a flesh and blood man, but that Christ is within us all.

The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
This is basically a positive thinking/self-help book but written with the belief that there is some big universal secret that only a few people have known about, bringing them wealth and happiness. Not that that's a bad thing as some of the ideas, when put into practice, can work well. The negative side is that, having read the book, you could be lead to believe that sitting on your butt all day long, thinking positive thoughts about wealth, will lead to you being wealthy. The most annoying section was about how there is plenty of everything and we are entitled to it all. I found this somewhat irresponsible... with this belief one could be lead to become wasteful, using more than they need, wasting energy, creating more landfill waste and burning more fossil fuels - there isn't an endless supply of oil in the earth.

Notes:
- The law of attraction
- Thoughts become things
- Avoid negativity... including "I don't want.."
- "I am the master of my thoughts"
- Use secret shifters for when feeling negativity: nice music, happy thoughts etc.
- Ask, believe (imagine you already have what you're asking for), receive (imagine the joy of receiving)
- The universe works like Aladdin's genie - with unlimited wishes
- Time is an illusion
- Create your day in advance (in your mind)
- Remember to remember

The Phoenix Solution by Alan F. Alford
- Secrets of A Lost Civilisation

The Author of Gods of the New Millennium. I recognised the name of Alford's earlier and realised that that it was one that I had read, but it wasn't until I read my own review from of it from towards the end of 2007 that I finally realised which book it actually was - the one where the author made some far-out claims about gods coming from Planet X/Niburu. While Alford refers occasionally to his previous book in The Phoenix Solution, he makes no effort here to admit to his strange views (as he has done on a review of the book on Amazon), instead he talks about the topics in this book from a seemingly fresh perspective.

I have found a hole in his argument for the reason that the Bent Pyramid is bent, that it was designed that way. He claims the bend occurs at the right point to conform to known pyramid geometry. Although I'm sure the builders could quite easily have corrected the design to the final figure at this point either by undoing some of their earlier work or by continuing the construction at the steeper angle until they reach the required height to change it, depending how far through the construction they had reached.

Part the way through this book I got pretty bogged down with what seemed to be extract after extract from pyramid texts, but after I slogged my way through those chapters and the author began to bring his ideas together to form his conclusions, I was back on track and pleased I persisted.

The Philosopher's Stone by Peter Marshall
- A quest for the secrets of alchemy

I thought this book was pretty good. Fascinating it was to read about the author's trips to India and China on the trail of alchemy. He also revealed some interesting points about the Great Pyramid of Egypt. Other sections where Marshall researched a variety of books on the top to reveal its history dragged on a bit though, but overall, I found the read quite enlightening and I have learned that alchemy was/is more than trying to create gold.

p.278: "...alchemy had not existed in Europe outside Islamic Spain and Sicily before the first translations from Arabic into Latin in the twelfth century."

p.314: "Comte St Germain in the eighteenth century and Fulcanelli in the twentieth century were reputed to have... [the] ability to transcend time and place."

Top Secret / Majic by Stanton T. Friedman

A book on government UFO/Roswell documents that have turned up and background information into researching their authenticity. I also found the author's final words on the topic of UFOs to be interesting, in particular his views for why the Roswell crash occurred where it did - he believes aliens visit us so they can keep track of our technological progress and "I don't believe it is coincidence that the first crash of flying saucers occurred in south-eastern New Mexico, the only place on the globe in 1947 where all three of these technologies [powerful rockets, nuclear weapons and powerful electromagnetic devices] could be monitored. The first atomic explosion took place at Trinity Site at the White Sands Missile Range. All American firings of captured German V-2 rockets took place at White Sands as well. In addition, our best radar systems were being used there to track the rockets, which often went astray."

Pirates of the Caribbean
- Dead Man's Chest

The book of the film.