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Summary: "Read everything, believe nothing until you prove it to you"
Review: I've read the reviews of this book, and mine will not be much different. I give it 5 stars not only because I loved it, but because I wouldn't want to discourage anyone's interest in this subject. Yes, I can find things in it that are impugnable or at least argued by other historians,but it's still a fascinating book. "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" solved the mystery of "Friday the Thirteenth",(at least for me)and through further reseaech have found that many authors concurr to that event, masons and non-masons alike. I think it's a must read for those who are intersted in the history of secret societies.
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Summary: the best kind of mystery-possibly true!
Review: An extraordinary piece of detective work. The authors track down mysteries that have been semi-secret for centuries. Yes, it can be a bit wordy at times, but I think even the authors don't know how all the pieces fit, andd are just presenting all their evidence, and drawing their conclusions. And a shocking story it is.
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Summary: An iconoclastic page-turner...
Review: This is simply an extremely fine book. Not only is it clearly written and well-organized, it is paced well and reads like best-seller fiction. I could not put it down, and despite it being 400+ pages, I finished it in about three days. The research is extensive and well-documented, and yet is a most entertaining read. I've been lending it to all of my friends since I finished it.
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Summary: Get To The Point Already!
Review: I'm a student of The Heresy and as many other students know, this book is Heresy Primer 101. Pardon me for sounding blunt, but what is it with these English writers! Blah, blah, blah...drone, drone, drone...on, on, on. There is such a wealth of exciting and mysterious information in this wonderful book, but you've got to wade through a tonnage of highbrow, Anglophilic verbosity to get to it! Just say it, already. These guys take three pages to say what they could in one sentence. And its so frustrating because once you realize what they are trying to say, you are smitten with this new, glorious knowledge but too pooped to enjoy it! I say, "...ease up, authors." If you're gonna take us on the greatest, most intriguing treasure hunt of all millennia, get the lead out, will ya?
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Summary: More speculation than facts
Review: I just finished this book and I have to say that I do not think that this book contains any real factual data. They base their evidence on documents from a secret society with suspicious credibility. As an undergraduate history major, even I noticed two huge glaring errors with their statements. Even though they sometimes can't make a conclusion with the evidence they have, they do so anyway, and then base other conclusions on it. It is a good book, if you'd like to learn about the the bible in a historical manner, but there are other better resources to learn about that, if that's what you're looking for. In conclusion, I don't think that the authors conclusions are any more preposterous than the currently accepted Christian doctrine, and they are based on just as few facts.
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Summary: Required reading for all Christians....
Review: Oh boy, is this book going to shake your world! You will simply never view religious dogma, medieval history, or the Western World the same after reading "Holy Blood Holy Grail".Unlike many other "esoteric" and/or "conspiracy" type books and authors (such as Graham Hancock) the really impressive thing about "Holy Blood Holy Grail" is that every single fact in this book stems from contempory documents. The authors go back to parchments, land grants, surviving letters etc. many of which have been lying moldering & unseen for centuries. The footnotes are impressive, the research the authors put in staggering. What truly is amazing about "Holy Blood Holy Grail" is that Baigent, Lincoln and Leigh never set out to discover what they did; this all began as a simple 1-hour show for the BBC on an area in France called Rennes les Chateux. One question led to another clue which led to another, then to a stash of strange documents in the French Biblioteque and.... Especially valuable is the overview of biblical origins in "Holy Blood Holy Grail". Whether you are a believing Christian or an atheist with historical leanings, this is fascinating (& absolutely correct!) stuff! Next time someone rants about "Jesus Saves" to you, you'll definitely have some ammunition for them! Whether or not you agree with the conclusions of Baigent. Lincoln and Leigh, the process of uncovering the truth and the organisations that are brought to the light of day in "Holy Blood Holy Grail" will fascinate you. By the way, if you enjoy computer games Sierra's "Gabriel Knight 3: Blood of the Innocent" is based on this book as well...
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Summary: History as "Miss"tory
Review: I can't vouch for all of the things in this book, but I knew Rabbi Arthur Zuckerman very well (whose work is cited)and his work is taken completely out of context. The authors never tried contacting Rabbi Zuckerman (his name was in the New York phone book), nor did they try contacting the man who wrote the forward--one of the twentieth century's foremost Jewish historians. Had they done so, they would have found lots that doesn't fit..this is intellectual pablum for armchair historians tired of "People" magazine.
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Summary: Unbelievable, but then... what if it's true?
Review: There is definitively something wrong with the Christianity as we know it today. Some facts, written in the Bible and presented by Church authorities, don't fit together, they even exclude themselves completely in some cases. Baigent explains things in the light of the conspiracy against rightful claimer of the Jewish crown - Jesus and lightens an attempt to save Jesus and his heritage. When you finish the book, everything makes sense, even very interesting theory of what Holy Grail actually is. The whole thing can only be considered as a theory, because there is not enough evidence for all speculations, but I think that it is not so unbelievable that it couldn't be true. The book is an excellent, relaxing and interesting reading and gives many opportunities for thinking about our past and consequently present time. It's certainly not a waste of money and time.
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Summary: Thought Provoking
Review: The book is not meant, if I understand the author correctly, to antagonize or anger religious people, but rather to let them know what they believe in. It also allows the reader to view the development of the beliefs and customs of the Christian church from an objective viewpoint. Definitely one of the better books to help us come to an understanding of what we perceive to be the truth.
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Summary: good read, but have a salt shaker handy for a grain or two
Review: Overall, I really enjoyed the book. Although Catholic, I was not offended by the book (I like to think I have an open mind and am secure in my religion). Even so, I can see how other catholics/christians could be offended by the book. I have to say, what I most got out of the book were actually two things: 1)a lesson in the events of the Dark/Middle Ages that have shaped the Church of today; and, 2)a re-orientation toward open-mindedness and healthy skepticism toward how the bible of today is not the 'bible' of early christianity. The book points out how the books of the new testament have been tampered with by early church leaders in so many ways, including re-writing/omitting passages, and leaving some important books out. Although the Bible is still a wonderfully wise book, it's "editing" over the years is suspect.
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