Rating: 
Summary: Go one better...
Review: Go one better and read a book by about the constructing of texts like this one: Umberto Eco's "Foucault's Pendulum" , which although ostensibly a novel, contains more reliable facts than this text (I'm not being sarcastic! Eco works in so much non-fiction that one reviewer said the novel needed an index!) and does not pretend to be non-fiction. Eco's format allows much more scope for exploration of the issues of this genre beyond the mere construction of theories of conspiracy and revisionism and succeeds in entertaining, informing, and above all not taking itself too seriously!
Rating: 
Summary: Research - what you should fear.
Review: Many of the previous reviewers call this book anti-Christian propaganda and nothing more. The truth is that Picknett and Prince rarely attack the religion head-on; they present what they perceive as facts and their personal conclusions base on them. The book is never forceful in its assertions that Christianity is immoral or wrong; however, it does present fascinating facts and connections that should make a Christian question the origins of his or her religion. In fact, they praise the Osiris/Isis religion (similar to Christianity - the difference being that Osiris and Isis don't actually have to exist and women share an equal role with men) for its message.This book is not propaganda; it's a presentation of knowledge and perceived conclusions...nothing more.
Rating: 
Summary: OK, But There Are Better Books Out There On Similar Subjects
Review: Picknett and Prince make some points & raise some valid questions, but the book is somewhat disappointing. The best part of this book was their sight seeing "adventures". They tell us Jesus was a rival of John The Baptist, and a practitioner the Egyptian religion. That his message was altered by the church which hid the importance of Mary Magdalene in the church. The authors also make a point of how ignorant most Christians are about the origins of their own theology. They then ask us since Christianity emphasis's is on "faith" (belief with no proof), why should the existence of proof that Jesus survived the crucifixion, was married and had children make any difference? The book dances around the agenda of the Priory of Sion and the secret of Rennes le Chateau. They muse at times about these topics, but never deliver any answers. I did however read a book recently that didn't dance around its topics, and it gave me a lot of answers concerning religion. It also gave me a lot to think about. It dealt with such subjects as different religions, the Christ Consciousness, angels and the angel worshipping society we live in today, Hell and its different levels, and much more. It is called "The Book of Thomas," by Daniel Aber and Gabreael.
Rating: 
Summary: Disorganized with difficult writing style
Review: The Templar Revelation covers a fascinating panoply of topics - John the Baptist as the true Messiah (not Jesus), how the Templars knew this but were ultimately suppressed, how the Freemasons also knew it but were not suppressed, Mary Magdalene as the wife/partner of Jesus and the figurative Holy Grail, the cult of black Madonnas, the Cathar suppression, the mystery of Rennes-le-Chateau, etc.
Honestly, I wanted to like the book. And in fact, on some level, I did like it because I learned quite a bit from it. The topic is interesting and I could appreciate the authors' meticulous attention to their research. But I honestly could not recommend the book because it was such a struggle to get through.
A work of such magnitude, covering so many topics, needs a rigorous hand in organization and connective transitions. This book did not have that. In addition, the first half of the book suffered from a particularly muddled writing style. It improved noticably in the second half of the book, but that remains a relative statement.
Overall, I cannot recommend the book. My apologies.
Rating:
Summary: Self-promotionial fiction as fact
Review: After having devoured Holy Blood/Holy Grail years ago, I went searching for every other book I could find on the subject. When I read the jacket of this one in a Dublin bookstore, I grabbed it.
Unfortunately, that proved to be a mistake. I quickly found these two charlatans to simply be cashing in on Baigent, et. al. by recycling the same theories and stories, only this time with a feminist agenda. They seem to have determined what the outcome of their research would be and then wrote the book to suit it, never once doubting their own theories. After sludging my way through this waste of paper I vowed never to purchase or read another thing by these two. Besides, it would only be a rehash of someone else's research anyhow.
Rating:
Summary: Bring your dictionary...
Review: Dan Brown and other authors have inspired a new interest in DaVinci, freemasons, and templars. After our interests are piqued, many of us then seek to learn more about a newfound interest or obsession. After glancing through several books, I picked up The Templar Revelation.
This book is informative and well researched. Ultimately I have only a slightly better understanding of what I was looking to discover. Of course, discovery is not always the fun part - sometimes the fun come in the research. This book is a masterful attempt at deciphering many things. My biggest impression of this book was, however, that my fairly impressive vocubular was lacking in areas. I found this book well written and researched and do not dispute that it is a worthy read if this topic has snagged you - - however I also found it to be a difficult read at points.
If you are searching for knowledge then pick this book up and scour it - it is FULL of information. However if you were inspired to read more after Dan Brown hooked you... well, you might want to stick with fiction rather than research.
Rating:
Summary: Information I never knew
Review: I was raised a Christian since I was very young, but once I hit my 20's I had doubts. I needed proof.
The information in this book I feel is very "eye-opening". I think it shows as diferent but , I feel, more accurate history then I was taught in Sunday school. Of course I didn't take the information in the book to be Gospel (pardon the pun) I chose to do my own investigation into the authors sources.
On the whole I found the book to be very interesting and quite believable to a point. Anyone who is searching for an answer or actual history in the subject should give this a read, but do your own research.
Rating:
Summary: The Revelations inside The Templar Revelation
Review: Typical of similar books that promise a lot but reveal little. Lots of information relating to religion, free masonry, etc., but it revealed no real purpose of the Knights Templar group or any significant accomplishments. This is not surprising since much of the information was about religion, at best a myth and at the worst a terrible imposition on human progress... just as it is today. Not a book to keep as a reference or to ever read again.
Rating:
Summary: Sloppy Research
Review: I love these kinds of books. However, in this particular book the authors present sloppy research and lots of it to prove conclusions which were already obviously predetermined. They quote their own work as if it is proven fact. There is a lot of repetition and the book is just boring! I suggest you purchase anything else in this genre rather than this sloppy piece of trash.
Rating:
Summary: Not another one
Review: I had to give this "effort" one star only because there wasn't any 0 or negative 0 stars to give. Hey Amazon, how about giving a negative rating choice as one or more 'black holes'?
This is just another couple of totally biased and blinkered 'authors' that have jumped onto this now utterly tiresome subject. I'm certainly not a foaming at the mouth fundamentalist but this piece of #?!*&%# goofyness is just too hard to take.
Not only is it another of this rash of pop pseudo-scholarship, it insults the intelligence of readers out there who really want to learn about these matters. All these works share the same faults, one of the most glaring being unsubstantiated conjecture based upon unsubstantiated conjecture based upon..... well, you get the idea. Also, they quote what they like and ignore what they don't.
This title is just one more (although perhaps the worst, right beside 'Rex Deus'and Laurence Gardner's ridiculous piffle), of a now dreary line of tomes that have jumped on the bandwagon since the publication of "The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail". But be warned, even though HBHG was a quite enjoyable, if shallow, romp through dark and middle age European religious and political history, it has been exposed quite thoroughly by critic Paul Smith as 3 somewhat credulous British writers being led by the nose into all this 'stuff' by 2 very strange French con-artists. Oh well, at least the British lads were well paid for their efforts.
If you're truly interested in ancient and dark age history and christianity's origins then by all means get into it. Read both the old and new testament as well as the dead sea scrolls and gnostic gospels. Read both the apologists and the critics of christian origins and history. Read, read, read !!!!
And if you must, then go ahead and read this bit of pop pseudo-scholarship.
Just don't say I didn't warn you.
Ah me, what a waste of a tree.
agamemnon
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