The Path of the Pole

Rating:
Summary: Time will tell
Review: Charles Hapgood must be considered as on the mainstays of catastrophism to date. His evidence of different pole positions in the past is rather concrete and his hyphothesis of an Earth crust displacement is well thought out.

The ECD has been defeated since then. It cannot have happened that way. That's why I subtracked a star. But the evidence continues to exist to this day and is accumulating. For instance with the Jarkov mammoth 1999 and its inherent proof of a moderate climate about 1000 miles from the current North Pole in about the coldest era of the last ice age. Strange things must have happened indeed in those days. The notion of different pole positions will live on.

I highly recommend the book and challenge you to solve the riddle. If not the ECD, what did really happen? How did the poles really change positions? Somebody will tell us sometimes. Will you? I might. Time will tell.

Andre

Rating:
Summary: One of the most important books of our time
Review: I will try and keep this short. All of Charles Hapgood's books are seminal works. He remains one of the most original and brilliant thinkers of the 20th century. He was also a very fine writer. His work is constantly cited by others. But don't settle for secondary sources. Read and study everything Hapgood wrote. Start with his first book on crustal displacement, EARTH'S SHIFTING CRUST. Then read THE PATH OF THE POLE. And don't miss his MAPS OF THE ANCIENT SEA KINGS. Albert Einstein was convinced that Hapgood's theory of crustal displacement was correct. The fact that Hapgood couldn't explain the mechanism does not detract from his contribution; just as Newton's work on gravity is not diminished by his inability to explain what gravity actually is. Time will prove Hapgood correct on just about everything. Perhaps the mechanism for the crustal shifts will turn out to be a periodic earth rendezvous with a nemesis, a planet X, or a periodic close encounter with a comet ...we shall see! Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: The book to read first on Pole Shift
Review: I've read the Flem-Ath book (see previous review from Rand Flem-Ath) on the search for Altlantis, and Graham Hancock's excellent book, Fingerprint of the Gods, and both books begin with Hapgood. His ideas on crustal displacement have been adopted by the "alternate history" writers and sometimes sensationalized. The back page of the copy of Path of the Pole which I got from Amazon quotes Richard Noone, author of one of those sensational books, and actually says "A planetary alignment on May 5, 2000 is predicted to cause the next pole shift -- are you ready?" This is total nonsense and a disservice to the meticulously researched book that Hapgood wrote. Hapgood felt these processes took place over thousands of years, which in his mind was "rapid." The geologists of his time were adherents of uniformitarianism and suggesting earth changes could happen in thousands, not millions, of years was heresy.

Rand and Rose Flem-Ath build on Hapgood in their book, When the Sky Fell: The Search for Atlantis, and after reading Rand's note above, I feel better about their book knowing they were in touch with Charles Hapgood. Clearly these ideas are still not mainstream and it remains to be seen when Hapgood will get the recognition he deserves. Meanwhile, before you believe all the writers of "catastrophe" books, read the original. Path of the Pole is basically an academic book, not always an easy read. Hapgood presents mountains of evidence and much of it is highly technical. But if you seriously want to know what "pole shift" is all about, then you must read Path of the Pole.

Rating:
Summary: Count me as a skeptic
Review: In so titling this review, I do not intend to cast aspersions on the author's indefatigable industry and considerable scholarship. He marshalled an impressive array of data and sought sensible conclusions from it, based on the state of scientific knowledge at the time. This was in the finest period of scientific inquiry. However, subsequent discoveries have vitiated many of Hapgood's premises and his ultimate conclusion of geologically sudden wandering of the poles is supported by neither earth science, physics, nor Quaternary paleontology.

It must be remembered that Hapgood wrote this book before the advent of plate tectonics, and while continental drift was rejected by all but a few scientists. Admittedly, an analysis of magnetic lines of force in ancient igneous deposits would supprt his conclusion of wandering poles, IF there was no such thing as moving continents. But there is.

Likewise, with reference to sudden large animal extinctions at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch, research now shows that prehistoric hunting techniques were far more advanced than previously thought, and that extinction of many of the large creatures then living was due to man-created overkill, something that is going on even today. As to climate peculiarities such as an open Arctic Ocean at the height of the Ice Age advances, research has disclosed that such is to be expected in the event of North American glaciation.

Author Hapgood, and his devotees, therefore, find themselves in a position better than the Velikovskyites, but in one which, like theirs, has been obviated by the discovery of facts and scientific principles which were not available to Hapgood when he wrote this book. Therefore, although the book is highly interesting, and even persuasive in the face of a lack of advanced study of Earth sciences, I do not find its conclusions credible in this day and and age. It is a pity that Hapgood is not with us now, for his inquisitive mind and obvious genius and industry would benefit us greatly.

My lukewarm recommendation of this interesting book is based on the foregoing. It is a good primer on how science develops, but not an accurate guidebook to the past in terms of conlusions.

Rating:
Summary: Count me as a skeptic
Review: In so titling this review, I do not intend to cast aspersions on the author's indefatigable industry and considerable scholarship. He marshalled an impresive array of data and sought sensible conclusions from it, based on the state of knowledge at the time. This was in the finest period of scientific inquiry. However, subsequent discoveries have vitiated many of his premises and his ultimate conclusion of geologically sudden wandering of the poles is supported by neither earth science, physics, nor Quaternary paleontology.

It must be remembered that Hapgood wrote this book before the advent of plate tectonics, and while continental drift was rejected by all but a few scientists. Admittedly, an analysis of magnetic lines of force in ancient igneous deposits would supprt his conclusion of wandering poles, IF there was no such thing as moving continents. But there is.

Likewise, with reference to sudden large animal extinctions at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch, research now shows that prehistoric hunting techniques were far more advance than previously thought, and that extinction of many of the large creature was due to man-created overkill, something that is going on even today. As to climate peculiarities such as an open Arctic Ocean at the height of the Ice Age advances, research has disclosed that such is to be expected in the event of North American glaciation.

Author Hapgood, and his devotees, therefore find themselves in a position better than Velikovskyites, but in one which, like theirs, has been obviated by the discovery of facts and scientific principles which werenot available to Hapgood when he wrote this book. Therefore, although the books is highly interesting, and even persuasive in the face of a lack of advanced study of Earth sciences, I do not find it persuasive in this day and and age. It is a pity that Hapgood is not with us now, for his inquisitive mind and obvious genius and industry would benefit us greatly.