Architects of the Underworld: Unriddling Atlantis, Anomalies of Mars, and the Mystery of the Sphinx

Rating:
Summary: Execrable.
Review: A brief review of the other entries already here leaves me incredulous; how any rational human could come away from a reading of this book and believe for a moment that is "packed with proof" or somehow constitutes "rock-solid" or "extensive" research escapes me completely. To summarize: in this book Bruce Rux endeavors to collect a selection of "evidence" for the reality of a UFO phenomenon with an extraterrestrial, or at least super-technological, origin, to relate this UFO phenomenon to notions of "ancient astronauts," or of an advanced civilization lost in antiquity (i.e. Atlantis), and to tie the whole thing up into a coherent bundle. That he fails in this enterprise has less to do with lack of ambition than with unrestrained paranoia, with a lack of critical thinking, and of course with the poor quality of the "evidence" with which he is forced to work.

Said evidence consists, as it always does in the field of UFOlogy, with personal accounts, with testimony (inevitably from UFOlogists) to the credibility of the accountees. I was continually struck by how much some of the accounts Rux relates reminded me of dreams and other sleep-related experiences; I was similarly struck by Rux's complete inability to recognize such similarities and pursue them, as compared to his willingness to jump to far wilder and more improbable "explanations." Of course, if Rux had thought more about more prosaic explanations, he wouldn't have much of a book: a book of psychology would likely require some expertise and training in a specific field, while ruminations on automata crafted by an alien race to abduct humans and perform fertilization experiments on them require nothing more than a word processor. Also striking about this work is Rux's repeated denunciations of noted UFOlogists; after a certain point, one starts to wonder if there are any UFOlogists that Rux does not believe are secretly in the employ of the government cabal responsible for the UFO cover-up.

In essence, this is a book by an "armchair UFOlogist." I do not mean this as a slur--what am I, after all, but an armchair reviewer?--but rather to emphasize that this represents not a careful collection of evidence, but a summary of selected accounts and of the "research" of other people, leading to an elucidation of the author's own pet theories. Thus, when Rux writes of the Sphinx, the pyramids or ancient civilization, he is simply regurgitating, with little in the way of critical thought, the prior speculations of Zecharia Sitchin, among others. All of Sitchin's errors are thus reproduced faithfully here, as are the errors of many others. What this implies is that in writing this book Rux was not evaluating data to determine if it was genuine or not; rather, he was picking out those lines of "evidence" that he liked and ignoring the rest. In short, what Rux practices is at best crank science, and at worst simple confabulation.

"Architects of the Underworld" is a breezy read, which makes it all the easier to spot the author's lapses. As an illustration of self-delusion and faulty logic, this book may be instructive. There is no other reason to recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Goofey
Review: As a long-time student of the UFO phenomenon, as well as investigator & researcher, I was deeply impressed with this work. The premise of the author, made with starling clarity, logic and rock-solid research, ties together,finally ,all of the disparate elements of the enigma; everything from the "nuts & bolts" view, to inter/extra dimensional; from the various types of "aliens" described, to abductions, cattle mutilations, crop circles, Vallee's "control system" and Keel's "cosmic tricksters"; from disinformation and coverups to duplicitous "ufologists"; from the anomalies of Mars and the Moon to the origins of religions and mythologies. This book will be hard to take by the "true believers" (of an alien presence), but will most likely be cited in the future as the definitive answer to the UFO mystery.

Rating:
Summary: Mr. Rux has likely solved the mystery behind UFOs.
Review: As a long-time student of the UFO phenomenon, as well as investigator & researcher, I was deeply impressed with this work. The premise of the author, made with starling clarity, logic and rock-solid research, ties together,finally ,all of the disparate elements of the enigma; everything from the "nuts & bolts" view, to inter/extra dimensional; from the various types of "aliens" described, to abductions, cattle mutilations, crop circles, Vallee's "control system" and Keel's "cosmic tricksters"; from disinformation and coverups to duplicitous "ufologists"; from the anomalies of Mars and the Moon to the origins of religions and mythologies. This book will be hard to take by the "true believers" (of an alien presence), but will most likely be cited in the future as the definitive answer to the UFO mystery.

Rating:
Summary: Rux Provides Compelling Evidence For UFOs
Review: Bruce Rux has done a masterful job at finally bringing to light UFO research in a scientific manner. Rux compiles his research strictly from the public records and from governmental documents which have been released by the Freedom of Information Act. To question Rux's research is to question the research of some of the greatest minds in history who have studied the subject. Few people realize that people like Sir Francis Crick, Nichola Tesla, Lord Kelvin, Carl Sagan, and others, have all made statements suggesting their belief in extraterrestrial contact and connections with the planet Mars. Rux brings these statements to light for the first time in a complete study of the subject. This is a well researched book and one which should be on anyone's bookshelf who is interested in the topic.

Rating:
Summary: Rux Provides Compelling Evidence For UFOs
Review: Bruce Rux has done a masterful job at finally bringing to light UFO research in a scientific manner. Rux compiles his research strictly from the public records and from governmental documents which have been released by the Freedom of Information Act. To question Rux's research is to question the research of some of the greatest minds in history who have studied the subject. Few people realize that people like Sir Francis Crick, Nichola Tesla, Lord Kelvin, Carl Sagan, and others, have all made statements suggesting their belief in extraterrestrial contact and connections with the planet Mars. Rux brings these statements to light for the first time in a complete study of the subject. This is a well researched book and one which should be on anyone's bookshelf who is interested in the topic.

Rating:
Summary: Goofey
Review: Not bad but a little goofey at times. Some of his stuff isn't original at all and looks to be drawn from Alan Alford, Grahame Hancock and Atlantis Flemath. But its okay if you can bear the long winded chapters.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic, eye-opening stuff
Review: Rux has gathered some of the best evidence for the existence of UFOs and the related government cover-ups in this volume. In addition, he's managed to bring in ancient astronaut theory, which may sound outlandish to some but is in reality a theoretically rigorous body of work when in the hands of researchers like Zecharia Sitchin, whose work is given extensive treatment by Rux. The narrative flows well and Rux's command of the language is superb - he presents facts objectively with little emotional bias but somehow manages to cleverly lead the reader to the same conclusions as his. Enjoyable stuff, especially if you believe that there's a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to conventional wisdom surrounding the pyramids, sphinx, Martian anomalies and UFOs. If you're looking for a one-stop treatment of ancient and modern puzzles, look no further - this is it.

Rating:
Summary: Bruce Rux really makes you *want* to believe.
Review: This book is excellent reading. Although confusing at times because of the many names of abductees, government officials and experts, I could not put this book down.

Being a skeptic, I had a hard time believing a lot of what he wrote, but Rux has packed his book full with proof.

It is certainly an interesting read, and eye-opening on the subject of UFO sightings and abductions. It is a little disappointing that he puts so much weight on the "face on mars" and the "pyramids on mars", since neither has been photographed up close, and are impossible to verify.

In any case, I thought this book was great, and will pass it on to as many friends as I can.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent-excellent-excellent!
Review: Very well written book showing extremely extensive research. If the reader has no interest in UFOs, then the amazing information regarding the Egyptian pyramids (and other similar areas throughout earth, and even upon Mars and other planetary bodies) and how they can be linked to an advanced civilization is incredible! Using the Bible and other ancient documents and myths adds much credibility to his conclusion. It is also good to see an author giving credit to earlier pioneers, such as Velikovsky, Tesla, and others. This is a definate "must read" for anyone interested in current and ancient oddities. Be warned, anyone reading this book will likely continue their personal research in these areas.