Rating: 
Summary: Good, bad and ugly
Review: "Serpent in the Sky" is primarily concerned with popularizing the otherwise inaccessible work of R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz, who spent a great deal of time making exhaustive measurements of the Temple of Luxor and subsequently incorporated his findings into a comprehensive reinterpretation of ancient Egypt known as "Symbolism." A final chapter and a pair of appendices summarize West's investigation of an offhand comment of Schwaller de Lubicz that the Sphinx appears to be weathered by water, with the conclusion that such weathering necessitates a redating of the Sphinx's carving to at least 5000-7000 BCE and perhaps much further in the past. As tracts of alternative archaeology go, this is not an easy read, and so the casual reader should be forewarned. The content of this book falls rather neatly into "good, bad and ugly" classifications.On the good side, I found the application of "Symbolism" to the Egyptian hieroglyphics intriguing. West shows rather nicely (though I would like to see more conventional views in their original context) how literal translations of Old Kingdom pyramid texts seem like complete gibberish, and most likely do not do justice to the people who wrote them. The symbolic translation appears more believable. On the bad side, West is not reticent about engaging in rants against what he terms the "Church of Progress," meaning the belief in technological and scientific advancement as the measure of human accomplishment, and the depradations of modern society (which, he boldly asserts, is not a civilization) on the human soul. One does not have to be a Luddite to have some sympathy with this view, but its application to studies of ancient Egypt, with the conclusion that this long-lost civilization was far more advanced (in a non-technological sense) than our own, seems misplaced. It is odd, after all, that after castigating modern Egyptologists for the "flimsy" reasoning behind, for example, the conventional dating of the Sphinx, West should use evidence even more flimsy to claim that the ancient Egyptians were healthier than "Western" man, or that they had knowledge of pi, phi, and the zodiac. At best, West's harping on the "Church of Progress" is simply annoying. At worst, he seems unable to recognize when his own prejudices are coloring a too-rosy picture of the past for which there is no evidence. As for the ugly, West's creationism prompts him to unleash several baseless attacks on Darwinian evolution. Usually, his rants concern the application of evolutionary principles, which were really only meant to apply to the origin and extinction of species over great spans of geological time, to human societies. Certainly, Darwinian evolution has been overextended in non-biological arenas, but the fact of evolution is simply not contestable on rational grounds. West's scientific credentials are compromised further by his claim that astrology has some basis in observable phenomena. It is in these subjects that "Serpent in the Sky" degenerates into complete drivel.
Rating:
Summary: Good, bad and ugly
Review: "Serpent in the Sky" is primarily concerned with popularizing the otherwise inaccessible work of R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz, who spent a great deal of time making exhaustive measurements of the Temple of Luxor and subsequently incorporated his findings into a comprehensive reinterpretation of ancient Egypt known as "Symbolism." A final chapter and a pair of appendices summarize West's investigation of an offhand comment of Schwaller de Lubicz that the Sphinx appears to be weathered by water, with the conclusion that such weathering necessitates a redating of the Sphinx's carving to at least 5000-7000 BCE and perhaps much further in the past. As tracts of alternative archaeology go, this is not an easy read, and so the casual reader should be forewarned. The content of this book falls rather neatly into "good, bad and ugly" classifications. On the good side, I found the application of "Symbolism" to the Egyptian hieroglyphics intriguing. West shows rather nicely (though I would like to see more conventional views in their original context) how literal translations of Old Kingdom pyramid texts seem like complete gibberish, and most likely do not do justice to the people who wrote them. The symbolic translation appears more believable. On the bad side, West is not reticent about engaging in rants against what he terms the "Church of Progress," meaning the belief in technological and scientific advancement as the measure of human accomplishment, and the depradations of modern society (which, he boldly asserts, is not a civilization) on the human soul. One does not have to be a Luddite to have some sympathy with this view, but its application to studies of ancient Egypt, with the conclusion that this long-lost civilization was far more advanced (in a non-technological sense) than our own, seems misplaced. It is odd, after all, that after castigating modern Egyptologists for the "flimsy" reasoning behind, for example, the conventional dating of the Sphinx, West should use evidence even more flimsy to claim that the ancient Egyptians were healthier than "Western" man, or that they had knowledge of pi, phi, and the zodiac. At best, West's harping on the "Church of Progress" is simply annoying. At worst, he seems unable to recognize when his own prejudices are coloring a too-rosy picture of the past for which there is no evidence. As for the ugly, West's creationism prompts him to unleash several baseless attacks on Darwinian evolution. Usually, his rants concern the application of evolutionary principles, which were really only meant to apply to the origin and extinction of species over great spans of geological time, to human societies. Certainly, Darwinian evolution has been overextended in non-biological arenas, but the fact of evolution is simply not contestable on rational grounds. West's scientific credentials are compromised further by his claim that astrology has some basis in observable phenomena. It is in these subjects that "Serpent in the Sky" degenerates into complete drivel.
Rating: 
Summary: EGYPTOLOGY RE-INVENTED
Review: A MARVELLOUS INTRODUCTION TO THE WORK OF R.A.SCHALLER DE LUBICZ. A MUST READ FOR ANYONE CONTEMPLATING THE STUDY OF "THE TEMPLE OF MAN" WELL DONE JOHN WEST!
Rating:
Summary: a foundation for the new Egyptology and the Fourth Way
Review: First, please understand that this work is of an exponentially higher order than the gee-whiz historical sleuthing of Graham Hancock, Colin Wilson and the rest. This is not to detract from such authors, but West is coming from a higher perspective. If you want insight into the deeper meanings of the ancient monuments and myths in Egypt, a subject whose surface is hardly scratched by the Hancock and Wilson type of writer, you MUST acquaint yourself with the ideas of the esotericist of genius, R. A. Schwaller de Lubicz. That is the subject matter of this book. Likewise, if you are interested in the ideas of G. I. Gurdjieff or P. D. Ouspensky and are looking to expand on their themes, look no further. Even though they were unaware of one another's work, Schwaller and Gurdjieff are amazingly similar, the difference being that Schwaller is the greater intellect. And if you aren't interested in any of this stuff, buy this book and find out why you should be.
Rating:
Summary: A Massive Study
Review: How old is the Sphinx?
This question can be answered in two ways. The standard answer is: it is just as old as I got to know when I went to school when I studied a two volume book published by J.A. Hammerton and translated into Finnish by Ilmari Jäämaa and Mika Waltari (later known as the author of 'Sinuhe, The Egyptian'). This book said that the age of the Sphinx is unknown, but usually it is thought to be from the time of Khefren (Greek version of the name), who lived 2558-2532 B.C. and was the son of Kheops. John Anthony West starts with the fact that we don't know how old the Sphinx is and has made a study of its age arriving at the colclusion that it is not appr. 4500 years old, but much older. Time will show if he is right or wrong with his theory. Meanwhile he has written a truly amazing book, which has so much more than the above theory: a deep study of Symbolism just to name one thing. An example of this is the discovery that the Egypt as we know it was born at once, without any prior development; it was a legacy from a preceeding culture that we do not know anything about. What was that culture? Where did it disappear? Perhaps it is time "to try to re-examine Egypt as a whole" in the light of Schwaller de Lubicz's discoveries, which are not few. This is exactly what John Anthony West has done for the past 30 years. A book that is certainly worth reading and an inspiration for further studies!
Rating:
Summary: Truly Enlightening
Review: I bought this book because of fringe interests and have been overwhelmed by the information. If you are not scholarly . . . it's a hard read . . . but well worth the investment of your time.
Rating: 
Summary: facts are tricky things
Review: It often happens that, when a surprising or unexpected observation is made, people tend to jump to extreme conclusions rather than asking themselves whether the observation is really inconsistent with the facts as they are already known. So it is with the realization during recent years that the sphinx has been subject to water erosion. This is not a brand-new fact, as it was mentioned more than 10 years ago, but people have reacted predictably by concluding that, since earlier students of the problem failed to mention the water erosion, that necessarily means that their work is now "all wet", so to speak, and that we must now push the age of the sphinx back thousands of years further into the past. "Those guys had their chance," you can hear the fringe science crowd thinking. But in fact mainstream archaeologists, including the Egyptian archaeologist who have been responsible for recent work involving the sphinx, have been aware of the water erosion and have not been moved to posit an association with Atlantean colonists or anything so extreme. It merely happens to be the case that the effects of water erosion can be greater in desert regions than is sometimes assumed. It was pointed out when the water erosion of the sphinx was first popularized that there is a mud brick wall not that far from the sphinx that has been almost washed away during the last hundred years. On the whole, The Serpent in the Sky is at least a cut above the UFO theories of people like Zecharia Sitchin and von Daniken, and there is no doubt some truth to the claims of mathematical symbolism it makes, but in the end the mathematics and the symbolism are the achievement of the mundane, occasionally inspired, labors of Egyptians scribes and priests of dynastic Egypt.
Rating: 
Summary: The Opening of the Mouth
Review: J A West has nearly singlehandedly revived R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz' prolific work on the discerned symbolism of the ancient Egyptians. Those interested in learning about SdL's interpretation would find this to be a good introduction, and will also find that many of SdL's titles are back in print, though a little pricey. I have no need to learn any more about what may have been the intent of people attempting to apply magical thinking to the physical world, whether those people are long dead or my contemporaries. The real value of this book is in a single idea from SdL's work, which is the realization that the Great Sphinx at Giza was heavily eroded by water (pp 177-179). Geologists who oppose the idea that rain caused this erosion are few in number, and their motives are suspect since they'd previously not noticed or not pointed out in public the obvious fact of water erosion. Such geologists are now limited to a slow retreat, attempting to accept water erosion without accepting greater antiquity, and the way they do this is by dreaming up new ways water erosion can do its work with great rapidity in an arid environment with essentially no rain. One of the revolting aspects of the debate has been that the core argument gets attacked not on any lack of merit, but through damning by association. Robert Schoch doesn't attribute the Sphinx to Atlantis. Even though John Anthony West suggests such a link, the main point of disagreement between Schoch and West is that Schoch's estimate of the Sphinx' age is much lower than West's. Both put the Sphinx origin in what is known as Predynastic times. West does a good job showing the (two) roots of the various conventional beliefs about the Sphinx, and shows the ancient documentary evidence which supports a pre-Khafre Sphinx. While Robert Schoch's "Voices of the Rocks" is a better choice, one has to read Schoch's articles (KMT, etc) to get the specifics of his views about the water erosion in any detail. West's book is a better choice for that particular narrow focus. Those with an occult or fringe interest will find that West's book is also a better choice than titles by Hancock, Bauval, Gadalla, and Sitchin.
Rating:
Summary: The Opening of the Mouth
Review: J A West has nearly singlehandedly revived R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz' prolific work on the discerned symbolism of the ancient Egyptians. Those interested in learning about SdL's interpretation would find this to be a good introduction, and will also find that many of SdL's titles are back in print, though a little pricey. I have no need to learn any more about what may have been the intent of people attempting to apply magical thinking to the physical world, whether those people are long dead or my contemporaries. The real value of this book is in a single idea from SdL's work, which is the realization that the Great Sphinx at Giza was heavily eroded by water (pp 177-179). Geologists who oppose the idea that rain caused this erosion are few in number, and their motives are suspect since they'd previously not noticed or not pointed out in public the obvious fact of water erosion. Such geologists are now limited to a slow retreat, attempting to accept water erosion without accepting greater antiquity, and the way they do this is by dreaming up new ways water erosion can do its work with great rapidity in an arid environment with essentially no rain. One of the revolting aspects of the debate has been that the core argument gets attacked not on any lack of merit, but through damning by association. Robert Schoch doesn't attribute the Sphinx to Atlantis. Even though John Anthony West suggests such a link, the main point of disagreement between Schoch and West is that Schoch's estimate of the Sphinx' age is much lower than West's. Both put the Sphinx origin in what is known as Predynastic times. West does a good job showing the (two) roots of the various conventional beliefs about the Sphinx, and shows the ancient documentary evidence which supports a pre-Khafre Sphinx. While Robert Schoch's "Voices of the Rocks" is a better choice, one has to read Schoch's articles (KMT, etc) to get the specifics of his views about the water erosion in any detail. West's book is a better choice for that particular narrow focus. Those with an occult or fringe interest will find that West's book is also a better choice than titles by Hancock, Bauval, Gadalla, and Sitchin.
Rating:
Summary: Well researched but occasionally flawed
Review: John Anthony West begins with a rant about modern western rationalism, the sort that is usually an attempt to justify shaky logic later on. Fortunately this doesn't materialise, but while the author is extremely well read on Egyptology, (and quotes his sources, which makes a refreshing change from other authors), he has an annoying habit of spouting off on subjects he knows nothing about. One of these is evolution. Anyone who agrees with his charicature of evolutionary theory, should read Stephen Jay Gould immediately. Few if any evolutionary biologists nowadays associate evolution with "progress", and certainly not with "human progress". Complex ("advanced") organisms evolve into simple ("primitive") organisms just as often as the reverse happens. The idea of human beings at the top of the evolutionary tree was an arrogant flight of fancy which died out (among biologists at least)early this century. No one claims that the early E! ! gyptians had "just descended from the trees" as he facetiously claims. Fully modern humans had already existed for the best part of a million years before Egypt arose as a civilisation. A reference to "Neolithic hunter-gatherers" betrays the author's ignorance of human history. Neolithic people have, by definition ceased to be hunter-gatherers. Once West gets onto the subjects he understands, the book improves immensely. His interpretation of Egyptian beliefs and culture, makes a lot more sense than those of any other authors I have read. The refusal of most scholars to examine anything but the most obvious religious symbolism in Egyptian writings, and the consequent tendency to dismiss most Egyptian religion as gobbeldygook is rightly condemned. The speculations about the sphinx are true testable hypotheses, and this is one of the book's high points. Other explanations are also considered. While one theme of the book is the mathematics manifested in Egy! ! ptian architecture, it avoids "pyramidology".
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