The Twelfth Planet : Book I of the Earth Chronicles

Rating:
Summary: It's a creation theory, it's a floor wax, it's a dessert top
Review: After locating the book misfiled in the Sci-Fi section, I implored Barnes and Noble to file the book in it's designated Non-Fiction area. I returned to buy Genesis Revisted and found it misfiled in New Age.Hard to know where it goes when you see the paperback cover pictures. About content I'd have to say it's a kooky theory with a lot of fasinating research and documentation. Can't prove him right...or wrong yet. Like a horror story about heaven. Very entertaining.

Rating:
Summary: Okay... it takes an open mind fer sher.
Review: Mr. Stichin has one of the most facile minds on the planet today. His rewriting of Sumerian history along with his penchant for pulling a mind-blowing metaphor out of passages from Genesis that I've read a million times left me staggered. Any reader of Mr. Stichin's books must accept some chaff in the bales of quality wheat he harvests from existing documents. This ones a hell of a ride!

Rating:
Summary: "Could this be it???"
Review: Sitchin's work is truly revolutionary for a number of cases.First,he is able to expound mankinds linkage from a largely forgotten & virtually unknown civilization that is ironically probably the greatest source to research on in unmasking the myths from the facts.Secondly,his self dicoveries here are truly amazing in the sense that since some of these artifacts were discovered,none of the scientists nor archaeologists have been able to decipher their true meanings prior to his.Of course,an open mind is still the best resource for reading Sitchin is like walking a narrow rope,you could choose on what side to fall on,,belief or otherwise,for a lot of the man's points lack that definitive punch to make it truly believable.A lot of it would just merely daunt to speculation,regardless of its immediate arousal.But you could sympathize for the man,cause it clearly shows that he could have had more evidence than he has had.The book may drag near the middle part,but the concept,the searing whirlwind of its theories which maintain a grasping hold on the memory,completely make up for all the mistakes it may show.

Rating:
Summary: Sitchin presents a multitude of intriguing theories
Review: While many of his suppositions are only loosly documented by evidence, he makes a compelling case for the origins of human civilization in ancient Sumer. This book is at the very least fascinating and thought provoking. The scholarship shown in his linguistic interpretations is first rate, (although his conclusions sometimes gloss over evidenciary inconsistencies). All in all an excellent read

Rating:
Summary: Excellent alternate view of history
Review: Highly recommend for those with a religious background who didn't quite buy the explanations of the seeming inconsistencies in the Genesis stories. Worth wading through to the final chapters where everything really comes together in an explanation of Biblical bersions of Adam & Eve and Noah that is definitely worth pondering

Rating:
Summary: In his time, they said Galileo was crazy, too!
Review: The 12th Planet is among the most intriguing, thought provoking books recently written. While in past decades I'd barely given notice to Von Danikken and Velikovsky, Sitchin captured my attention and imagination from the start. His theories appear to have a wealth of leads originating across the sciences; from archeology and astronomy through genetics and geology to zoology and zoomorphism. However, many critics have deplored the sketchiness of his seemingly profuse documentation. Isolated, many facets of the evidence are tenuous and easy to dismiss, but the depth and scope of the sum total will cause any critical (yet open) mind to ponder with wonder. You need not take it all seriously to enjoy the read, just imagine the possibilities. And to the reader who labeled Sitchin as "nuts", please tell us how Sitchin (if as he claimed), using ancient archeological and textual evidence, predicted findings of the Voyager planet flybys in contradiction to modern "expert" opinions?

Rating:
Summary: step back
Review: for people who have invested and heavily on one belief there is no way for them to keep an open-mind. not many learned and important people were correct about the shape of earth once upon a time. which reminds me of the story about blind men and an elephant: the one touching the trunk proclaimed it a hose. the one holding its leg declared it a tree. the one feeling the tail insisted it a rope.

there are a few things sitchin turns on its ears and this is upsetting to many people who find themselves listening to floors if they consider sitchin's suggestions for a minute. i'm sure sitchin wrote his books with full knowledge how upsetting his opinions/discoveries could be. people claiming to have open minds should take whatever in strides. it is too easy to focus on a few strong points and claimed you've discovered a house of cards and be hastily dismissive.

in my opinion: sitchin's discoveries are opinions he has the right to hold to. it is also my opinion that sitchin's expression of his opinions are made in terms which seemed forced, sometimes a little bit, sometimes a little bit too strong.

perhaps he is constructing lines of dominos pieces but the "establishments" doesn't have air-tight spaceships either.

if anything i take out of sitchin and other like books that ruffle combed-over feathers or take petrified ideas out of basements and try to beat the crap out of them, or try to propose possible sensible answers to mysteries, it is to have greater curiosity about everything. it is often good to step back to see the bigger picture. stepping too far out is just as bad as being too closely focused.

Rating:
Summary: Best Book on Mankind's Ancient Past !
Review: I noticed there are a few uneducated people in this field of study, who wrote some negative things about Sitchin's work. I say uneducated, because their comments are not consistent with the newest discoveries or information from the world's leading archeologists and astronomers. For example "9th grade science that discredits his ideas". This person believes that information has not changed since they were in 9th grade. With that way of thinking we would still believe that the earth was flat (well some people).

Most good leading astronomers believe that there is another planet out there we have yet to discover in our solar system. They came to this conclusion based on the small deviations in some of our planets orbits. The latest planet creation theories hold that a rogue object (i.e. meteor, asteroid, or planet) did smack into one or more of our original planets. A good example of us having still not discovered everything out there, is that we recently discovered a new planetoid they have decided to call Sedna. Of which has an orbit much, much greater than they previously thought was possible.

A small fraction of the people who have wrote on here, don't have and open mind to new discoveries. Which I question why they read this book, or claim to have, in the first place.

I did my own independent research (which took a year on just the first book of Sitchin's) on what Sitchin wrote. I did this from a scientific and theological stand point, and could not find anything that was not accurate. That is not to say that all of it is 100% accurate. I don't think reading anyone's work on a mystery as big as mankind's entire ancient past you could have 100% accuracy.

I was very skeptical at first, but if someone can show me the evidence to backup their claims, no matter how seemingly outlandish the claims, I will believe them.

"When you have eliminated the impossible, what remains no matter how improbable, must be the truth". - Sherlock Holmes

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." - Genesis 1:26

Notice the above quote say "US" and "OUR". Take a guess what that means.


Rating:
Summary: A must read although there are missing links in the theory
Review: Sitchin's all books on "Earth Chronicals Series" are all great but the 12th Planet should be rated at the first place. However there are some missing points in his theory. His highly impressive way of explaining ancient events are disturbed at some points with some unsuitable assumptions which are not actually go with the general style (or logic)of the book. The doors, however, which Sitchin opens are very very important. A real revolution...

I will highly recommend all of the people who are interested in knowing about earth's chronical to read a book when it is translated into English language. The book is written in Turkish and as far as I know it's not translated into any other language yet. I can not know what its name in English version will be, but if I translate it directly, it should be something like "2012:RENDEZVOUS WITH MARDUK". This book is the result of an incredible reseach which has theoretically very strong bases. It covers all ancient civilisations (besides eastern civilizations, Mayas, Inkas, Indians etc. are also included) and it fills all the gaps which are remained unexplained in Sitchin's books. Hope someone translates this book as soon as possible.



Rating:
Summary: Pseudo-science shrouded in scholarly jargon...
Review: First, let me dispel the widely believed idea that Sitchin is a scholar of Sumerian and Akkadian. NO! HE IS NOT! He taught himself these languages and it shows. His translations are a joke and anyone who really studies cuneiform can see right through his amateur mistakes. A true scholar works and participates in his field. Sitchin has done absolutely no profitable or published work on Sumerian or Akkadian philology.

With this book Sitchin has far outdone himself through fantasy, rhetoric and imagination. His claim is that there is a twelth body in our solar system (counting moon and sun), whose orbit brings it into the solar system every few thousand years. He claims that intelligent beings from this planet implanted earth with life, which is revealed in ancient texts. To put it bluntly, anyone who has been taken by this has been dupped. I mean no disrespect, but Sitchin's claims are not only physically impossible, but his scholarship is damnable. While some claim that he "is one of the first to read cuneiform," this is out and out false. The early decipherers of cuneiform were G. Grotefend, H. Rawlinson, E. Hincks, W. Talbot and J. Oppert and they were able to decipher the script based on the text copied by Rawlinson at Behistun. The decipherment was deemed complete in 1857 when independent translations of an unpublished text from the time of Tiglath-Pileser were compared. Sumerian, which Sitchin claims to know (even being called a Sumerologist), is still a more troublesome matter. While written in the cuneiform script, the earliest texts (ca. 3000 BCE) are written mostly in logograms with very little grammatical information indicated so their interpretation is more difficult. Later copies (ca. 2000-1000), are written with more syllabic signs, thus indicating more of the grammar. In any case, Sitchin has never received any formal training in Sumerology or Assyriology - he is an autodidact. His translations and use of archaeology are faulty and confused. Any bit of probing of the relavent scholarly literature will provide light on the actual meaning and content of these texts. There is no conspiracy in the scholarly community to withhold this information - it is simply erroneous. Believe me, scholars would love it if it were true. It would put their names in the paper and they would actually sell books. Actual archaeology and textual translation are somewhat more mundane, but still fascinating. Don't be fooled! Sitchin couches his follies in academic jargon, but his books should be read as fiction!