"The Secret History of the World" by Mark Booth

This book intrigued and repelled me for a very long time.

Intrigued because it had obvious appeal of unknown,attractive subject but the covers were so gaudy,tasteless and sensationalistic that I had impression this would turn into some silly rambling about cosmic plots against everybody and everything on earth. Than after months of world traveling,this book popped out in my local bookstore and I decided this was the sign: if it follows me from South Africa to my own corner of Croatia,it is obviously looking for me.And boy,it turned out to be so interesting and thought-provoking that I gulped it in two days,promising to my self it should be re-read again more carefully.

First,author asks us to forget about scientistic approach to life and return to ancient,superstitious way of looking at the world around us,with angels,fairies,demons and nature closer to us.This was interesting enough and surely it takes some time to turn one's head around it but it works fine. Instead of going for some silly New age rambling,Black than continues to explore centuries of history and how human race searched for universal answers about meaning of life,where do we go,why are we here and afterlife. Along the way he explores myths,religions and cults,often showing amazing knowledge of the subject,throwing tantalizing informations about everything from Mandrake men to Pyramids to Solomon's temple and legends about Green man - it truly makes one's head spinning and there is nothing sensationalistic about the book.

Perhaps its author's gentle way of writing (he fits somewhere between Richard Dawkins and Graham Hancock, and this is my highest compliment) enchanted me and subject was surely fascinating,but I must admit the pleasure was also partly because at the very start I decided not to take this book literally as a gospel truth but as interesting entertainment and surely there were moments where I know this is all a bit stretch but it kept me reading nevertheless. There were also many other moments (like chapter about Cagliostro and Count de St Germain) where I literally forget to breath,so absorbed I was in the story. And the theory about life on earth (minerals-plants- animals-humans) sounds very interesting to me.

I am aware that there are probably many who had different expectations from this book and wouldn't like authors theories,but from my purely subjective point of view it turned far better than I expected and I enjoyed it very much. In fact,it must be one of the best books I have read recently!