The Secret History of the World: As Laid Down by the Secret Societies (Mi-Vox Pre-loaded Audio Player)

by Jonathan Black and Quercus Quercus

The book is based on twenty years research and, crucially, the author has been helped to understand what is encoded in key texts by a high level initiate of more than one secret society, in one case initiated to the highest degree. Leonardo, Newton, Washington, Napoleon and an astonishing number of the great men and women who have made history are shown to have used the secret techniques to achieve altered states that have been nurtured and preserved by the societies. There, they believe, they access a higher intelligence and see the world as it really is. Great works of art, scientific discoveries and historic decisions are shown to have arisen out of these altered states - and with a remarkable unanimity of purpose. This history is crammed with more esoteric believe-it-or-nots than any book since Blavatsky's "The Secret Doctrine", but it does also have a serious, philosophical undertow, which is the suggestion that with a slight shift in consciousness, the world and its history can be seen to be very different to what we have been brought up to believe.

• ISBN10: 1847241670
• ISBN13: 9781847241672
• Publish Date: 6 September 2007
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 23 August 2011
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Quercus Publishing
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 400
• Language: English

Reviews

[wyvernfriend]

This book has me very divided. On one hand it did make me think again about my spirituality and about the occult history that is lurking but more in terms of arguing with the author mentally. I now understand the people on wikipedia who go around randomly scattering "citation please" comments. This book made me want to do that.

Basically Mr Black or Mr Booth (he openly admits to the pseudonym on the cover) looks at the world and divides the progress of the world into semi-digestible chunks. He argues that our view of the world has become more rigid curtesy of science and that we are missing out on a lot of stuff that could give more meaning to life by sticking with this rigidity.

However, and it's a big however, this reads like that friend you have who has read way too much in a subject and you mention a historic figure and they're off. And you can't interrupt them because they've found a person to discuss this topic with and they will, at length. This almost comes across as the transcript of their side of the conversation.

Interesting? Yes, often in ways where it makes you want to look up other stories and tales about the people mentioned. Sparks off an urge to look deeper.

Flawed? Yes, almost completely ignores the female principle of things. The bibliography is written in very small font and nothing is cited, ever. He lurches from topic to topic without any real pathway.

But overall a springboard for someone who has stagnated in their research. Something to make you want to hunt up some of his bibliography and read further, stretch your mental muscles and learn more.

[Eve1972]

Heavy reading, but I found it fascinating!!