Books like Talisman by Graham Hancock


A roller coaster intellectual journey through the back streets and rat runs of history to uncover the traces in architecture and monuments of a secret religion that has shaped the world. **Review** Praise for Graham Hancock: “A reading experience of pure gold.... History buffs, Bible scholars, anyone who likes a great intellectual detective yarn will plunge into The Sign and the Seal and not come up for air until the end.” —Seattle Times “Provocative.” —The Globe and Mail “Even if you are a confirmed skeptic, Hancock should give you pause for thought.” —Rocky Mountain News (Denver) “An entertaining writer and an interesting cultural journalist.” —Publishers Weekly **Goodreads Reviewer:** Tony **Recommends it for**: *Anyone interested in religious traditions & symbols* This is perhaps the most comprehensive book I have ever read on religious traditions and symbolism. More specifically, the book deals with alternative/shadow western religious followings, from the Egyptian Goddess, Isis, to Christian Gnostics to Christian Cathars of the Middle Ages to the Knights Templar who came out of Cathar traditions to Masonic Traditions in Europe and later in the United States. The book draws parallels to many religious symbols in cities across the western world, particularly obelisks in Alexandria, Egypt, Vatican City, Paris, New York and Washington, DC. No book could be a better source of information for novelist Dan Brown, and I would be surprised if he has not read or used Talisman to gather information for much of his writings. **From Publishers Weekly** This sprawling conspiracy theory traces the influence of ancient Egyptian and gnostic ideologies concerning a dualistic, Manichean cosmos prefiguring the earthly order, knowable only through secret, magical lore from medieval Catharism to the French vogue for pharaonic monuments and deities, the astrologically suggestive layouts of Paris and Washington, and the Statue of Liberty (the "Isis of New York"). The conventional explanation for the historical recurrence of gnostic themes and Egyptian iconography—that people peruse old texts and art works and adapt their ideas and symbols to new purposes—strikes Hancock and Bauval (coauthors of Keeper of Genesis) as inadequate. They discern the millennia-long plot of a shadowy gnostic "Organization" working through usual suspects like the **Freemasons**, whose hidden hand they see influencing everything from the French Revolution to the founding of Israel. The authors draw eye-glazing webs of connections between historical coincidences—some intriguing, others tenuous and forced—to insinuate a "not altogether impossible" master plan. But their proposed conspiracy never gels. Its guiding philosophies, **Christian gnosticism** and **pagan occultism**, don't really mesh, and its agenda seems no more coherent than a perennial opposition to the alleged intolerance and obscurantism of the Catholic Church. The book's crude anticlericalism and conviction that culture propagates by conspiratorial, not intellectual, processes make it a distortion of the gnostic mindset.
First publish date: 2004
Authors: Graham Hancock
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Talisman by Graham Hancock

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Books similar to Talisman (8 similar books)

The Sign and the Seal by 13950940|Graham Hancock book cover

📘 The Sign and the Seal

Graham Hancock tracks the legendary Ark of the Covenant through ancient archives, Ethiopia’s civil war, and mythic lore, uncovering where it may now be hidden.

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📘 The pyramids and the Pentagon


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📘 The ancient engineers


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Magicians of the gods by 13950940|Graham Hancock book cover

📘 Magicians of the gods

Graham Hancock argues that an advanced Ice Age civilization was destroyed in global catastrophes around 12,800–11,600 years ago, and that its survivors—called the Sages, Magicians, and Shining Ones—dispersed worldwide, founding sites like Göbekli Tepe, Baalbek, and Giza.

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The Lost Book of Enki by 10077715|Zecharia Sitchin book cover

📘 The Lost Book of Enki

First Trade Paperback edition 2004-08-16

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Supernatural by 13950940|Graham Hancock book cover

📘 Supernatural

Less than fifty thousand years ago mankind had no art, no religion, no sophisticated symbolism, no innovative thinking. Then, in a dramatic and electrifying change, described by scientists as "the greatest riddle in human history," all the skills and qualities that we value most highly in ourselves appeared already fully formed, as though bestowed on us by hidden powers. In Supernatural Graham Hancock sets out to investigate this mysterious "beforeandafter moment" and to discover the truth about the influences that gave birth to the modern human mind. His quest takes him on a detective journey from the stunningly beautiful painted caves of prehistoric France, Spain, and Italy to rock shelters in the mountains of South Africa, where he finds extraordinary Stone Age art. He uncovers clues that lead him to the depths of the Amazon rainforest to drink the powerful hallucinogen Ayahuasca with shamans, whose paintings contain images of "supernatural beings" identical to the animalhuman hybrids depicted in prehistoric caves. Hallucinogens such as mescaline also produce visionary encounters with exactly the same beings. Scientists at the cutting edge of consciousness research have begun to consider the possibility that such hallucinations may be real perceptions of other "dimensions." Could the "supernaturals" first depicted in the painted caves be the ancient teachers of mankind? Could it be that human evolution is not just the "meaningless" process that Darwin identified, but something more purposive and intelligent that we have barely begun to understand? Graham Hancock is the author of Fingerprints of the Gods, Keeper of Genesis, The Mars Mystery, Heaven's Mirror, and Underworld, all number one bestsellers. ***The Guardian*** has credited him with having "invented a new genre—an intellectual who-dunnit by a do-it-yourself sleuth." **Review** "Graham Hancock is no stranger to controversy. The former journalist, whose books have sold five million copies in the past 10 years, has repeatedly dared to challenge scientific shibboleths, taking a run at entrenched thinking in archaeology, geology and astronomy." -***The Globe and Mail*** **Reviewer**: Guy Vincent 5.0 out of 5 stars, Verified Purchase **Pushing the boundaries of psychedelic science** This book was recommended to me by one of the most educated and interesting friends I know - also educated in Western medicine. I would have been resistant to ideas of fairies, aliens and machine elves, had I not experienced similar beings myself, during ayahuasca ceremonies in Peru with Shipibo shamans. This book pushes the boundaries of biophysics, neuroscience and ethnobotany, and opens new ideas for research in psychedelic science. The connections between DMT and DNA make this book worth reading alone. Read this, if you have an open mind, or are curious about our place in the physical and non-physical universes. **Reviewer**: The Diab0lus 5.0 out of 5 stars, Verified Purchase **If you've ever had doubts about the existence of the supernatural world, you wont after reading this** For all you book readers out there who want something good that will blow your mind, I would HIGHLY reccomend this gem. If you want a more in-depth understanding of the supernatural, how it applies to us as humans, and how it all works and functions from a practical and also a theoretical point of view, this is the book for you. Graham Hancock (the author) has always been a respectable and revolutionary archaeologist & investigator and is considered a pioneer in the realm of pre-history, archaeology, archaeoastronomy, anthropology, ancient religions & mythology and their origins, the occult, etc. All the hidden knowledge and information about human life on this planet and its origins can all be found in his books. I've always been a skeptical type of person, but all of his work is backed up with a solid foundation of evidence necessary to support it. Every single chapter of every one of h

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The divine spark by 13950940|Graham Hancock book cover

📘 The divine spark

Edited by Graham Hancock, this anthology gathers 22 voices probing psychedelics—from Amazonian ayahuasca to LSD—examining mind‑altering states, interspecies dialogue, enlightenment and neuro‑risk across South America, the American Southwest, and beyond.

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Fingerprints of the gods by 13950940|Graham Hancock book cover

📘 Fingerprints of the gods

The author presents evidence for "the existence of an ancient advanced civilization--not Atlantis--that predates Egyptian, Hittite, and Chinese cultures"--Publisher.

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