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 "before-and-after 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 animal-human 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?
This newly revised edition of Supernatural is now available for the first time as a paperback original.
Graham Hancock is the author of the international bestsellers The Sign and The Seal, Fingerprints of the Gods, and Heaven's Mirror. His books have sold more than five million copies.
A bit long winded While Graham Hancock again makes a pretty good case for his controversial theories, I found this book somewhat redundant and lacking the appeal of some of his other books that I have read. While I found the illustrations from ancient writings facinating, his drug induced explanations from his "visions" became a little tedious. I thought the book could have been a lot shorter, and had a hard time staying with it after about the first 300 pages or so. Although Hancock's ideas on the origins of religion in the human animal may be interesting from the anthropological point of view, it seemed to me that he had said all he really had to say long before the book was over.
good read Hancock's basic thesis has been well described by other reviewers below. H. champions the popular Lewis-Williams hypothesis that cave art reflects shamanic rituals performed under trance conditions (often induced by hallucinogenics). This hypothesis he connects to his own experiences of having met "alien intelligences" in his own hallucinogenic journeys created by ibogain, ayahuasca and Psilocybe, in which GH encounters Egyptian gods, ancestors, transcendental snakes and weirdly sinister alien types with slit eyes. Hancock then combines these pieces of information into the suggestion that human evolution has been guided since time immemorial (actually, since about 30 000 BC) by discarnate intelligences living in "other dimensions".
To prove this idea, GH goes fishing for corroboration: he finds it in tales of UFO abductees, who claim to have been taken onto alien spacecraft, hoisted with "implants" and forced to nurse alien-hybrid babies (i am not making this up). Then he is struck by the similarity of the fairy lore to UFO abduction tales... again, the idea is that these "alien" creatures have been with humankind from dawn of our consciousness and that they are responsible for its awakening -through trance states induced through dancing, sensory/physical deprivation or hallucinogenics. They may even have messed with our DNA where Hancock approvingly cites Narby's ideas about DNA as a "cosmic serpent".
Like most of Hancock's books, Supernatural is well-written, representing yet another display of a natural storyteller's talent for delaying hapless readers' gratification - all the while leading us along winding roads decorated with sightseeing trinkets represented by UFO abductees, DMT trippers, prehistoric caves, Francis Crick, therianthropes, spirits and San Bushmen from Southern Africa. The book is superbly illustrated with representations of cave art from Europe and Africa and has a great intro into the murky politics of prehistoric art scholarship. However, while pretending at practicing the art of investigative reporting and objective analysis, GH is anything but. This book is all about selective citation, where *only* case studies, theories and ideas that conform to GHs grand hypothesis are cited whereas opposing views literally don't exist, with the exception of those that are easily debunked (i.e., Lewis-Williams' detractors). In other words, this book is an entertaining read, nothing less... and nothing more.
Yet - if you do chance upon it, read it. You'll have a good time.
Requires more field study/testing; Author too eager to state his theory is correct I enjoyed entertaining the hypothesis proposed in this book. The author does a very good job reporting research done by others that helps support his hypothesis, although the author tends to provide more "case examples" than is necessary in each sub-argument, making the book longer than necessary. However, the authors of the other work he quotes admit more testing/research is needed to help prove the "realness" of what is seen in their own and research subjects' ethnogenic experiences, and the author's own experiments with ethnogenic substances as reported in the book contain only some similarities to what he is arguing should be dominant staples in everyone's experiences with these substances, as his theory goes. Relatedly, I felt he did not perform enough attempts with each substance, or at least didn't report enough of them, for me to see that the few flashes of similarity he did experience support his main hypothesis. Similarly, I disliked how the book ended on an open-ended note where he had just consumed more substances as another "test," but that's it - book ends - no information about how that experience went.
Ultimately, more testing/research is needed; I hope there is, as there seems to be a strong case for this hypothesis...
Entertaining and interesting Supernatural takes you on a classical Graham Hancock journey this time through the jungles and into the culture of the shamans. Hancock in this book combines historical research with experimentation of psychotropic hallucinogens such as ayawasca and DMT. The book focuses on phenomenological issues of consciousness and the evolution of constructive thought. The thesis of this book is essentially that the evolution of the human mind and thought from the ancient non-sophisticated cultures to our current super technologically advanced societies today, was facilitated by the virtue of conscious experimentation and experience with psychoactive plants which unlocked the secret wave lengths or channels of useful knowledge which exists in different wave lengths than the one`s we are commonly use to.
One of the issues Hancock focuses on is the historically accurate account given by Francis Crick that it was under the influence of LSD that he "saw" the double helix structure of DNA. Crick of course with Watson are the ones credited with elucidating the structure of DNA. Hancock also goes on to talk about his discovery that many cultures which use psychotropic plants prepared by shamans have a history of discovering very improbable and greatly hidden secrets. How he supports this assertion I do not know considering that the cultures today that continue to promote shamanic rituals are usually the most technologically backwards. Nonetheless, aside from simply the technological benefits that Hancock attributes to DMT and the like there are, he maintains spiritual benefits. He talks about how all of his life he suffered from migraines but after taking ayawasca several times his migraines are now gone. Here he seems to be crafting an interesting parallel to the hallucinogenic plants with modern interests in homeopathy and the like. Certainly the concept of nature plays a huge role in this book and it's message. One of the messages of the book is that human nature has become corrupted by the modern vices and pressures of a materialistically obsessed society and because of this corruption society has become ill. Hancock sees the shamanic culture and its rituals as part of the remedy for this ailment.
Throughout the book Hancock gives is interpretations of various ancient artwork and the like tying it all in with shamanic rituals. All in all the book was very entertaining but I wouldn't bother going out and experimenting with drugs. Just because one mad scientist claims that one LSD trip helped him to visualize the structure of DNA, it is not a worthy inference in my opinion to go out and use such drugs in hopes of a similar experience especially considering their dangerous track records.
Also one of the interesting facts and perhaps real original researched facts that was brought up in the book was the discovery of a particular plant that the ancient Egyptians used that had psychoactive properties. I find this of worthy note and very interesting in how it may have played a roll in their cultural manifestations, especially in the artwork that we see though out their great structures as in Abydos.
My greatest problem with the book was not its extreme theories about human development and the evolution of consciousness but the fact that the book drags on. Hancock just keeps traveling and looking at more and more ancient cave art and some of the examples are boring at best. He continues to use more and more DMT and extrapolate more and more possible insights about mans experiences with the ancient teachers of mankind which he affirms exist in other dimensions. The focus towards the end of the book was too much on the drugs and the ancient art work and not enough on the meaning and possible science of the experiences he is dealing with.
I say 4 stars because its far better than the usually drivel. I am a pretty liberal grader so it could have earned 5 but it needed to be more scientific for me to give it a full score.
Questions for your brain With this book, I have read most of Hancock's works, from Message of the Sphinx, Talisman, Fingertips of the Gods, among others. While this particular book strays from the so-called "real world" (as in very few actual sites are mentioned throughout the book) it still focuses on the themes Hancock started to write about years ago.
To those unfamiliar, his work - and this book is no exception - is not about giving final answers to readers. Rather, Hancock poses one of the most interesting questions you can find out there, challenging your perception of, well, reality as you know it.
The reader will initially find the assumptions here really far-fetched, but as the book progresses, it is hard to toss these assumptions out. They will stick to your brain after you've read them. I keep looking at fairies (yes, really) in a much different light.
Highly recommended for those interested on ancient cultures, the birth of life and how our civilization and phenomenos happen. I wouldn't suggest it for those firmly set on the status-quo: the idea here is to break it apart and see if the rebuilt scenario works better than the previous one.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
