Travel to Africa

Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant

Format: Paperback
Author: Graham Hancock
ReleaseDate: 02 July, 1993
Publisher: Touchstone
Rating:

Much more factual than Hancock's other books....
Rather than creating the story from scratch, one can make a case that Hancock brought widely separated, but quite genuine, pieces of history together to create a complete picture. This is a very provocative book, but in the main, this is because the set of historical theories, as laid out, are so sweeping in scope, rather than because the theories are altogether ill founded.

At the same time however, one can see traces of an entirely different type of mythological writing in this book. The book is laid out in more or less chronological order, and around the middle of the book, Hancock describes how he is 'touched' spiritually by some of the liturgical ceremonies of the Ethiopian church. Unfortunately, this experience, in making Hancock feel more comfortable with his mystical side, seems to have unleashed a fount of ill-founded techno-religious speculation that turns into a veritable river in his later books. All this may be well and good in it's own place, but Hancock's continuing hunt for a 'master' civilization (Atlantis), has precious little to do with the story of Ethiopia and the ark. Needless to say, legendary religious artifacts like the ark of the covenant are controversial enough without such vaporing appended, and Hancock's mystic musings do a wonderful job of turning what might be a worthy topic of historical inquiry into an archeologist's joke. Those chapters in the book covering Hancock's religious theories and grand historical musings are striking in their contrast of speculation to the greater portion of the book, where a logical and evidentiary approach are in evidence.

Fortunately, after a couple of conjectural and speculative chapters in the middle of the book, the historical narrative reasserts itself. Altogether, this is a fascinating book, and the way in which the book is laid out, with new information changing the picture through the chronological course of Hancock's investigation, makes the book exciting reading able to compete with the best thriller.

Again I must emphasize that this early example of Hancock's work is controversial history, rather than the highly speculative history that is the better portion of Hancock's work.

This book got me back into reading after college...
In my early post grad school years, a friend recommended this fascinating book to me, and it got me back into reading. During college I had lost the joy of reading. . . and I discovered history, what I SHOULD have majored in. Ethiopia in particular is one of the most fascinating countries on earth. Endlessly fascinating.

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He returns to it though after a few pages and all is well again. Yes, I could not put this book down! WOW! Why 4 stars though? Graham Hancock is not a bible expert in a spiritual way, but he's a great detective! I did not like the middle of the book where he gives his own whacky biblical views, because this departs from the main detective story.

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