Less than 50,000 years ago mankind had no art, no religion, no sophisticated symbolism, no innovative thinking. Then, in a dramatic and electrifyi...
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Nov 17, 2007
Mike
rated it: 
I can't recommend this author highly enough, his writing style is very clear and readable, he does tons of research and supports his ideas extremely convincingly. I recommend ANYTHING this author has written.
This book talks about altered states of consciousness, ayahuasca ("vision vine" used in S. America) experiments, DMT experiments, trance states commonly used by shamans, ancient cave paintings, the San people who once lived in the Kalahari, and commonality of experienc More...
This book talks about altered states of consciousness, ayahuasca ("vision vine" used in S. America) experiments, DMT experiments, trance states commonly used by shamans, ancient cave paintings, the San people who once lived in the Kalahari, and commonality of experienc More...
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Jan 19, 2008
Maze
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By J. W. Kennedy on Amazon.com
"Hancock repeats himself over and over ad nauseum to drive his point home, but the book can be condensed down to this: Alien abductions = fairy abductions = shamanic spirit journeys. Increased levels (either naturally or artificially induced) of DMT in the brain bring on vivid hallucinations, and for some reason the basic content of these "dreams" is consistent across times and cultures. Could it be that there's an objectively "rea More...
"Hancock repeats himself over and over ad nauseum to drive his point home, but the book can be condensed down to this: Alien abductions = fairy abductions = shamanic spirit journeys. Increased levels (either naturally or artificially induced) of DMT in the brain bring on vivid hallucinations, and for some reason the basic content of these "dreams" is consistent across times and cultures. Could it be that there's an objectively "rea More...
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Mar 29, 2007
Dem
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I bought and started the book about a two and half weeks ago. I am currently on Part III chapter 11. Being an artist and having a fascination for history and the human mind, I could not help to be drawn to a different point of view about prehistoric cave art.
Well Graham Hancock "takes you there" and I really appreciate that he does. This books is not for everyone but the ideas and inquiries are worth it to all. If we do not take a moment in our daily lives to stop, breath, More...
Well Graham Hancock "takes you there" and I really appreciate that he does. This books is not for everyone but the ideas and inquiries are worth it to all. If we do not take a moment in our daily lives to stop, breath, More...
Jan 26, 2008
Dana
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A friend suggested I read this - fascinating book tying in Shamanism, Ancient Cave Art, DMT, Aliens, sounds crazy....but Hancock does a convincing job of tying all these things together with a theory that mind altering drugs actually "tune" our brains into a different channel of reality. Hmmmm... after recently watching the movie "What the Bleep do We Know" which is about recent advances in Quantum physics,energy, non-linear time, etc.... I found some of parrallels interest
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Aug 13, 2011
Erik
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Michael Miley introduced me to Graham Hancock's work many years ago in that he gave me one of his books to read. But back then it was the book and its topic, ancient Egypt, which was of interest, not the author. Since then, listening to old Art Bell podcasts of interviews with Hancock, I have come to appreciate the author as an individual. Whether or not one agrees with his lay hypothesizing, it is apparent that Mr. Hancock is a sincere and well-meaning fellow.
This book is not ori More...
This book is not ori More...
Jul 17, 2010
Andrea
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We can agree the supernatural has been apart of our culture for thousands of years. This statement is the subject of Graham Hancock's new novel Supernatural. But who is Graham Hancock?
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Hancock spent most of his younger years in India. Later, he went to school and university in the northern English city of Durham and graduated from Durham University in 1973 with First Class Honors in Sociology and pursued a career in journalism. He wrote for newspapers such More...
Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Hancock spent most of his younger years in India. Later, he went to school and university in the northern English city of Durham and graduated from Durham University in 1973 with First Class Honors in Sociology and pursued a career in journalism. He wrote for newspapers such More...
Nov 30, 2009
Stargrave
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Basically this book provides a decent overview of encounters with so-called supernatural beings over the course of time. It is part of the book's thesis that these encounters can be explained by psychedelic experience (which here includes but is not limited to drug-induced experience). The author writes tirelessly that 2% of people can experience hallucinations normally and other people can attain them via drugs, shamanistic trances, or pain (fasting, multilation, etc). This thesis is interes
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Aug 05, 2011
Nick
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Although Hancock is not a traditional scholar, this book is very well documented and well argued. In the first 200 some pages Hancock makes the connection between shamanism and the paleolithic cave painitings. This is a no-brainer for me, but Hancock acts as if it is still a controversial thesis to present, which maybe it is. In this first section, the writing can be a bit dull though he is trying to be very, very careful and support all that he presents. When he finishes with the cave paintings
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Sep 26, 2010
Diana
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This book at times had me on the edge of my seat full of new ideas and ways of seeing the world, and then yawning and rolling my eyes. (This was mostly during the accounts of Fairy sightings a few hundred years ago.) It also left a bit of a cliffhanger at the end which makes me want more. But really only the next chapter, not another whole book.
In a nutshell, this book discusses alternate realities and our spirituality. It seems meticulously researched. Hancock makes a compelling case More...
In a nutshell, this book discusses alternate realities and our spirituality. It seems meticulously researched. Hancock makes a compelling case More...
May 18, 2008
Clive
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Absolutely mind blowing made me stop in my tracks and think not the easist book to read but should be read by anyone who thinks.
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Dec 10, 2011
Kati
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Hancock has managed to select another really interesting topic to write way too many pages about. The first half of the book is fascinating and I am in complete agreement that art and religion most likely came about as a result of shamanic trance (to which end I am planning to read David Lewis-Williams' books on the topic). I also found the suggestion that the Abrahamic religions contain tons of shamanistic elements really interesting as well. The suggestion that fair and UFO abductions are one
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May 31, 2010
Justin
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Graham Hancock is the king of speculation. His books will either convince you there’s a lot more to human history or make you scoff at his speculation. Regardless, it is damn entertaining. One of the first books I ever bought was his Fingerprints of the Gods (1996) which discussed how anomalies associated with ancient monuments tend to indicate a wide-spread ancient advanced civilization. Even though I was intrigued by the way Hancock tied all those threads together I’m still deeply skeptical of
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Aug 16, 2008
Elfie
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I am not a Hancock fan, but I bought this book because of my interest in Upper Paleolithic art and having read Lewis-Williams / Jean Clottes' interpretations (Shamans of Prehistory) I was curious about what Hancock has to say.
Although extensively researched, the book is at times erratic and rambling on repetitively.
Above all it is most doubtful that his counter-arguments (including his personal drug-induced perceptions) to Lewis-Williams' claim that ALL altered states of consciou More...
Although extensively researched, the book is at times erratic and rambling on repetitively.
Above all it is most doubtful that his counter-arguments (including his personal drug-induced perceptions) to Lewis-Williams' claim that ALL altered states of consciou More...
Apr 24, 2008
Brian
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This is the second Graham Hancock book I have read. The first was Fingerprints of the Gods.
I didn't like Supernatural quite as much as I did Fingerprints, but it is a good one nonetheless.
Hancock is a good researcher, and he does a lot of interviewing, reading, and traveling to collect information for his books. For Supernatural Hancock took a number of hallucinogens including DMT, Datura the South American Shamanistic brew Ayahuasca.
The details of his exper More...
I didn't like Supernatural quite as much as I did Fingerprints, but it is a good one nonetheless.
Hancock is a good researcher, and he does a lot of interviewing, reading, and traveling to collect information for his books. For Supernatural Hancock took a number of hallucinogens including DMT, Datura the South American Shamanistic brew Ayahuasca.
The details of his exper More...
Aug 11, 2009
Bruce
rated it: 
everything I disliked about Fingerprints of the Gods is even worse in this book: Boring adventures of the author, long winded repetition.
I am hoping my friend who got this for me lets me know that there is nothing more shocking than the idea that hallucinogens were responsible for early human spirituality, so that I can stop reading it.
Because I am over my limit for reading about Graham's drug trips and written descriptions of cave art pictures.
update: I hype More...
I am hoping my friend who got this for me lets me know that there is nothing more shocking than the idea that hallucinogens were responsible for early human spirituality, so that I can stop reading it.
Because I am over my limit for reading about Graham's drug trips and written descriptions of cave art pictures.
update: I hype More...
Sep 10, 2009
Kevin
rated it:
A little off kilter but I enjoyed his other book "the fingerprints of the gods"
From this book, it is obvious that Graham Hancock is a believer in the supernatural. He uses the common hallucinations of ghosts, goblins, fairies, elves and aliens to explain that drugs can get regular people to tap into a supernatural realm that is otherwise only available to religious practitioners.
Unfortunately, there is absolutely no proof for the same... and with the ever incre More...
From this book, it is obvious that Graham Hancock is a believer in the supernatural. He uses the common hallucinations of ghosts, goblins, fairies, elves and aliens to explain that drugs can get regular people to tap into a supernatural realm that is otherwise only available to religious practitioners.
Unfortunately, there is absolutely no proof for the same... and with the ever incre More...
Mar 10, 2011
It sounds like fringe-non-fiction-crazy, but actually makes fascinating connections between early cave art, psylocibin and other hallucinogens throughout history, and an astonishing look into DNA. I like Hancock’s who-dunnit approach to history. Plus, for the sake of scientific rigor, he tries the shrooms himself.
Nov 09, 2011
Oyku
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This was a complete eye-opener for me. If you are an open-minded reader who thinks it is possible that we are completely wrong in our understanding of the human history and our understanding of what "reality" is, then you must read this book. Actually not just this one, you must read Graham Hancock.
Oct 28, 2007
travis
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one of the best books that i have read in ages
hancock picks up where terence mckenna left off with a more familiar background in ancient civilizations
and picks up where rick strassman couldnt safely go any further for the sake of his academic career
anyone interested in the progression of shamanism over time in relation to mythical creatures, into religious figures, onto fairy folklore, into modern alien/UFO cases
hancock does an excellent job at detailing the evolving sh More...
hancock picks up where terence mckenna left off with a more familiar background in ancient civilizations
and picks up where rick strassman couldnt safely go any further for the sake of his academic career
anyone interested in the progression of shamanism over time in relation to mythical creatures, into religious figures, onto fairy folklore, into modern alien/UFO cases
hancock does an excellent job at detailing the evolving sh More...
Jul 10, 2011
If you like research into shamanistic cave paintings, Terence McKenna, know about John Mack's research into UFO encounters, have some familiarity with research into the Fairie Faith, and have read the Spirit Molecule about DMT, you'll like this book. Still reading it.
Jul 29, 2011
Michele
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Not an easy read for some, but will open eyes on the role that hallucinogenic drugs have played in the past and that the visions received may have helped teach our ancestors how to use plants in healing and given us the brains we now have.
Dec 04, 2008
I couldn't help but pick this one up when Phoenix didn't have what I was lusting after. Spent about an hour with it last night; don't regret a minute of it. Helps not beliving in time, of course.
Aug 25, 2010
Helen
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Wow! The author has put so much research into this book and gives a thorough review of work on alien abductions, cave paintings, fairy myths, Shaman's folklaw and spiritual beliefs. One of the most interesting books I have ever read.
Feb 23, 2010
John
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Alternative history author experiments with indigenous people's drugs to experiment with alternative consciousness and meets universal spiritual archetypes along the way.
Aug 10, 2011
Fascinating but too repetitive. The book could do with some serious editing down by at least 1/3 of it's 500 odd pages!
Jun 03, 2011
William
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fun & thought-provoking. good overview. could foster some conflation & over-simplification, though.
Aug 11, 2008
Amy
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I was very disappointed in this book. I expected the same quality as that found in Hancock's other books like Fingerprints of the Gods and The Sign and the Seal. Both of which I loved. If you enjoy reading about aliens and drug use, you'll probably like this book. Personally, I think it only served to diminish Hancock's credibility as a serious author. I didn't care for Hancock's ramblings at all. In fact, I was bored throughout much the book and had a difficult time finishing it.
