A Journey to the Earth’s Interior

by Marshall B. Gardner

A Journey to the Earth's Interiorby Marshall B. Gardner"Marshall B. Gardner, a hollow-earth proponent, published the first edition of this book in 1913, after Peary reached the North Pole in 1909. Gardner thus had a much harder job than William Reed; that is, overcoming the public perception that the poles had been reached.Gardner's book is in some ways superior to other books in this genre. He attempts to come up with a scientific hypothesis to explain the formation of hollow planets, instead of divine fiat or no explanation at all. He is also a lot more readable. One of the most enjoyable parts of this book is Gardner's fantasy account of a journey into the interior of the hollow earth, which, while not up to the standards of Jules Verne, seems almost plausible if you can suspend your disbelief temporarily.Naturally, a great deal of the book consists of narratives of arctic explorers (covering some of same material as Reed). The book marshals a great deal of anomalous polar evidence, such as attested warm regions near the poles, red dust, strange auroras and so on. Last but not least are those poor flash-frozen Siberian mammoths, who seem to crop up with such regularity in the crank literature,--probably because traditional scientific explanations of their demise always sound so fishy when quoted out of context.There is a long section at the end where he deals with the response to the first edition of his book, including an opponent who raises a theory of a prehistoric 90 degree polar shift to account for some of the same evidence! By contrast, a hollow earth would definitely be more plausible.Although Gardner doesn't attack the scientific method or basic physical laws, as other alternative earth theorists do, perhaps he should have. According to traditional physics, inside of a hollow earth-sized sphere there should be zero gravity; and centrifugal force caused by the earth's rotation would be insufficient to keep things inside the hollow earth from floating away, either. Working out the math of a star small enough to fit inside the earth, not too hot to fry the interior surface, and not too dense to turn into a black hole is 'left as an exercise.' The charming idea of denizens of the hollow earth going about their business lit by a never-setting mini-sun is simply a fantasy."

Genres: Nonfiction

180 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1913

Reviews

[Ralph · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s been over a century since this book was penned, expounding the idea that Earth is a hollow sphere, hiding an undiscovered country, so you might expect that every piece of evidence put forward by the author would be easily shot down by 21st Century knowledge. Ah, if only that were the case. Unfortunately, the one trait we share with the people of the last century is that our ignorance still vastly outweighs our knowledge, and, like them, we are blissfully unaware of that fact.

The idea that the Earth (and perhaps all the other planets) are hollow has been around for a very long time. In times past, it fueled religious and mythological motifs, but in the 19th and 20th Centuries, it was used in popular fiction by Burroughs and Verne, among others. It also moved into the realm of fringe science, forming the basis for several “factual” accounts of journeys inside the Earth, notably “The Smokey God” and the so-called Shaver Mystery, which inflamed the letter columns of Amazing Stories Magazine in the middle of the last century.

The author of this book, however, is not presenting a fictional story, nor does he claim that he has been inside. Instead, he lays out various historical, geological, biological and astronomical facts, and interprets them in the light of the reality of the inner world. Of all the facts presented, only the shimmering lights of the Aurora Borealis seem dated to the modern reader, but only because we believe we know their actual cause. All of the other pieces of evidence—out of place animals, pollen where there are no flowers, logs where there are no trees, heat and fog where there should be coldness, open seas where there should be nothing but ice—are just as mysterious and as subject to interpretation now as they were then. The frozen mammoths and their edible flesh remain inexplicable. Flashing lights at the Martian north pole (which Gardner takes to be intermittent glimpses of that planet’s interior sun) are still a mystery to NASA.

Does Gardner prove his hypothesis of a Hollow Earth? No, his theory remains as unproven now as it was when his words were new. More importantly, however, his theory is still not disproved. We may know quite a bit more about the interior of the Earth than in Gardner’s day, and we’re learning more every day through seismic imaging, but we’ve still barely scratched the surface. Reading this book will not make you believe there is an unsuspected world hundreds of miles beneath our feet, but it will give you cause to wonder, and to perhaps search on your own for the truth.

[Damon Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely intriguing read, especially the testimonies of Victorian Sea-men who would 'still' have been able to access our worlds North Pole(?) region, which I personally believe has not been possible since Rear Admiral Richard E Byrd' exploits in the earlier part of last century, lending much credence to 'something' going on other than what we have been spoon-fed by our would-be world leaders, as there has been nothing to report from any further likeminded individuals since pre 1910, that is of this nature (at least not to my knowledge)........I have found the older the book (pre 1940) then the more accurate the content, be it world history, archeology, encyclopaedia', chronicles etc & so forth. Even in our supposed South Pole(?) region we have been prohibited from going anywhere near since the 1959 Antarctic/Atlantic Treaty, and this under the 'pretence' of preservation, when if you stop and think for a moment just how utterly absurd that pretence is, with how we 'actually' treat our surrounding habitat and all those that abide on it, "it's just a nonsense"........the real reason why we are not allowed anywhere near these regions is because we will uncover 'Truth'.

[Tinylittlewars · Rating 5 out of 5]

I, for one, am convinced.