Book I of the Earth Chronicles (The Earth Chronicles)

The book has some very interesting ideas, told in a dramatic yet scholarly fashion. However many of the statements he declares as self evident seem more like well held opinion than verified fact. Despite the fact that the basis of some of his material is dated and since proven incorrect. His grasp of interrelated disciplins is nonetheless remarkable.

Now that there is so much FACTUAL material available on the subject, anyone who doesn't explore the EVIDENCE behind the Ancient Aliens hypothesis with an open mind should no longer be considered a well-educated person. You may not agree with all of the CONCLUSIONS that writers such as Sitchen reach. However, the archeological and contemporary first-source historical records seem to indicate that mainstream academics are wrong about many things. In this book you will explore first-source material directly - you will not have to rely on anyone's interpretation.

The concept is believable. Some of the holes in the logic of the Old Testament are plugged. The book doesn't answer all the questions but recent speculation about Planet X suggest more answers may be fore coming. If you believe in the ancient astronaut theory as I do this is a must read.

Compelling read, really wonder how much is true. Wasn't aware how Sumerians were the first know civilization and how complex they'd been. Kinda thought that was Egyptians, but these guys came way before and created so much for our species. Worth a read and your considerations.

Great book and alternative views to how the world and humans came into existance. The author backs up with facts and also drops jewels of other books and artifacts is referenced for to follow up on as well.

The author's grasp of ancient culture and language make the compelling evidence hard to refute. I may disagree with his liberty in some of the suggestions, but the evidence is overwhelming, the annunaki created us and our culture

Dr. Sitchin(recently deceased) has written a very interesting, thought provoking book about our (humans) origins. He goes back to the Sumerians, and gets data from their tablets. (There are many examples of tablets, images, statues, in the book). He was a known scholar who read and understood Sumerian as well as other ancient languages and came up with this comprehensive account of our beginnings. He quotes often from the Bible, where there is great correlation!
Dr. Sitchin also authored a whole series of books which flesh out the ideas presented in this first of a series!
Read it slowly, absorb some of the ideas!

For anyone who is interested in ancient civilization and genesis in the bible will find this a fascinating read.Its slow to start but if you come back to it its well worth it and will definetly give you plenty to think about,all you need is an open mind.Its almost like a science fiction read

Quite a new way to think about some basic questions, and how it is supported throughout history. This series of books should be required reading! This is the first in the series and sets the tone for the rest. If you're only interested in trying one of Sitchin's books, this one is the one to get.

Zecharia Sitchin is a God send for Erick Von Daniken and the those that read his books. For all the doubting Thomas es the 12th planet is a good one to read. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because it's a little dry unless you have a great love for archaeology in which case you won't find this like a text book.

Very interesting premise about the rise of man. I enjoyed the book. Makes you wonder about civilizations that may have not yet been discovered. I'd recommend this book to anyone with an open mind to the possible histories of man.

This is a truly amazing scholarly book. The arguments he presents are put together from an overwhelming body of ancient texts. I guess it is helpful to read Sumerian. I got a real education out of this. The book of Genesis and the myth of creation as presented in the Bible come alive in a way that is unimaginably exciting and expansive. More importantly, this book is elegant and beautifully written.

Ancient Sumeria is without doubt one of the most neglected areas of historical research. In schools, it is merely glossed over. Yet the evidence that Sumeria was the foundation of today's civilization is overwhelming.

The reasons for this are probably connected to scholarly discomfort at what we have actually discovered about Sumeria. In other words, it doesn't fit our cherished presuppositions - theological, cosmological, anthropological, ethnological, scientific, and artistic. Enter Sitchin to stir things up.

Although he is much more of a scholar than Erich Von Daniken, Sitchin's premise of astronaut extraterrestrials who created humankind thru genetic manipulation clearly benefited from the earlier groundwork laid by Chariots of The Gods et al.

No matter how many times I read over his paragraphs, Sitchin only reads or translates the ancient texts as though they were courtoom depositions. Dry facts only. Ancient scribes did not use metaphor, allusion, or symbol to express their message? Apparently not.

So rather than attempting to decipher the symbolism, Sitchin interprets all of it literally. Likewise, the biblical texts. Or at least, the texts that he selects - the ones that fit. This doesn't mean that earth was not visited in the past. I find that easy to accept. Where I feel Sitchin has stretched the evidence is his in conclusion that the Annunaki created humankind. Nothing about their technical abilities, as delineated in cuneiform texts, leads me to that idea.

It is wonderful! It neatly ties up all the questions I have ever had about the bible. Terrific, exciting reading. I hope there will be a screen play of the story, because it will make a terrific movie!

Though now a bit dated, The 12th Planet was published in 1976, it is still an interesting read. Originally, I had read the book in the late '70s and it was fascinating. But reading it now, it all seems a bit dated and hokey -- the whole business about the Nephilim's space program reads a lot like the American Apollo Program of the '60s. Still, having said that, it was a fascinating entertainment. The whole Ancient Aliens meets Middle Eastern Religion/Myth trope is a fascinating one.

For myself, these books are simple entertainment and nothing more. If you are looking for a rundown on the criticism directed at Mr. Sitchin you will find it on his Wikipedia page -- I feel no need to go into these here. After all, books like this are not, by the general reader, meant to be taken all that seriously. They are fascinating modern mythologies, and some out of control attempts to squeeze myth and religion into an off-the-cuff, almost psychotic, agenda. I, however, can't help myself -- I love these books.

Also, much of the contemporary Ancient Alien hypothesis [and I am being generous with the term] found its origin here and with the work of Erich von Däniken. Therefore, as source material it is still an important read. The average reader may find a lot of the material repetitive, because many of the ideas presented here have made their way into the works of other Ancient Alien theorists, but there is still much that will be new for readers who are interested in fringe thinkers.

4 out of 5 stars

Recommended for Ancient Alien theorists and those interested in speculative/fringe history/myth.

Lots of fun.

Update: I now have the CDs version which comes on 11 CDs. The MP3 CDs which are 2, don't even have Chapter Marks. I'm really glad I bought the actual Audiobook CDs. the store really should make it easier to find them. Now I'll make a higher quality Audiobook with the sound normalized a little higher.
The MP3s for the MP3-CDs are split by files, 20 of them. There are not any indicators of chapters. That's really lame for "iPod, iPhone, iDevice Ready." But the price is very low, so ya..

I got this from a Pre-Order, around December 25th for Youtide (that's what it is Christians, not Christmas), and because I was so excited I goofed and didn't realize I picked the MP3-CD!! Grr!! Ah, well, price was cheap enough...I decided to keep it. I also wanted to know what quality they made the MP3s in. I'm heavily into video editing and sound.

First...avoid this in MP3s!! The volume should be raised if you're going to listen to it with an iPhone speaker, or an iPad 2 and not Earbuds. 2nd, it does NOT come with a picture image depicting which Book it's for. So you have to add that. Hmmm...I think who made this doesn't understand Metadata. I encode my stuff in stereo, NOT mono....even since the voice is in mono. Then plus is...it's all encoded as 128Kbps instead of that horrible 64Kbps!!

I've reprocessed it so the volume is louder AND is recognized AS an Audiobook rather than Music.

The PLUS...is the reader is doing well, and I dig that. So I'm keeping the collection, but I've ordered the CDs version because I don't like the crappy setup they did. It's like Buying a Blu-ray and getting the code for the poorly rendered Digital version that is Copy Protected so you're not allowed to watch it YOUR way...on whatever devices you have. This is why I never use those codes, I rip and use USB Hard Drives and keep the full quality. Or I re-Author the Blu-ray myself.

The content on these 2 CDs is....ehhhhhh....could have been created much better and preped it much better for iPod/iPhone, etc.. I will do a lot better job once I have the CDs. But I am glad, from being really ticked earlier, that I've been able to start listening ('m a very, very slow reader---by pages). It's unabridged and so far I'm hearing details the abridged version didn't have, yay!! I'll update this once I have the CDs. I'll leave the stars as 5..for the excellent information as it is like the book.

Avoid the MP3-CD!! Unless you're cool with the limits.

Pretty in depth research on summeria. more then ive seen elsewhere. i find stuff like this to be as much up for consideration as say the bible or any other early books on what happened in the early days of man. my only complaint with this as in everyone one of those other books is that they are all steering you in a way to find the same answers and explanations that they did when there may be other answeres or explanations. All in all i found it very in depth and interesting but also boring at times. The factual stuff about how most religions have the same amount of gods in early religions and the same exact stories from religion to religion is fun stuff to bring up at parties or when you have self righteous people trying talk about religion. most of them dont know anything other then whats in their book and most people dont even have full understandings of whats in their book. Ask a christian about the nefilim and see what they have to say.

The simple reading of Sitchins work has enriched my life in countless ways. Alot of things going on in the world today are directly related to the information obtained from 'the 12th planet' and offer keen insight as to the situation of world affairs, as they stand today. I now understand, as a single example among many, the 'Suni' situation together with those of Iran (as Sitchin would say) as related. to the Aryan culture that flourished 5,000 yrs ago. . . . history repeats itself. The 'stuff' of Sitchins work is directly applicable in todays world where the challenge is to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.

Some one told me about Zecharia Sitchin and this was the first one I read. I will read any thing to find the Truth. He does make you think but they are his idea's nothing real backing his idea with sound material. This is my personnel option. I have most of his books but a good read

The supposition, of a planet seeding human life is believable, but an alien life creating earthlings is another. I find the reading some times to be creditable, but without any other interpretation available I don't know if anything is proved. These are dead lanuages, and even Stichin point out different different interpretations. But still a good read.

Zecharia Sitchin has an impeccable reputation for his research on the Sumerian texts (clay tablets). Reading this changed the way I viewed what the ancients actually knew. Their knowledge was greater than many generations after them. ZS shows how the ancients knew of the solar system and how it was formed. He tells of the gods forming a worker after the gods rebelled at working in the mines and the fields. Learn of the story of the Arc and the deluge from the Sumerian's perspective. Learn how we received the knowledge of the circle of 360° and the 12 foot, and the naming of the major constellations. Not an easy read for some but well worth the time and effort.

Very thought-provoking. I had no idea there was so much ancient information still around today, with more to be uncovered. I feel more comfortable with stories from the Bible and look upon ancient art and rock writing with a different view.

The Angel Hunter
I will say from the gate, I enjoyed this book. The ancient history and cosmology theories were very interesting.
The problem with this book however,and all the way back to Chariots of the Gods by Von Daniken, is that it always ends in the same dead end for me. Where oh where has just a little proof gone? If an advanced race, alien or terrestrial, spliced DNA to create thinking man, there should be at least some technology buried or abandoned somewhere on this Earth to validate such events. To date, I have never seen CNN reporting from a dig that uncovered an ancient launch pad or ancient biological laboratory. The book is worth reading only for food for thought. If you are looking to this type of writing as validation for your belief in ancient astronauts look elsewhere. The proof may be out there... but it is not in this book.