Book Review of: Weapons of the Gods

Price: Under $10
Availability: Usually ships within 24 hours
Click on the image to order or find more books like this.

(You can print this review in landscape mode, if you want a hardcopy)

Reviewer: Mark Lamendola, author of over 6,000 articles.

Were atomic bombs used on earth before the modern era? In this book, Nick Redfern shows why that idea isn't one to dismiss out of hand. And it's a great read!

This is one of several Nick Redfern books I have reviewed. Full disclosure: I received a copy from Redfern's publicist. Redfern's publicist always takes a risk when sending me a book for review, because I've written some harsh reviews of books they've sent. With Redfern's books, the risk is non-existent because I "get" his style and am a fan and follower. While many authors seem to lower their standards over time, Redfern seems to raise his. To me, he seems to be more objective as time goes on. And I really appreciate that.

Redfern's books tend toward the "nonmainstream" side. Most authors in this space push an agenda, trying to convince you that their conclusions are the only possible explanation for what they are discussing. Redfern does not take that approach. Instead, he looks at the various theories, suppositions, and claims. He explains why some just don't hold water and why some are plausible. He relies on reasonably certain facts and he correctly applies logic.

As usual, he really gets you thinking about how various dots connect. As usual, he doesn't confuse correlation with causation.  For many people, the non-sequitor is their standard tool for dis-analyzing things (it's why they are wrong). Redfern just doesn't do non-sequitors, as far as I can tell. Nor does he confuse irrelevant things or make one thing a precedent for something unrelated to it. The various logical errors committed by many "non mainstream" commentators is why so many are not taken seriously. Redfern avoids muddying the waters with nonsense, so what you read actually leaves you better informed (rather than disinformed).

Often in this genre, an author starts with a conclusion and pieces together facts (and fiction) with a little bit of faulty logic to "prove" his thesis. Redfern starts with a thesis and shows you what's good about it and where it's weak. Or where it's fatally flawed.

This book is written in Redfern's recognizable style. It's a bit verbose, but in a way that really works.

In Weapons of the Gods, Redfern discusses a plethora of facts and theories that support the idea that atomic weapons were used on earth thousands of years ago. This may sound nutty, but one of the theorists was none other than the brilliant physicist Robert J. Oppenheimer. Yes, THAT Robert J. Oppenheimer, the "father of the atomic bomb." The dude who ran the Manhattan project.

If Oppenheimer believed that "the bomb" had been used before modern times, the idea is worth looking at. So Redfern looks at it over the course of twenty two chapters in 192 pages. All well-written and intriguing.

Of particular note are the glass remnants (in massive quantities) in locations such as Death Valley and the Sahara. Glass that, as far as we know, is formed from sand only with extremely high heat (such as that created by an atomic blast). And there is quite a bit of this glass in those locations. How did it get there? Many other anomalies contribute to the intrigue, but this one is a real head-scratcher because an atomic blast seems to be the only plausible explanation. Yet, it seems implausible that such a blast occurred thousands of years ago at these locations.

As usual, Redfern provides an extensive bibliography. In this case, it's 13.5 pages. Many of these sources are of dubious authority, but they are probably more trustworthy than such obvious sources of disinformation as the New York Times. That rag actually gets read by important people, a very scary situation when you think about it. Some of his sources, such as books bearing the imprint of the Harvard University Press, seem irreproachable.

The book is also indexed, which is helpful for those using it as a reference text. Given how many citations this book has, the index may be truly helpful to anyone researching similar topics.