[Contrary 
Books]
Catastrophism and Alternative Cosmologies
The Reading Room
$Revision: 1.30 $ -- A note about this site: I am working with
another enthusiast, who, like me, has his own 'main' site. We both wanted
to present resources in the area of catastrophism and alternative
cosmologies. Presented below are lists of books, reviews of some,
suggestions for others.
Selected Reviews
[Worlds in Collision] by
Immanual
Velikovsky, 1950, in three paragraphs; annotated to make sense. Original
descriptive text by Alfred deGazia. Very short.
[Reviews of Worlds in Collision]
gathered by Duane Vorhees. More extensive.
["The
reaction to Velikovsky"] A reasoned recap of the history and efforts
of Velikovsky, is provided by James P. Hogan in an essay which can be
found here. In Section 5 the antics of the objections to Velikovsky become
theater. From a book of collected essays by Hogan, Kicking the Sacred
Cow (2004). See his site at
[www.jamesphogan.com] for more.
[Cosmic Heretics] Brian Moore's
review of Alfred De Grazia's book of 1984. "the most continually
engrossing of all de Grazia's books to date -- particularly for the
non-specialist as it tells a fascinating story, replete with an all-star
cast of remarkable characters."
["Breathtaking nonsense"] Clube and
Napier's meteor and comet book, The Cosmic Serpent (1982): some
critical
notes.
Four additional Clube and Napier reviews:
- A review sprinkled with exuberant enthusiasms like "a
superbly crafted book" by [Martin Beech].
- A somewhat critical review by [David Morrison], a former NASA employee,
published in Skeptical Inquirer.
- A critique of Morrison by [Leroy
Ellenberger].
- Finally, a devastating review by [Bernard Newgrosh] which voices many of my
objections.
[An incomplete review of] The Cycle
of Cosmic Catastrophes (2006), by Richard Firestone, Allen West, and
Simon Warwick-Smith, which proposes a galactic supernova as the source for
the destruction at the start of the Younger Dryas. I stopped the write-up
in 2009.
[The Chinese in America] 1421, the
year China discovered America (2002) by Gavin Menzies. Interesting
reading of a narrative built on the supposition that the Chinese Treasure
Fleet circumnavigated the globe decades before the Europeans did so. The
supporting data is slim at times, and dead wrong at other times, and there
are a few other complaints, but overall it is very interesting reading,
demonstrating the use of a retro-analytical method of investigation.
[Thoth Newsletter] Probably the most
interesting and informative of documents on the web dealing with the
Saturnian Polar Configuration, written during the formative period in the
theoretical development from 1997 to 2004. Originally at 'Kronia.com', but
since March of 2010 the site has been scuttled. Alternate sets of
documents are available
[SaturnianCosmology.org]
and at [OtherGroup.net].
URL of this page: http://contrarybooks.com/index.php
This page last updated: Thursday, May 15th, 2014
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Feel free to email any comments or corrections.
jno (at) contrarybooks (dot) com
I'll be glad to add your relevant reviews
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