Natural Likeness: Faces and Figures in Nature

by John Michell

Book by Michell, John F.

Paperback

Published January 1, 1979

About the author

John Frederick Carden Michell was an English writer whose key sources of inspiration were Plato and Charles Fort. His 1969 volume The View Over Atlantis has been described as probably the most influential book in the history of the hippy/underground movement and one that had far-reaching effects on the study of strange phenomena: it "put ley lines on the map, re-enchanted the British landscape and made Glastonbury the capital of the New Age."

In some 40-odd titles over five decades he examined, often in pioneering style, such topics as sacred geometry, earth mysteries, geomancy, gematria, archaeoastronomy, metrology, euphonics, simulacra and sacred sites, as well as Fortean phenomena. An abiding preoccupation was the Shakespeare authorship question. His Who Wrote Shakespeare? (1996) was reckoned by The Washington Post "the best overview yet of the authorship question."

Reviews

[Isidore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone with a taste for the outré should enjoy this picture book (there is text, of intermittent interest).

The picture that takes the prize is of a small flat stone depicting the weird cityscape of some unknown prehistoric race, the buildings almost engulfed by masses of tropical vegetation; perched on terraces and balconies are swarms of strange bipedal figures, hands raised in obsessive ceremonial gestures or brandishing mysterious rods and sceptres. . . . "Fossilized dendrites" say the scientists. . . yeah, sure.

The book is chockfull of such pleasures for the determinedly imaginative.

[Sharon A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are few books that examine natural features we interpret as other forms. Great photos but Michell is an annoying anti-materialist. So his ax grinding gets in the way of what could have been a fun book.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A bit dated but well-researched and a lot of fun.