Yahoo News took time off from giving free publicity for STAR WARS to mention that scientists (isn't that a bit of a broad term?) discovered a new planet that they referred to as a Super Earth in our solar system. This was on Dec. 11 of this year and this statement received a lot of negative reactions in mails. One reaction was that this planet could not be in our solar system but might be in our galaxy.
Another reaction mentioned the planet Nibiru or Planet X . . . but in a pejorative manner. He hoped that the Nibiru label would be quickly removed in order that the "True Believers" [quotes were his] would shut up. Since I was reading THE ANUNNAKI CHRONICLES at the time, I perked up. Zecharia Sitchin had been discussing Nirbiru in his articles and lectures compiled by his niece on the planet Nibiru (a "Planet of the Crossing"according to the ancient Sumerians) as well as the alien race the Anunnaki. Curiously, when I returned to the article about the Super Earth to read it again in its entirety, I discovered that it no longer existed. Someone had pulled it down. I still have the image of the planet on my Facebook timeline because I had saved it from Yahoo, but the article giving the details no longer exists. Why?
Had I also not heard respected journalist/researcher Texas journalist Jim Marrs mention Nibiru, I might not have taken THE ANUNNAKI CHRONICLES: A ZECHARIA SITCHIN READER so seriously. Marrs is a scholarly journalist who provides notes and bibliographies to back up his findings, and Sitchin is a learned scholar who was evidently cut from the same cloth -- no sensationalized ideas were used to bilk the public, only actual evidence to support theories. I had also written reviews for GOODREADS on books about UFO sightings and government cover-ups, and while reading Sitchin's reader, I happened to watch an alien abduction film THE FOURTH KIND. Near the end of that film, we hear a tape of an alien's voice that sounds like Sumerian -- "the Holy Grail of dead languages," an expert in the film remarks.
Janet Sitchin, Zecharia's niece, introduces and edits this tome -- a worthwhile edition, as another reviewer wrote, to one's personal library connection. Included here are unpublished articles, selections from chapters of his books, lectures, and letters to the NY Times. Her introductions to each section are often as interesting, if much briefer, than the articles themselves. His niece, a data-integration expert, is clearly no slouch in the intellect department herself. One thing she emphasizes about her uncle is the seriousness of his endeavors: he draws upon material in its original language (such as Hebrew) and does not only rely on translations that might be inaccurate. One thing he points out is that more professionals would be willing to support his claims and discoveries were it not for the fear that their careers would be in danger. Those of us who follow UFO sightings and learn about many government cover-ups should not be surprised at this.
One question he poses regards how an ancient culture like the Sumerians could be become so advanced almost overnight unless they were influenced by visitors from space. As we have seen on the excellent program ANCIENT ALIENS, gods of different cultures might well be aliens who had superior knowledge and abilities -- technological or otherwise. The Sumerian pantheon of gods was headed by an Olympian Circle of 12, according to Sitchin, and to them our solar system had 12 members, not 9 as we believe. The Anunnaki (the giants on the Earth who had sex with mortal women and created offspring) were reportedly from the planet Nibiru. A moon of Nibiru had struck the plant Tiamat (named for a Sumerian god) and shattered it, creating the asteroid belt and even our planet Earth. Tiamat's moon Kingu became our moon.
"Sumerians . . ." writes Sitchin, "drew pictures of the aerial vehicles of the Anunnaki," ". . . a name from which the Book Genesis borrowed to create the term Anakim in the Bible. They were the Suns of the Gods who had married the daughters of Man on the eve of the Deluge; they were the Nefilim"(300-301). He shows an impression made by a cylinder seal on wet clay, an image that includes seven dots to represent Earth (Earth was the seventh planet to the Anunnaki) and six dots angles of another image which could represent Mars, the sixth planet.
Whether you are a believer in UFOs, which I was before I ever read Sitchin, or a lover of mythology, which I used to teach in China as well as in the US, you will find Sitchin fascinating and informative reading. You might want to read his other, well-known books before reading this one, instead of approaching Sitchin backwards as I did. However you become acquainted with Sitchin, I recommend that you do so.