The World's Last Mysteries

by Reader's Digest Association (Editor)

Well illustrated introductory essays on a selection of fabled lands, megaliths, Easter Island statues, past empires with only archeological remains, pyramids, the 1908 Siberian blast and the green past of Sahara.

Contents

IN SEARCH OF FABLED LANDS
- Voyage to Atlantis
- The search for El Dorado, land of gold
- The land of the Queen of Sheba
- Who really discovered the New World

AGE OF THE MEGALITHS
- Strange stones of western Europe
- Sould-statues of Corsica
- The secrets of Stonehenge
- The giants of Easter Island

CITIES OF MYSTERY
- Tenotihuacán, city of the gods
- The lost empire of the Indus Valley
- The silent stones of Tiahuanaco
- The world's first cities
- The last refuge of the Incas

SECRETS OF THE PYRAMIDS
- The men who built the Tower of Babel
- Pyramids in the Americas
- Inside the pyramids of the pharaohs

VANISHED PEOPLES, FORGOTTEN PLACES
- When the Sahara was green
- The Scythians, fierce horsemen of the steppes
- Zimbabwe, Africa's lost civilization
- Splendour in the jungle at Angkor
- The Olmecs, a race of precursors
- The magnificent realm of the Mayas
- Enigmatic messages of the Nazcas
- Did a black hole hit Siberia?

Gazetteer of mysterious sites around the world

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Reference, Mythology, Mystery, Paranormal, Archaeology

319 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. is a global media and direct marketing company based in Chappaqua, New York, best known for its flagship publication founded in 1922, Reader's Digest. The company's headquarters are in New York City, where it moved from Pleasantville, New York.

The company was founded by DeWitt and Lila Wallace in 1922 with the first publication of Reader's Digest magazine, but has grown to include a diverse range of magazines, books, music, DVDs and online content.

Reviews

[Joe Krakovsky · Rating 4 out of 5]

THE WORLD'S LAST MYSTERIES required a little more reading than your average coffee table book. However, there were plenty of little sidebar articles to keep one interested if sitting in a waiting room. Some of the sections were of popular topics such as the ones about Atlantis, Stonehenge, and Easter Island.

Take for instance the chapter titled 'Age of the megaliths.' Both Stonehenge and Easter Island were in this chapter, even though they were half a world apart. Stonehenge is in England while Easter Island is in the Pacific Ocean about halfway to Chile from Polynesia. Both places had colossal stone works that were moved and erected by hand, but nobody knows why. I will get back to Easter Island in a minute, but first let me point out a few things about Stonehenge being as most have heard of it.

Though it is associated with the Druids, it was built long before they came on the scene. It was built in stages and some things were not finished. These are a mystery in itself, such as the post holes that were dug in precise locations around the stone uprights, but then filled in again. Was it built to keep track of the movement of celestial bodies, or some kind of computer as some have suggested? And why did the original builders quit their project that had been worked on for generations? Stonehenge was just one place in western Europe that had megaliths. Others were found from as far north as Sweden and as far south as Malta. At Carnac rows of giant stones can be seen stretching off into the distance. By the way, according to the BBC, "As the shortest day of the year approaches, Stonehenge is preparing to welcome thousands of visitors to mark the winter solstice sunrise on 21 December. The ancient site, which is managed by English Heritage, will open its Monument Field this Saturday at 07:45 GMT so crowds can see the sunrise over the iconic stones. The winter solstice draws thousands of visitors annually, many of whom come to experience the spiritual and cultural significance of the event."

Perhaps one of the greatest mysteries that has been around through the centuries centers around the lost city, and continent, of Atlantis. Was it real, and if so, where was it? Its fate could give a hint as to where it was at. Giant volcanic craters in the Azores and at Crete could be where the city once sat. Off the island of Bimini in the Bahamas are colossal stones that are laid out as if part of a wall that is submerged. Could those blocks be part of a city that was swallowed up by the sea?

Not all mystery cities were destroyed. Although some, such as Jericho, Babylon and Troy, were laid waste by invaders, there were many that weren't. For some reason they were just abandoned. Consider the Aztecs and Incas. Both resided in great cities when the conquistadors found them, and both had found ruins of cities abandoned for unknown reasons. By Lake Titicaca in Bolivia there is an abandoned city called Tiahuanaco. In the lake itself are traces of another sunken city. There are a number of ancient cities in Central and South America that have been found over the centuries. In the book it says, "It has been suggested that Mexico alone harbors some 100,000 pyramids which have not yet been uncovered.

Not all abandoned cities were in the Americas. In the Indus Valley there was a civilization that flourished maybe 4,500 years ago. Catal Huyuk in southern Turkey lasted 1,000 years. Angkor Thom in Cambodia was the capital of the Khmer empire. Zimbabwe was the capital city of an ancient black African kingdom now abandoned. In truth, the Zulus may have warred against them which led to its abandonment. Ironically, Zimbabwe lies in what was once known as Rhodesia, but is now called the Republic of Zimbabwe. In the back of the book is a list of other mysterious sites around the world.

There is one mysterious site mentioned that was not a city and that is the Tungus area of central Siberia. On June 30, 1908 there was a massive explosion in the sky. To make a long story short, it had all the makings of a nuclear air burst. Trees directly below it were left standing but bare of all branches. Those radiating away from the center were all blown down laying pointing away from the center. A disturbance was recorded in the earth's magnetic field. A herd of over a thousand reindeer were killed. Other similarities are mentioned as stated in the book "THE FIRE CAME BY" by Baxter and Atkins. (See my review.) Some explanations are given, such as a black hole or exploding meteorite.

Getting back to Easter Island, there may be a lesson there we should learn from. The harvests were plentiful and the population grew and divided into clans, but they all worked together to make and move the huge stone images that weighed several tons a piece. Why, we don't know. They had a form of writing which was engraved on wooden boards which were referred to as 'talking boards.' Wood was probably used extensively to move the images, thus they may have used up one of their most important natural resources, meaning the wood, which was used to build boats. The population had grown but the food grown on the island could no longer support them. Something, maybe hunger, caused the clans to go to war against each other which decimated the population that even resorted to cannibalism. In time Europeans came along with disease and took away the healthiest as slaves. The few islanders that are left live in poverty. No one can decipher the 'talking boards' of the few that are left because those that could read them are long gone and most of the boards were burnt in the past as firewood. In a like manner the Sahara may have once been a lush paradise based on cave drawings and traces found. But the weather pattern changed and the rain no longer fell. What pasture land that was left was over grazed for huge herds were a sign of wealth. The wells have gone ever deeper in search of water. It seems that partly through man's mismanagement the desert may actually be growing.

Before closing I have to add something. Explanations are given for the various mysteries in this book. Some of the explanations given are far-fetched in my opinion, such as Atlantis, being a city of Venus, being built millions of years ago by cosmonauts wearing space suits, and I don't know enough on the subject to refute the black hole theory. I would like to offer my explanation for at least some of these mysteries.

In the Book of Mormon (another review of mine) is mentioned people in antiquity being led by the Lord to a choice land in the New World. In time these people branched off into two tribes or races which were often at war with each other. One tribe remembered its roots, kept records, built cities and had prophets of God who spoke of the coming Messiah in the land they left behind. The other tribe didn't. Eventually sinful people from both tribes had the run of the land. When the Messiah was crucified in Jerusalem there were earth shaking events in the New World that changed the face of the land. Cities burned, were swallowed up by the sea, or were buried in the earth. All the evil people died and after three days of darkness, Jesus Christ appeared to the survivors. After organizing his Church among them, like the one he left behind in the Old World, He ascended into Heaven with a promise to return. After 400 years of peace and prosperity, evil rose again throughout the land. The wars began again and the more 'civilized' tribe was wiped out. Centuries later the Spanish came and, as it says in the book, they heard curious legends from the Indians of a bearded white god who created the world.

I think I will hang onto this book.

[Theo Logos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book with my lawn mowing money the year it was published by Reader’s Digest. I was 14, and the promise of exploring the last mysteries of the world was an irresistible draw. Its contents page was a ledger of wonders, with section titles including In search of fabled lands, Age of the megaliths, Cities of mystery, Secrets of the pyramids, and chapter headings like Voyage to Atlantis, Who really discovered the New World?, The Secrets of Stonehenge, and The men who built the Tower of Babel. For a kid who was a fan of the TV series In Search Of this was the mother load.

With a title and layout like this, you could be forgiven for thinking that The World’s Last Mysteries was exploitive trash like Ancient Aliens or Erich Von Daniken’s Chariots of the Gods?, but you’d be wrong. While it explored similar subjects, The World’s Last Mysteries treated them far more responsibly, actually managing to educate as it entertained.

The chapter Voyage to Atlantis is illustrative of how the book threaded the entertainment/education needle. The chapter begins by describing a cataclysmic day, 3,500 years ago, going into some detail of a volcanic eruption that ripped apart volcano and island allowing the sea to pour into the void while sending off tsunami tidal waves of destruction. It then reveals that the scenario just presented happened on an island the ancient Greeks called Kalliste, and present this ancient cataclysm as a possible solution to the origins of the story Plato told. It goes on to describes the story as Plato told it, but carefully points out ”that Plato’s intentions in recounting the Atlantis legend were philosophical rather than historical.”, and that Aristotle, Plato’s pupil, considered the story no more than a poetic fiction. The remainder of the chapter discusses the continuing fascination with the legend, mentioning without giving serious credence to many of the fanciful explorations of the idea.

I learned a lot from that chapter. I think it was where I first learned that Plato was the original and sole source of the legend. I learned about the ancient cataclysm that destroyed Minoan Crete. And, importantly, I was not encouraged to take seriously some of the more far fetched theories around the subject. The rest of the book and subjects covered were similar — it’s packed with historical knowledge, while presenting without seriously pushing some of the wilder ideas that accumulated around these subjects.

Physically, The World’s Last Mysteries is an attractive and sturdy coffee table book, full of colorful photos and illustrations. It’s been part of my library for over 45 years. If you, like me, still have some of that youthful enthusiasm for the riddles and mysteries our world still holds, you will appreciate this book.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was intended to be a cheap, hacked-together cash cow for Reader's Digest, by preying on a naive public that wants sensationalist entertainments. But instead, somehow it turned out to be a valuable archive of various occult traditions and lost civilizations throughout the world.

[Pramod Nair · Rating 4 out of 5]

The World's Last Mysteries from Reader's Digest is an impressive coffee table book, which presents the reader with some of the most perplexing enigmas from the ancient civilizations. This lavishly illustrated title examines and presents the reader with some of the mysterious geographic locations and phenomenon often related to ancient history and gives him various theories and facts aimed at making him ponder about these pieces of puzzles in archaeology.

Read during my high school days in the 90s, I was hooked to it the moment I saw the embossed great stone disc of the Aztec calendar on the book cover and found each of the chapters presented in great depth with lucid text and studies not riddled with any bias. The photographs and maps, which accompany each article, are of superior quality and for me it was one of those early titles, which introduced some of the most mysterious locations and events in the world history.

Segmented into different sections the book starts of with a chapter on the lost civilization of Atlantis. It discusses the mythology and facts related to Atlantis in great detail followed by overviews on other fabled lands like Eldorado and The Land of Queen Sheba. One thing, which adds to the value of these articles, is the fact that they are never trying to sensationalize the shroud of mystery surrounding each event or locations; rather they provide some serious impressions on them, which ignite the thought process of the reader.

Some of the other mysteries discussed in this title are: the giant stones of Easter Island, secrets of Stonehenge, Mysterious ancient cities like Teotihuacan, the Indus Valley civilization, Tihuanaco and Jericho, Secrets of Pyramids, Angkor Wat, Nazca lines and the 1908 mysterious explosion in Siberia.

One added feature of the book is the 22 page Gazetteer of Mysterious Sites Around The World presented at the end of the book which compiles a long listing of mysterious sites on our planet arranged by country, with black & white photographs. From a present viewpoint, with the overwhelming reach of technology most of the information found in this book may be easily available, but the book is worth alone for its superb photographs and schematic illustrations.

More details about the content of the book can be found here

[Emily D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is sort of an encyclopedia of archeological mysteries, published in 1976, so maybe some of them have been solved by now. There are chapters on the Mayas, Stonehenge, the pyramids, etc. So many facts. It's pretty amazing to think of the feats ancient people accomplished, such as using channels of water to make sure the base of a pyramid was completely level before building. It's also interesting to read about how some sites have been discovered in modern times. Whole towns have been found deep in the jungle, and cave markings have shown that the Sahara desert was once populated and verdant.

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this for practically nothing at a campus used book sale. On the basis of its publisher and its 1978 publishing date I expected it to be some kind of sporadically amusing "alternative archaeology" in the vein of Erich von Däniken or Graham Hancock. (if you're lucky, Helena Blavatsky)

Well, I was in for quite a surprise: The book in question is actually a rather sober overview on some of the cultures, locations and events in world history that either have been shrouded in the most myths or were still very little understood by science. It's also full of information on stuff I either never heard of like how the Sahara used to be green, or knew little about like the pre-Indo-European cultures in India as well as the builders of Angkor Wat and Great Zimbabwe. The more "out there" theories that were fashionable at the time are given a fair chance but also shot down if the facts don't really support them... to a point, that is. There's also quite a bit of information that in more recent years just has been proven wrong, though, and some unintentional hilarity when the authors describe the Mayan civilization as "primitive" - while stating that their mathemathics and astronomy was much more complex than that of the ancient Greeks and Romans!

The thing I liked the most, though, was all the great-looking pictures of the sites described. The publishers have really taken advantage of the large format in which the book is printed.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was supposed to be a fluffy Reader's Digest coffee table book. Someone messed up and actually did a great book. This has amazing pictures, great information, and very little fluff. I enjoyed it. It talked about various theories without lending itself to any single one.

[Don Gillette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting, quick look at several of the "mysteries" of history. Granted, they're not true mysteries in that we know (or think we know) the origins of most of them, but the background information is invaluable and the book is very well presented. Great photos, too.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Archeoglogist's, or Indiana Jones lovers may enjoy this. This may not be correct 100% in the modern day because this book I read was given to my dad from his father so it isn't a fairly new book. This book goes through hidden treasures, hidden societies, and many other mysteries in the world which have not been uncovered yet. This book describes the tale of Atlantis, the Stonehenge construction, and many undiscovered hidden treasures that have only been mentioned in legends. This book isn't a fit for everyone nor extremely entertaining, but it's very interesting.

[P.S. Winn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating book with illustrations that takes readers into some of the places that have fascinated people for centuries. Well done book you need to grab in a hard cover.

[Katrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

what a great book!! I learned so much reading this. it tells us of mostly ancient civilizations and the mysteries surrounding them. yes, the book is old and surely since then there have been made many new excavations and revelations. still this is a fantastic book to get a glimpse into what modern archaeology is about, what different methods are used to connect the many puzzle pieces. a huge abundance of pictures and illustrations make this book easy and interesting to read. I would recommend this to any one interested in archaeology, mysteries surrounding ancient peoples and the general story of mankind on earth.

[Gale · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Unearthing Lost Civilizations Around the Globe”

A perfect coffee-table-companion for the armchair archaeologist, this luxury volume presents the stories of fabled and vanished cities and civilizations. The scholarly information includes color and blank and white photographs with italicized captions, plus an artist’s rendering of many walled sites or municipal complexes with numbered architectural details. An extensive Index follows the 318 pages. My only caveat is the vague references to “last century” discoveries--instead of stating the exact century.

Topics include: Atlantis, Eldorado, Land of the Queen of Sheba, Discoverers of the New World, Stonehenge, Easter Island, Teotihuacan, the Incas, Tower of Babel, both Egyptian and American pyramids. The last chapter presents brief looks at 8 areas of interest, such as the Olmecs, the Mayas, the Nazca roads and theories about the 1908 Siberian disaster. The last section consists of an alphabetized Gazeteer of mysterious sites around the world. Written by dozens of experts with
specific areas of anthropological research this book poses many thought-provoking questions for future scientists.

January 4, 2016

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, however the book is now a little out dated

[Emile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent photography and documentation, well worth reading.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some great pictures of Angkor Wat and other interesting sites around the world. Another of the books of my childhood.

[Alejandro Teruel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent, common-sense and balanced introduction to mysteries about lost civilizations and their stunning ruins, proposals about the truth behind fabled lands like Atlantis, El Dorado, the land of the Queen of Sheba and the Tower of Babel, as well as the evidence for a past green Sahara or speculations about the origin of the 1908 Siberian blast.

The book is organised into 24 rather arbitrarily ordered chapters or essays and a gazetteer describing fifty additional “mysterious sites” around the world in one to three paragraphs.

Most of the essays deal with lost civilizations like those that built Stonehenge, erected the soul statues of Corsica, the giant stone sculptures on Easter Island, built the first cities in the world in Israel, Romania and Ukraine, Teotihuacan in Mexico, the Olmec and the Maya also in Mexico, Tiahuanaco and the Nazca lines in Peru, the Ancient Egyptians who built the Great Pyramids, the builders of the ruins of Zimbabwe, the Khmer in Southeast Asia, the Scythian, the Indus Valley civilization, or the search for the last Inca city, the one they built hidden in the hinterlands during their thirty six year war against the Spaniards.

Some of the essays carefully sift fact from fiction and hypothesis about fabled lands like the Atlantis, El Dorado, Sheba or the Tower of Babel as a garbled or mythologized version of the Great Pyramids of Egypt or competing hypothesis about who, apart from the Amerindians of course, first discovered America: the ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Romans, Vikings?

The last chapter analyses several possible causes of the 1908 mega-explosion in Siberia ranging from a meteorite, to antimatter, a black hole or a UFO. As the credits to this book point out, this essay is a condensed version of the book A hole in the sky by Walter Sullivan. The essay sticks out from the rest, but not in a good way. Though it purports to cover scientific evidence for competing explanations based on modern Physics -well, with the exception of the explosion of a nuclear-powered UFO, but in honesty the essay looks at the evidence forwarded for a nuclear explosion and the UFO bit looks tacked on-, the explanations are pretty confusing with quite a bit of hand-waving involved. The confusion may result from condensing the original book into a chapter -it is hard to tell without reading the original text.

The gazeteer includes “mysterious sites” in Albania, Algeria Bahrain, Brazil, Canada, the Canary Islands, Caroline Islands, China, Colombia, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Galapagos Islands, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Lebanon, Mali, Namibia, Peru, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sudan, Switzerland, Syria, Thailand, Turkey United Kingdom, USA, USSR and Yugoslavia.

The book, first published in 1976, is somewhat dated since more recent excavations have unearthed new and pertinent archaeological or geological material that have made some of the authors' hypotheses obsolete or unsustainable and stimulated new hypotheses or caused substantial modifications. For example, in her essay on Atlantis, May Veber refers to the 1968 discovery of what appeared to be giant underwater walls off the shores of the Bahamas, but which were, according to Wikipedia, later proved to be of geological rather than archaeological origin.

I found the book easy to read, as it adheres to Reader's Digest guidelines and manages to steer clear of some its more questionable simplification practices.

I recommend this introductory and far-ranging book to the adventurous reader attracted by the mysteries and questions raised by the archaeology, art and culture of past civilizations or people.

[w gall · Rating 3 out of 5]

The pictures tell the story for most of us. The writing tells of the archaeologists, who, over time, discovered clues to the mysteries. The text, frankly, is tedious. But it's an education for those who persevere (or at least catch the gist by skimming).

[Mac · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simple but elegant and well written. Great introduction for a young teenager on their path to a geography or history future.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

It provides several different stories on mysteries from the past that can interest you.

[Jenna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great mysteries.....it makes you wonder. An amazing places it compels you to go back in time, and see what happened to these places, and how it started. Mysteries are the conundrum of how an ancient people were able to build such massive structures without the benefit of today's knowledge and technology....a great puzzlement indeed.

[Walt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Attractive photo-journalism

[Bethani Middleton · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing read on cultures that are now lost. It's a great read for anyone fond of archaeology as it carries away the soul to descend upon the intrigue of a past world.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some out of date info now, but was a good read in the 80's growing up.

[R J Royer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12490565

[Jacobus Arminius · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think Reader's Digest released a few of these types of books. Mildly interesting for a bored adolescent.

[Baiba Auria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outdated, but fascinating and illuminating

[Helga · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love these types of books. The information comes in bite size snippets and entertains at the same time. Pretty pictures, too! It gives just enough information on things to allow you to waste days googling the things that you found interesting.

[Belle Meade School]

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