Fin del mundo, año 1999

by Charles Berlitz

Barcelona. 21 cm. 213 p. Encuadernación en tapa dura de editorial con sobrecubierta ilustrada. Berlitz, Charles 1914-2003. Traducción, M. R. Fin del mundo .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario. 8422613255

Genres: Nonfiction

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Born in NYC, Berlitz was the grandson of Maximilien Berlitz, who founded the Berlitz Language Schools. As a child, Charles was raised in a household in which (by father's orders) every relative & servant spoke to Charles in a different language. He reached adolescence speaking eight languages fluently. In adulthood, he recalled having had the delusion that every human spoke a different language, & wondering why he didn't have his own like everyone else. His father spoke to him in German, his grandfather in Russian, his nanny in Spanish.
He began working for the family's Berlitz School of Languages, during college breaks. The publishing house, of which he was vice president, sold, among other things, tourist phrase books & pocket dictionaries, several of which he authored. He also played a key role in developing record & tape language courses. He left the company in the late 1960s, not long after he sold the company to publishing firm Crowell, Collier & Macmillan. He graduated magna cum laude from Yale Univ.
Berlitz was a writer on anomalous phenomena. He wrote a number of books on Atlantis. In his book The Mystery of Atlantis, he used evidence from geophysics, psychic studies, classical literature, tribal lore, archeology & mysteries & concluded that Atlantis was real. Berlitz also attempted to link the Bermuda Triangle to Atlantis. He claimed to have located Atlantis undersea in the area of the Bermuda Triangle. He was also an ancient astronaut proponent who believed that extraterrestrials had visited earth.
Berlitz spent 13 years on active duty in the US Army, mostly in intelligence. In 1950, he married Valerie Seary, with whom he had a daughter, Lynn. He died in 2003 at the age of 89 at University Hospital in Tamarac, FL.

Reviews

[Drew Schroeder · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, two decades on and here we are, still trucking. But if you're looking for a little pseudoscience to distract you from reality, don’t fret over the title’s failed prediction—that’s not what this book is about, after all. A few chapters in and Berlitz can’t help himself; he ditches the doomsday idea and dives straight into the good stuff: Atlantis! From that point on it’s a laugh-inducing romp through dubious evidence and speculative reasoning, one that barely returns in the final pages to the initial premise of the book.

A little reading about Berlitz makes it clear his one and only subject was the Lost City. Mostly all his work relates to it. You can almost visualize how he must have pitched this one to his agent. (“I’ve got a new book idea.” “Yeah?” “It’s about Atlantis.” “Oh, well, I think we’ve got that one pretty well surrounded at this point, huh, Charles?” “What if I call it Doomsday, 1999, and start off talking about Nostradamus?” “Ah… Yeah, okay. What the hell.”)

[Michael DeRosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although nothing much happened in 1999, he does a wonderful job of bringing together all the prophesies of doom.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, it's 2023 and we're still standing... this book was published in 1981. It's still interesting to see what kind of Doomsday theories were invented over the years by mankind. Originally the world should have been ended in 999... you'll read about Nostradamus, Mother Shipton and are on your way to doom with all kinds of theories: menace from outer space (e.g. Halley's Comet in 1986), Pandora's Box (destruction of the environment), atomic warfare. There is also the theory world has ended before (Noah's Ark). Theories that the end is near will never cease to exist so it's good to know them. Are we on our way to destruction, is the countdown to extinction already on the last hours? Let's see. Things don't look too well if we believe media coverage. Really interesting read here!

[Maria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Seemed interesting in the 1970's now yawn

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Amusingly misguided ravings

[Selin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very accurate. Nonfiction data.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

El mejor paso previo a enfrascarse en Jurassic Park y The Lost World. Una lectura concisa y no precisamente fácil sobre las mecánicas de la ciencia a través de una novela que exprime sus capacidades para deleitarnos con un tono sobrio y a su vez excitante.

[Marcus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, what can I say... It's 2011 now.