Atlantis: the lost continent revealed

by Charles Berlitz

Recently pulled from public school library.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Mythology

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1984

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

[Alytha · Rating 1 out of 5]

I found a German copy of Atlantis- the 8. Continent by Charles Berlitz when we were cleaning out my grandparents' house a couple of months ago. There was a bookmark somewhere in the middle of it, so I guess the original reader didn't get all that far, which is understandable, as you'll see. I guess it was my grandfather's, rather than my grandmother's, who prefers romantic schmonz novels.

The book wants to be a scientific analysis of Atlantis, where it was, and how its culture influenced the peoples around it, both in Europe and Africa, and in the Americas on the other side.

Now, I don't really believe in Atlantis. I rather think it's a thought experiment, the idea of an ideal state rules by wise priest-kings. If it was real, would the description just abruptly break off, if it was so important for the development of half of the currently known civilisations? If anyone comes up with compelling evidence, I'll be willing to take it into account, but so far, I'm just sceptically interested.

Berlitz doesn't actually start out that badly, discussing the most likely location for Atlantis, in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Rudge, which experiences strong and frequent seismic activity, which makes it likely for land masses to appear and disappear. Also, there is an amazing similarity of certain words in languages on both sides of the Atlantic, which seems inconceivable without a cultural exchange thousands of years before Kolumbus. Also, similar structures, for example, pyramids on both sides of the Atlantic.

So far, so good. While the first part is halfway reasonable and not all that unlikely, Berlitz seems to lose his capability for critical thought in the second part of the book, and trots out just about every single known weird artifact in the world to support his theory. ( I think he missed the Shroud of Turin and the Crystal Skulls, but I might have overlooked them as I started skimming at some point). Pretty much all of them have been debunked by now, and are only believed in by crackpots.
We get: the Dendera lightbulb (not a lightbulb but perfectly normal Egyptian imagery, only in an unusual combination), the Baghdad batteries (actually pots for storing ancient sacred texts), the Ica stones (fake), the Dogon people (cargo cult) and so on and so forth...yawn. I don't really know what he wanted to prove with those anyway. I rather got the impression that he just went: oh look at the cool weird stuff I found!. And this was 1984, not a hundred years ago, when you had some excuses for being wrong.

(rant)I always wonder at the fact that a lot of archaeologists seem to be unable to credit our ancestors with both creativity and a sense of humour. Why do they believe that everything that was drawn of written thousands of years ago is scientific truth? One of the main things that defines us humans is our imagination. Why should a guy in ancient Egypt have been any more stupid than a scientist today? In any culture that was rich enough to grant the survival of its members, people would have the leisure to let their thoughts and imagination roam. Why wouldn't they just draw of build things just for fun?(/rant)

Anyway...in conclusion: starts out interesting and objective enough, but then turns into a hopeless mess.
5/10

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Atlantis has tantalized Western culture for millennia, but only since the 19th century has the topic of its existence become a touchstone of controversy between “believers” and “deniers”. Atlantis: The Eighth Continent by Charles Berlitz is a book in support of the mid-oceanic Atlantis over Mediterranean candidates or being a legend. Purporting to use the latest scientific and archaeological evidence—albeit in the mid-1980s—Berlitz looks to give strong proof that Plato’s Atlantis was real.

Bringing forth ruins and cultural evidence from both sides of the Atlantic, Berlitz began his argument by attempting to show a shared connection between numerous cultures across the world that seemed to be influenced by the same source. Then he became chronicling the scientific discoveries of unwater ruins, dismissed by scientists as natural phenomena, that prove ruins of an ancient civilization having existed in the mid-Atlantic. While a surface reading of this material is thought-provoking, Berlitz’s misunderstanding of geology undermined the book back in the mid-80s. The science of plate tectonics is the biggest problem with Berlitz’s book and the fact that his understanding is so wrong would make you shake your head.

While there are a lot Berlitz’s theories that just don’t stack up, he did expression layman ideas that surprisingly have begun to be debated within the scientific community though for reasons close to Atlantis. The first is that cataclysms can and do occur within the geological record, but his thoughts and evidence are nothing compared to Dr. Robert M. Schoch’s. The second was suggesting that an impact event occurred at the end of the last Ice Age that caused a sudden melting of ice, while scientists are beginning to believe an impact did occur it actually resulted in sudden cooling instead of heating. Yet these two ideas do not make up for all the incorrect assumptions Berlitz’s writes.

Atlantis: The Eighth Continent is packed full of cultural information from around the world that is its major appeal along with two ideas by the author that are now being debated by scientists but not to prove Atlantis. Frankly the evidence doesn’t prove Atlantis in the mid-Atlantic, but it’s a curious read nonetheless.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Atlantis hasn't lost its fascination over the centuries. In this impressing book Charles Berlitz compiles everything thinkable on the lost continent. Was it just an invention of Plato or did it really exist? Well, fascinating photos lead you on its mountain peaks and show you underwater ruins in the Bermuda Triangle. This is the definitive book on the topic with ancient legends, islands under the sea and much speculations. What would the 80s have been without Charles Berlitz? I was always fascinated by his theories and assumptions. Intriguing stuff, also for the modern reader, regardless if it was a hoax or true :-) Really recommended!

[DropOfOcean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had no high expextations about this one (wise attitude that should be always used with everything in life) and book turned out to be pretty decent. Having read a lot about Atlantis and different theories related to it I still learned new things from this book. There wasn’t really any critical thinking done so there are all kind of things suggested but anyway it was entertaining to read.

[Mike Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a book on the 'Welsh Atlantis', which was awful, so I approached this book with delight trepidation.
On the plus side, this is a much better book, dealing with Myth and real evidence, although it's clear that the author believes that there actually was an Atlantis, so it's not unbiased.
On the minus side, there's a fair amount of repetition and some of the conclusions drawn are dodgy.
Overall, an OK book, but nothing special.

[Joe White · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first couple of chapters here deal with the written texts of Plato an possible actual early references by early Greek and Egyptian historians to either Atlantis or to preceding cities/civilizations that may have been destroyed. Destruction of libraries in Alexandria by the Arabs and in Spain by Spanish Catholics are referenced. These first chapters also reference actual archeological formations that seem to fit a possible supporting hypothesis for Atlantis.

After the initial opening, the book is almost a complete reprint of "Chariots of the Gods", which was one of the first Berlitz bestsellers. This version tones down the UFO / ancient astronaut rhetoric, with all early cultural and architectural accomplishments attributed to the Atlantian civilization instead of UFO drivers.

This is the same material from which a large portion of the current history channel sensationalistic shows are drawn. And after 40 years, the exact same story is being told today word for word as this copy of "Chariots" tells it.

Looking at the references section it is pretty clear that after the first 20 or so which were written prior to 1950, the rest are cross referenced pseudo-history with which the sensationalists author build a web of references in order to lend credibility to unsupportable assertions.

The book also include references to the meat of the Bermuda Triangle material, which I think was a Berlitz bestseller.

Given the fact that Berlitz made a lot of money from these books, and the current team of authors are making a fair wage with the reiterative tales, it would really help to support their assertion if they actually did some physical research to support just one or two of their claims. Any actual artifacts or engineered reconstructive proof that could be supported as engineering literature, should be even more valuable and represent a good return on investment. But after 40 years, other investigators have done the actual reconstructive work to recreate a working Antikytheran calendar instrument and a flying model of the gold bug jewelry. Working archaeologists are still uncovering Thera, scanning Stonehenge, and developing ground penetrating electronic wave sensors to perform underground analysis at sites without destructive excavation. North Sea and English channel excavations of proven prehistory artifacts are being uncovered. The site of Tartessos may have been found, and if ever excavated it may be the basis for the Atlantis structural layout as described by Plato. But none of these actual accomplishments can be attributed to the pseudo-history authors.
The Bimini road is still out there, and a few feeble attempts to research it have been the basis for television documentaries. But a full scale investigation and excavation has not been done. If Charles Berlitz and his protoges had real convictions, they should undertake to get a definitive answer to whether this is a natural or man-made structure.
An just to stretch this review out, I really do wish that these guys would form a proper reference of historical time versus geological time. Tectonic plate movement may contribute to destructive earthquakes which do affect historical time, but the uplifting of mountains and movement of land masses does not fit into the thin layer of mankind's history of civilization. For example, there is no evidence that a drop in the mid Atlantic ridge opened up the Atlantic to the Gulf Stream to allow a warmer Europe and to signal the beginning of the ice ages. And the claims that some underwater structures had to be created while on dry land, such as the Hudson river valley extension onto the continental shelf, have been demonstrated to be explainable as a result of ice age events that occurred with the melting at the end of that period. The point of my complaint here is that actual evidential support should be used to support the pseudo-history that Berlitz uses, and he should fund some of the research.

[Kevinjwoods · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are a few major problems with this type of book, firstly it assumes thst every single piece of legend or lost ruins were part of the same culture despite being thousands of years apart in time, and across the entire world, he falls into the trap of thinking that 8000 years ago and 9000 years ago are extremely close, consider how much has changed between 1016 and now and you can see the problem, the second problem is that Atlantis and the reason it was destroyed become a very flexible with numerous reasons and locations given without a clear idea of which is the mist likely, and a few too many times he speculates thst there would be better evidence if we only had mire translated tablets and inscriptions.
It could be summarized simply to Plato wrote about an island called Atlantis, there are records of white people coming from the sea with better technology, and there might be walls in the ocean. And that's it, nothing else can be proved beyond speculation.

[Julian Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

An intriguing and thought-provoking read, but for my taste I found some of the evidence a little circumstantial.

Obviously technologies have progressed since this was written - and who doesn't love the intrigue surrounding a myth such as this? - but I think the cover comment that this is 'scientifically clinching analysis' might be stretching a point, packed though it is with highly engaging tales and reports.

Fun, light reading - certainly leaving the door open in my mind, even today some thirty-five years on from publication.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read a couple of Charles Berlitz books and they are always quite interesting. In this Atlantis book he shares and offers up a lot of ancient history that you never hear about. Such as similarities between far away places, ruins around the world and little tidbit facts that aren't things you hear everyday. Great for the history buff.

[Michael DeRosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly exhaustive research on the subject. Berlitz makes use of his linguistic skills to show that the root words of languages around the Atlantic can be traced to an unknown origin. His maps of the ocean floor clearly show where the continent could have once existed.

[Vicki Gooding · Rating 5 out of 5]

Photographs from space were taken, revealing an underwater civilization in the Atlantic ocean. Using legends, comparisons of similar ancient architecture and some conjecture he paints real possibilities that the continent may have existed and has been located.

[Stacy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy read with lots of interesting tidbits, even if it did seem to wander all over the place and far beyond its topic. Even that was enjoyable, because the theories and opinions gathered here are so thought-worthy.

[Krista the Krazy Kataloguer · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this book at the time I read it, but I've read better since.

[Natajia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Atlantis. A subject that's interesting to read about from anyone's point of view.

[the Skrauss · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I love to read about findings discovering of Prehistoric advanced technological civilization, this book has no footnotes.

[Jānis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Viena no sakarīgākajām grāmatām par Atlantīdu. Nav mēģināts fantazēt, bet ir ļoti daudz faktu un atsauču uz literatūru, lai cilvēks var pats izdomāt, kurā virzienā vairāk nosliekties.

[Joan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting. Poor quality photos.

[Jose Manuel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Basura. No sé ni para que leo estas cosas. Debió ser una mala época que tuve.

[lézengő reader]

A csillagozáshoz egy kicsit már régen olvastam, amúgy a könyv is jó régi, valami 91-es kiadás, akkor még az Édesvíz is 41 sor/oldallal mókolt. Nem fogom újraolvasni, de olyan jó volt kinyitni ;~)

[Priscilla Del Gesso · Rating 4 out of 5]

GOOD BOOK