Secrets of the Great Pyramid: Two Thousand Years of Adventures & Discoveries Surrounding the Mysteries of the Great Pyramid of Cheops

by Peter Tompkins, Livio Catullo Stecchini

Recounts the fascinating discoveries made by explorers, adventurers, and scientists about the Great Pyramid of Cheops, including the stunning recent assertions that the ancient structure was used as a geometric tool to measure the outside world.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Egypt, Science, Archaeology, Egyptian Literature, Mathematics

432 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Peter Tompkins was an American journalist, World War II spy, and best-selling author.
His best known and most influential books include The Secret Life of Plants, published in 1973, Secrets of the Great Pyramid, reprinted in paperback in 1997, and Mysteries of the Mexican Pyramids, published in 1976. He is the father of author Ptolemy Tompkins.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jim Benz showed me this book back in the late seventies when he still lived in "The Rogers Park Ridge"--an apartment building in this Chicago neighborhood which, for a while, had four units occupied by old high school friends from Park Ridge, Illinois. I thumbed through it, adminiring the pictures. Years later I found a used copy of the thing in a bookstore and, remembering that evening, purchased it.

This is a volume that Mike Miley would cite as an example of "high weirdness". On the one hand, it is a well-told account of the history of the Great Pyramid and of its interpretations and interpreters. This is fun enough. On the other hand, Tompkins, former spy and coauthor of The Secret Life of Plants, sifts through the theories, finds some he likes and formulates his own interpretation of the structure. His conclusions are, well, weird.

[Timothy Ball · Rating 4 out of 5]

"On the 25th of Thermidor, Napoleon visited the Great Pyramid with Imam Muhammad as his guide; at a certain point Bonaparte asked to be left alone in the King's Chamber, as Alexander the Great was reported to have done before him. Coming out, the general is said to have been very pale and impressed. When an aide asked him in a jocular tone if he had witnessed anything mysterious, Bonaparte replied abruptly that he had no comment, adding in a gentler voice that he never wanted the incident mentioned again. Many years later, when he was emperor, Napoleon continued to refuse to speak of this strange occurrence in the Pyramid, merely hinting that he had received some presage of his destiny. At St Helena, just before the end, he seems to have been on the point of confiding to Las Cases, but instead shook his head, saying, 'No. What's the use. You'd never believe me.' "

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Remember "Pyramid power?" When this book came out, people went crrrrrazy. Tompkins and his co-author delved headlong into just about every theory about the Great Pyramid that was out there at the time. They discuss sacred mathematics and the Golden Mean, what the pyramid could have been used for, who could have built it, - you name it. It's probably in here somewhere. Based on what they are showing on the Discovery Channel, this book is standing up pretty well. I enjoyed it, because it is so outrageous, until you start thinking about a five sided megalith of perfectly aligned stones, topped by a golden point, sitting in the middle of the desert....

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best books I've ever read in my entire life. I got excited just thinking about reading it; each chapter brings a new level of fascination... Unbelievable to find a work this interesting and well-thought out/presented, and one which is so compelling at my age, when the credulity of youth has worn away.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned more than I ever wanted to know about the great pyramid of Cheops. Some of it was true some speculation. All in all a good read.

[5 pound poi · Rating 3 out of 5]

"... a description of the trials, temptations and difficulties which the adept had to meet and overcome as he progressed from knowledge to knowledge and from power to power, as he penetrated the super physical regions from plane to plane. The ultimate goal of initiation, says Kingsland, was 'the full realization of the *essential divine nature of man*, the recovery of the individual by the full knowledge and powers of his divine spiritual nature, of that which was his source and origin, but to the *consciousness* of which he is *now* dead through the 'Fall of Man' into matter and physical life.'"

[Catherine]

unread

[Nicola · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting read that brought together lots of information that I'd read from other sources. Lovely illustrations as well.

[Wendy]

(found read date in diary) also found that I read this in March of 1996 unless there are two books by the same name

[RRex · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing and comprehensive. A must-read for armchair Egyptologists.

[James Urban · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a book! This has strengthened my urge to visit Egypt and I must satiate that urge by the end of this year!