Is This How We Got Here?

I'm reading an interesting book right now, but I'm not sure what to make of it. It's “The 12th Planet” by Zecheriah Sitchen. I've been wanting to read it for years, but there was always other books; you know how it goes.

It's the first in a series, and it's researched from translations of the Sumerian tablets. He interprets the tales of the gods as alien settlers in prehistory. Don't laugh, it really is a viable theory. The problem is, he is really sold on his interpretation of the tablets. He is always using phrases like “It's obvious that this means...” or “There can be no doubt..,” and not just a few times. Such phrases appear every couple of pages. I'm not sure why this bothers me, but I would have liked to see a healthy dose of cautious skepticism.

This is a little harsh to say, but it really looks like he is reading the Sumarian texts in such a way as to make them fit his theories. This is like calling a Believer a “Heretic,” but that's how it reads. I did kinda pick up this book hoping to verify what I wanted to believe, so it made me that much more skeptical, guarding myself against being swept away into a pet theory. I'm hoping that one of you has read more of his work, and if you could set me straight, that would be fabulous.

Fact, Belief, and a NaNo update.

I have a new friend. Well, he's a guy from work, and we've been chatting casually for about a year now, always with the closing statement, “we've gotta get together sometime.” But, as it happened, 'sometime' was a long time coming, because 1) I'm naturally introverted, so on my days off, I tend to close the curtains and screen my calls, and 2) me growing family leaves me with my hands full.

Twice this year, though, Thomas and I finally got together. He plays guitar, so I brought my bass over, and we played with some of the stuff that he's been recording. The second time, we went to visit my drummer buddy, and THAT was a rip-snorting good time!

We have also read a lot of the same conspiracy books, so we'll go off on those tangents for awhile. Eight or ten years ago, I was chin-deep in that stuff, not so much the moon-landing-and-Roswell stuff, but more of how the few controlled the many through pyramid structures. For example, if a dozen people in the banking industry and the National Treasury's are all in the same clubs (like the Bilderberg Group), then they can have a wide-reaching influence on how the world's financial future will go.

There is tons of evidence that points to this, but it's mostly circumstantial, and sketchy testimonies. This all makes sense, because if there's a conspiracy, then they'll cover their tracks and intimidate witnesses. If there isn't one, then there will be nothing to find.

This led me to learn to separate facts from speculation. FACT: We have less than
10 000 years of recorded history. FACT Multiple civilizations show that they knew more about astronomy and engineering (ie, many Egyptian structures) than their primitive contemporaries. SPECULATION: Atlantis, or possibly alien astronauts, or both influenced the course of history.

The conclusion that I've come to is that I'll probably never know for sure what happened in pre-history. When I made my peace with that, it was extremely liberating. I can believe whatever I want, knowing full well that I don't need to prove it to be The Truth.

Which brings me to my WiP. I'm writing a novelization of some of these theories, and Julie asked me in the comments of my last post how my NaNo project went. Well, I hit the 50 000 words on time, but it was far from done, so I'm still plugging away at it. Yesterday was my best day this year so far: 838 words. I just may make my goal this week. Most of my reading is on writing (Blogs, magazines, and a great book by Chris Vogler), not to mention my beloved Podcasts, so I've really got a fire in my belly to get this happening.

Wow, that was a lot of tangent to answer that question!