A broken talisman

I only skimmed this book, thank God. Hancock's and Bauval's "Talisman" must be one of the most meaningless books ever written. It promises to uncover a vast, 2000-year long conspiracy somehow connected to 9/11. It does not. Or rather, it uncovers the conspiracy in such a manner, that the reader is left with the distinct impression that the authors *support* the conspiracy. Perhaps they do. But if so, why not simply say so? Another conspiracy, perhaps...?

All the usual suspects are there: Gnostics, Manicheans, Cathars, Templars, Freemasons and Jacobins. Many U.S. presidents were Masons, both Paris and Washington are practically teeming with occult architecture, and it seems both revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries in France were deeply involved in Masonic activities. The ultimate roots of the conspiracy goes back to the Hermetica and beyond, into ancient Egypt. And Atlantis? The whole thing is a secret counter-religion to official Christianity, hell-bent (pun intended) on destroying the latter. However, since the authors depict the Cathars in particular as really good guys, one wonders what the fuzz is all about, really?

In the appendix, Hancock and Bauval claims that al-Qaeda might have attacked the United States in the belief that America is a secret Masonic-Zionist state. Israel's declaration of independence in 1948, and Truman's swift recognition of the same, is cast as suspicious. Here, the authors suddenly imply that the millennia-old Gnostic conspiracy really is evil. Note also the anti-Semitic undertone. However, since they spent a large bulk of their book attacking official Christianity and extolling the virtues of Catharism and the Hermetica, one wonders once again what their *real* agenda is...

Not that I care much. I don't believe in *this* kind of conspiracy theory, anyway. My guess is that Hancock and Bauval probably couldn't care less either way, and wrote this voluminous, expensive book simply to cash in on the new wave of conspiracy thinking following in the wake of 9/11. That would explain their strangely non-committal angle.

"Talisman" is...a broken talisman. Or, if you're paranoid, a plot by the Illuminati. :P