Written by Joel Levy
SUMMARY:
Published by Metro Books in 2016, this 224-page softcover examines a cross-section of thirty-nine historical enigmas from around the globe. Some of these mysteries are well-documented; others are comparatively obscure to the mainstream public. With updated information likely culled from the internet, author/researcher Joel Levy reviews each peculiar incident. He supplements each chapter with color and/or black-and-white photos and illustrations. Divided into four sections, the chapters are:
SECTION 1: MYSTERIOUS PLACES
Atlantis; Stonehenge; The Nasca Lines; Easter Island; Rosslyn Chapel. El Dorado; The Oak Island Money Pit; The Winchester Mystery House; and Rennes-le-Château.
SECTION 2: UNSOLVED EVENTS
The Missing Army of Cambyses; The Lost Colony of Roanoke; The Amber Room; (Life and Death of) Kaspar Hauser; The Mary Celeste; The Eilean Mor lighthouse keepers; The Tunguska Event; Amelia Earhart; The Bermuda Triangle; the Tamam Shud murder; D.B. Cooper; and the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight M370.
SECTION 3: STRANGE SIGHTINGS
Spring-Heeled Jack; The Devil’s Footprints; the Third Secret of Fatima; The Loch Ness Monster; UFO’s and Area 51; Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and The Yeti; the Wow! signal from outer space; Weeping and Bleeding Statues; Phantom Big Cats; Crop Circles; and Ghost and Spirit Orbs.
SECTION 4:
The Fuente Magna Bowl; The Phaistos Disk; The Ark of the Covenant; The Baghdad Battery; The Antikythera Mechanism; The Turin Shroud; and The Voynich Manuscript.
REVIEW:
To the author’s credit, he doesn’t sensationalize his subject matter as tabloid fodder. The book is part history lesson; part analysis; and a welcome helping of common sense/deductive reasoning, when applicable. As with the Bermuda Triangle chapter, purported suspicions of supernatural phenomenon give way to reasonable guesswork re: why some planes and sea vessels fell victim decades ago to bad luck in this Caribbean section of the Atlantic Ocean.
Levy relays other instances of published fiction and/or confirmed/suspected fraud co-mingling with historical fact that helped perpetuate some of these pop culture mysteries (i.e. the lighthouse keepers and The Loch Ness Monster). In addition to summarizing a case’s scientific aspects (as applicable), he also offers a fair degree of skeptical conjecture. Case in point: Levy acknowledges that Plato might well have been invented mythical Atlantis as a fable of sorts vs. actually learning of its ancient existence.
For the most part, Levy’s conversational text is a easy single read (i.e. for an airport layover) for adults. Its fair amount of depth makes his book appropriate for as young as middle schoolers – it’d make a good reference for potential research projects. The bottom line is that Levy isn’t hawking sci-fi/fantasy pulp or controversial angles re: religious theory. His Unsolved Mysteries is a decent option for curious armchair detectives, who should likely find these topics of varying interest.
ADDITIONAL FEATURES:
Levy provides a brief introduction. With each chapter, he briefly describes some of the more outlandish theories circulating on these topics. Also, there’s a further reading list, index, and a photo credits page.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 6½ Stars
