Apocalypse 2012: An Investigation into Civilization's End

An egregious synthesis of fact and fancy

This is the type of junk science that can easily bamboozle laymen, but anybody who has more than a smidgen of training in any of the scientific disciplines so eloquently misapplied by this author will be able to demolish his arguments. For example:

"On 12/21/12 our Solar System, with the Sun as its center, will, as the Maya have for millennia maintained, eclipse the view from Earth of the center of the Milky Way. Ancient Mayan astronomers considered this center spot to be the Milky Way's womb, a belief now supported by voluminous evidence that that's where the galaxy's stars are created. Astronomers now suspect that there is a black hole right at the center sucking up the matter, energy and time that will serve as raw materials for the creation of future stars.

In other words, whatever energy typically streams to Earth from the centerpoint of the Milky Way will indeed be disrupted on 12/21/12, at 11:11 PM Universal Time, for the first time in 26,000 years. All because of a little wobble in the Earth's rotation.

But why should a brief disruption of so distant a source of the center of the galaxy have any real consequences for our planet or its people? After all, we can go for days, weeks even, with no sunlight or moonlight without significant distress. The best analogy is the way that even a momentary disruption of electrical power can cause the clocks on VCRs and microwaves to go from keeping perfect time to blinking on and off meaninglessly until they are reset by hand. Our being even briefly cut off from the emanations from the center of the galaxy will, the Maya believe, throw out of kilter vital mechanisms of our bodies and of the Earth."

The galaxy's stars aren't created in the center; they are created in the spiral arms, where most of the gas and dust lie. Astronomers don't suspect there is a black hole at the center of the galazy; they are quite certain there is. But it doesn't "suck up the matter, energy and time [by the way, how can time be sucked up?] that will serve as raw materials for the creation of future stars." And if it were sucking all this stuff up, how can there be any energy streaming to Earth from the centerpoint of the Milky Way, and what "emanations" would be disrupted? If there were any such energy, what form does it take, how is it manifested, and how did the Mayans know of its existence, when it hasn't been detected by modern astronomers and cosmologists? And what concept of the galaxy did the ancient Mayans have in the first place? The existence of such an object as a galaxy wasn't known until the 20th century. If the rest of the book is based on no more firm a foundation as the astronomy, as indeed it seems to be, then it's shaky indeed.

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Apocalypse 2012 gives hope.

Thank-you Lawrence E. Joseph, for sharing your knowledge with us. Page 225,( Apocalypse 2012 ) you gave a prayer. It is hard to believe, but, some people can not fathom God. It made me cry, and, I'm not one to feel for these things. It touched me that you would think of putting a prayer for humans that do not have a conection to the creator of everything known to mankind and beyond. Your book confirmed, beyond a shadow of doubt, that Jesus Christ'second coming is near...and it's real. The funny thing is...you did not intend for this to happen. You are one of the people God is using to prepare the masses for the second coming, and, you do not know it.What a privilege and honour. You do write it without any credence to any religion, and, no credence to the saviour of mankind, the man himself,
Jesus Christ!! Jesus did not say he was religion. Jesus said he was truth and the way. What does he want in return? Not much, just to aknowledge him and say thank-you. Inviting him into your heart. It's not much to ask. Is it? It's not even a question of what he wants in return. The Evil force that is with us (Satan) has tried over and over to confuse the good message, with some success...SOME. Where ever people stand on their views on Jesus and God or Religion, they can still enjoy your words. Religion spreads the good word, however, Satan has managed to contaminate that, and, use that to it's advantage. Satan is real, and, very powerful. People don't seem to address Satan, because, they are too busy trying to prove that Jesus is not the Son of God in every way possible. Evil is real. We look into the eyes of evil every day. It's in the papers and on t.v. ,also, in every human on the planet. The thing is, we all have a choice. Isn't it the best??!!The Bible tells us we are born into sin, and, we need Jesus to help with this, and bring us to God. Keep in mind, the Bible tells us the Heavens are filled with life, and, knowing the same God that created us, created them...so...it is reasonable to assume, some ufo creatures are good, and some are bad. They have a choice as well. Let's hope the ones that are communicating with people are the good ones. The issue of ufo creatures helping us out is also in the Bible, and, it is comforting and confusing. Confusing, because, some books, from all good books, have been witheld from us. This is where faith comes in. People that think the Devil is a dude running around with a pitch fork and horns are sitting ducks that are slaves to Satan, and, they don't even know it. I hope one day to meet you in a place we call heaven. The Bible tells us everyone is judged differently and this means...don't worry. From what I know, God wants those who are worthy and can live in peace. I feel he will say...
"Those with love, and ,forgiveness come." It only makes sense does it not? How can feelings of revenge, jealousy, greed, hate, pain and suffering and darkness...survive in the presence of...forgiveness, tranquility, generosity, love, pleasure, light...well, you get the picture. If you are not a good man and Satan was using you to scare people...it backfired!!

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Amusing, if you like disaster stuff

The author presents THEORIES in an organized and easy-to-understand format. I enjoyed the book and it did not run out to a bomb shelter immediately, although I did start buying some canned goods...

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

I gave this book a solid rating for its content and research value.

I liked his humor mixed into the text of some very serious predictions. He looks at all the facts surrounding the Mayan predictions that 2012 is the year when history stops or at least gets a good cleansing.

There are several areas of investigation: Mayan calendar, Sun spots, earths magnetic fields, the earths natural platonic plate movements, and of course the big black hole at the center of the galaxy that will align with the earth in a celestial tug of war.

He does a very good job of writing about all these topics and I believe he gives them all their due as best as he can from a scientific perspective. Of course the conclusions are left up to the reader as to whether to believe the facts as he outlines it, or to refute the direction in which the facts lead the reader. He makes some pretty rational suppositions to consider so one should be hesitant to dismiss the points made as hieratic.

I liked the book and found it to be a good read for the money.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

"Apocalypse 2012: An Investigation Into Civilization's End" Book Review

My favorite chapter in this book was chapter 4 of section 2 called The Hellfires Burning, because it talked about how many volcanoes were erupting because of earthquakes. In the year 2012, scientists think that there will be a huge earthquake that will activate the biggest volcano eruptions ever.
This book is appropriate for grades 10 and up because there are some really big words I didn't understand; but, besides that the book was really interesting. The author used a lot of similes and sometimes metaphors and those are some literary devices I appreciated the most. I liked this book because the author used humor in some chapters because he was trying to ease the reader's mind to not think about 2012 as a scary devastation or to hook the reader in more.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

A Must Read

I read this book and it very well explained it. It explained about the Mayans, the black holes in the sun, alot of posibilities, and he wasn't really representing religion. Finally a book that dosen't really point a finger at religion.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

EXTREMELY WELL WRITTEN - TIGHT WRITING, I TRULY APPRECIATE

Mr. Joseph does not bore us with mind-numbing statistics of science that most of us don't understand anyway. He gets to the point, quickly gives us the salient details, then continues on his journey. Along the way, he throws in personal antecdotes which we can all relate to. I enjoy tight writing and he has done it superbly.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Intriguing

This is a well-researched, very intriguing book. 2012 holds many questions, and this book covers a range of things having to do, and coincide with, the year in question. A good read; highly recommended.

Poorly written and ridiculous

Need I say anything more. This book does not deserve to be read. In between shallow examinations of various scientific and religious belief structures, the author serves up some of the most self-indulgent,non-sensical rambling that have read. Avoid this book like the plague.

It's All Been Done Before

I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie. Apparently the movie will be based on some of the theories that are listed in this book. I haven't finished the book yet, it's gotten rather predictable and a bit boring.

The author's theories are interesting, but flawed. His theories on solar peaks leading to an issue are flawed, the next solar maximum is in 2013, not 2012. He claims this is is an excessively busy time, even for a quiet solar period....it's not. In fact, this is one of the quietest periods on record. He makes links to solar flares and earthquakes, yet the recent strong earthquakes that just occurred last week (around 10/5/09) have absolutely NO coorelation to any occuring solar flare either before, during or after. This is just another of many doomsday books on the market.

Not very user friendly, but interesting in a listing of possible ways our world could do itself in. You could concievably read it for entertainment rather than the "this is the reality" vein it was written in, but it's rather dry.

Best information on 20l2 to date!

I have read a number of books on 2012 and Lawrence E Joseph had also read them and most of the rest. He gives an overview of differing opinions so you can get a feel for what is being discovered on the subject. He is funny and ads humor to a subject where some just add fear. Everything goes down better with humor.

Very Interesting

This book took a little longer than normal to finish because its full of scientific research and lingo. But the author does a good job of explaining what it all means. I was very skeptical about the possibility of 2012 so I chose to read a book about it. This book did not prove to me that it will in fact happen, but it did make me believe that the possibility of it happening is very real. I enjoyed reading it and learned a lot. I recommend to anyone who is skeptical, but won't freak out about all the possibilities of what could happen. Not for paranoid people.

Interesting Read

Not a hard read. I finished it in two days...actually a plane flight to San Diego and back from Norfolk. I don't believe this stuff, but the topic is fascinating. The author did a lot of research and presents a ton of information, and not just information about weird stuff. Keep a pen or pencil handy to underline and look up things that interest you later.

Apocalypse...or not?

This book was interesting in that it reports the theories and potential catastrophes the year 2012 may bring for the world. I enjoyed it in so much as the first half was scientifically based. The second half was not based on any scientific facts, so could hardly be credited as a potential reason for a catastrophic event in 2012. However, the author's sense of humor throughout the novel eases the mind of the reader on what could potentially be a scary look at the devastation the future may or may not provide.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

why would you

why would you write a book about us dieing just let it happen i didn't even want to kno i just wanted to die when god said it was time for me to die and now high school kids are worrying about 2012 and they cant get it off there mind i should know iam 18 in high school i wanted to die old and gery but i cant dream that cause you told us that 2012 we going to die

0 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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