Underworld

The Mysterious Origins of Civilization

By: Graham Hancock

Narrated by: Dennis Kleinman

Length: 31 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's Summary

From Graham Hancock, best-selling author of Fingerprints of the Gods, comes a mesmerizing book that takes us on a captivating underwater voyage to find the ruins of a lost civilization that's been hidden for thousands of years beneath the world's oceans.  

While Graham Hancock is no stranger to stirring up heated controversy among scientific experts, his books and television documentaries have intrigued millions of people around the world and influenced many to rethink their views about the origins of human civilization. Now he returns with an explosive new work of archaeological detection. In Underworld, Hancock continues his remarkable quest underwater, where, according to almost a thousand ancient myths from every part of the globe, the ruins of a lost civilization, obliterated in a universal flood, are to be found.  

Guided by cutting-edge science and the latest archaeological scholarship, Hancock begins his mission to discover the truth about these myths and examines the mystery at the end of the last Ice Age. As the glaciers melted between 17,000 and 7,000 years ago, sea levels rose and more than 15 million square miles of habitable land were submerged underwater, resulting in a radical change to the Earth's shape and the conditions in which people could live. Using the latest computer techniques to map the world's changing coastlines, Hancock finds astonishing correspondences with the ancient flood myths.

Filled with thrilling accounts of his own participation in dives off the coast of Japan, as well as in the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, and the Arabian Sea, we watch as Hancock discovers underwater ruins exactly where the myths say they should be-sunken kingdoms that archaeologists never thought existed. Fans of Hancock's previous adventures will find themselves immersed in Underworld, a provocative book that provides both compelling hard evidence for a fascinating, forgotten episode in human history, and a completely new explanation for the origins of civilization as we know it.

©2002 Graham Hancock (P)2019 Tantor

Critic Reviews

"Graham Hancock is no stranger to controversy. The former journalist, whose books have sold five million copies in the past 10 years, has repeatedly dared to challenge scientific shibboleth, taking a run at entrenched thinking in archeology, geology and astronomy." (The Globe and Mail)

Fascinating

I am a fan of Graham Hancock. The information conveyed is interesting and important. However, it could have easily been edited down to about a quarter of its present length. It reads like cut-and-pasted journal entries.

Also, with the Audible edition you do not get any photographs or especially maps. Since the whole thing depends a lot on "inundation maps" showing coastlines at intervals in the past, if you can't see those maps, it's really annoying. Audible should provide a supplemental pdf with the maps and photos. There isn't one and they didn't respond to my message asking about it. So, don't buy the Audible version of this book, buy the print version instead, so you can see the maps. (Or buy both if you are determined to listen rather than read.) I did not return the book since I did enjoy listening to it, and I got my money's worth, but I felt that I should have gotten the maps too, as they ARE part of the book.

Millions Of Miles Of Submerged Coast Or A Hindi Primer?

If you guessed the later this is your book. If you’re hoping based on the title, the description and the dust jacket art that this book explores the millions of miles of coastlines an possible coastal cities that have been drowned since the last glacial period peaked ,,, keep looking. Hancock starting losing it with this one and went totally off the rails in his last one. He’s become the newest bait and switch salesman of the old and tired ancient aliens car lot. Pass on this one and pass on Hancock.

Mostly very boring, repetitive

An entire chapter about trying to get a charter boat and someone who could take him to an underwater site. How due to the weather they could not dive. Then his frustration that they could not find the site he was looking for. Completely unnecessary details that drag on and on. A few interesting sites and information but could have been condensed into half the length.

wow what a great book

I just wish the was an update for 2019. so much had happened since 2002 and I'll bet that more had been found and better research had been done.

this book really covers all the angles and uses science and logic to rule out imaginative explanations for their findings.

A bunch of pseudoscientific nonsense

I'm sorry I bought this trash and I will be asking for my credit back.
These ridiculous, unverified theories are a waste of time and money.

Great Research & Outlook, OK Narrator

This book’s depth, breadth of knowledge, and intrigue are simply amazing. I feel like I’m reading an alternate history of our universe. I love this book.
The narrator... if you have a thing about pronunciation, maybe skip him. He has a pleasant voice, but it’s impossibly plummy. He pronounced all his “ti” (as in ‘question’) and “sh” sounds as “ch”. I can’t listen for too long at a time because this guy sounds like he’s auditioning for a role as a butler or something. Every word from his lips sounds pompous and self-important. It irritates me A LOT, but I really love this book, so I stuck with it and just gritted my teeth.

long

Did not realize what I was getting into. I watched his joe rogan interviews and thought he was very interesting. I'm still going to listen to another one of his books but not this one again.

Fascinating science, though at times long winded

This book assesses the flood myths from many cultures and from many perspectives along with the geophysical end to the Ice Age. it further relates the experience of diving at several locations around the world to examine possible ruins of citied far older than its commonly accepted 5000 year old start of civilization. The potential wilful destruction of cave art in Malta is examine extensively, perhaps to thoroughly for the average reader, yet perhaps provided to avoid accusations of bias.

LOOOOONNNGGG

Way too long. Could have lost a good 12 hours to get the idea. Overly written. I enjoyed his other books much more.

provoking

if you love ancient history and archaeology you will love this book. it takes you around sites all over the world.

great if you have trouble sleeping

great subject but so monotone and boring. poorly edited, it goes from chapter to chapter without taking breath. i have not read the hard copy and i dont think i would ever try

Great content, lifeless narration.

A wonderfully interesting content spoilt by boring, lazy sounding narrator.
Please re-record with a person reading and not a bored robot.

amazing,

It's an amazing book, great research! I was gripped throughout! would highly recommend it. great

not for me

if you like diarised style narration then you'll love this I got lost in all the minutiae.

Amazing

Love how Graham goes deep into his investigations and stands up for his beliefs

Shame Graham didn’t read this

Excellent research and content and massive fan of Graham Hancocks work but the narrator unfortunately chosen here is lacking any ability to keep you engaged with a monotone voice that doesn’t pause for the next chapter or sub heading. A voice more suited for meditation and falling to sleep. Lacking in personality and expression it made this 30+ hour listen at times mind numbing.

Also rather worrying the images which are very important to this book are not part of an attached PDF. I therefore purchased the book separately on an auction website beginning with E for a reasonable price which was helpful especially when discussing maps without a reference it’s impossible to follow.

Do yourself a favour - buy the book and read it the old fashioned way. Or Graham please re-release with your voice and attach images.

Even better ask a billionaire to fund the exploration and let’s build an Underworld 2 now we have better technology for imagery. Well done Graham and thanks for your efforts from a fellow scuba and lost ancient civilisation fan.

Good content but repetitive and boring narration

I liked some of the ideas in this book, drawing on myth and geological history. Interesting thoughts which could be investigated by archaeologists to provide more convincing evidence than is presented here. Hancock definitely leads the reader to question the accepted history of civilisation. I found it repetitive in parts though, to the extent where I thought I was rereading a paragraph quite a few times. The same information could have been presented in a book half as long.

I have to say though that this Narration is awful. One of the worst I've come across in 5 years of using audible. I made it a 1.5 chapters in, which included restarting numerous times as I found I had switched off almost immediately. I couldn't tell where one paragraph or section ended and the other began. The book contains many quotes which wasn't obvious from the narration, and he just sounded completely boring and monotone. I ended up buying a copy of the book so I could read instead of listen. The recording is still in use for the nights I'm struggling to sleep.

Pseudoscience at its very best

With the modern iteration of pseudoscience as ‘Fake News’ doing the rounds it’s nice to read some traditional pseudoscience and conspiracy theory guff.

A Bestselling Author
Getting on for 20 years, Underworld is on the (underwater) path towards becoming a classic in its genre. In the same vein as bestselling author Graham Hancock’s bestselling and infamous ‘Fingerprints Of The Gods’ - Underworld gets Graham’s mix of research, holiday blog, and fringe theories balanced so that none become boring or redundant - and just as they do! Up comes another part of the world to discover. Jet-setting through Malta, India, & Japan there’s enough content to just about justify its long runtime.

Getting used to the pater
Just as you get attuned to a fiction author and their use of words and phrases, you’ll quickly become familiar with Hancock’s justifications and explanations.
1. This will often include a numbered list
2. With information carefully selected
3. Countering only one argument at a time
4. Preceding his own theory with something outlandish to help make his seem like the only reasonable conclusion!

The voice of the colonies
Despite what another reviewer describes, someone clearly unfamiliar with long form audiobooks, this kind of non-fiction needs less emotion and a steady tone. Dennis Kleinman being South African does an excellent job capturing that alluring colonial accent and mispronunciation that Graham has graced us with when narrating his own books. A calm authoritative voice from a man that clearly wouldn’t eat a baby, and therefore is a natural choice for such a production.

Could it get any better?
The root of ancient civilisations at the heart of so much of Graham’s writing is a natural fit for the antediluvian world. Was this entire book and three part Channel 4 documentary there for Graham to justify and finance his diving hobby. Of course it was - Anyone with half a brain could figure that out. But is it worth your money, yeah probably, it’s a bit of laugh ain’t it.

wow

what an in-depth piece of work , top notch info is a bit of an understatement, hard going at times due to the scale of info , took me awhile to digest . well done 👍.

Disappointed with quality of sound

Don’t know if this is just my download but the beginning of sentences fade out and you miss words throughout. Doesn’t happen on other books including ones written by Graham.
The performance of the actual reader Is perfect and obviously the content is sound.
Graham is a great writer although he could have done without the dig on Erich Von Daniken. In my eyes unless you can prove him wrong you should take his views as equality credible. It’s predicable and demeaning for someone like Graham to use sly take downs. The tactic is not as clever as the people who use it think it is.
Just present your case please.
Overall a good book.
Frustrating that a 30 hour book has been so badly recorded.