Underworld

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.

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.

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.

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.

Richly descriptive and utterly compelling.

A masterful balance of the pragmatic neutrality of a journalist combined with great storytelling. Hancock weaves a compelling and thoughtful thread though the shroud of our common and truly ancient history.

a must-read for anyone not satisfied with the accepted and limited dogma of the main stream yet not willing to drink the alien DNA koolaid.

Five Starts across the board.

fascinating...

Like all Graham Hancock's books. He uncovers evidence of ancient civilizations who lived in now underwater coastal areas. His approach the scientist and the dreamer in me. The most memorable part was about the Indus Valley Civilization. Shiva was apparently a real person. I didn't know about that. I'm now reading the Rig Veda to learn more about the ancient Indians.

An Eye Opening Experience

Mr. Hancock explains very clearly what happened in the great flood myths. For a very long time I had heard stories, but didn't know where to look. I do now, thanks to Mr. Graham Hancock.

Fascinating

I really enjoy his hunger to find ancient cultures that I to believe by further back in history covered up by floods. I really wish more archaeology would be done on the subject in this book makes that more certain tha I loved the way he told the story of his dives at these ancient locations once above the Sea. It is interesting to think about cultures that could have existed or would have existed so long ago

Where is the editor?

When I decided to buy the book I read a review which came to be true... the book seems more like a journey notebook and needs editing to make the story easier to pass by (and the 30hrs reduced). However I appreciate the fact they wanted to gift us with such detailed account for future references, nevertheless it grasps a text book rather than the loved GH style. I will recommend.

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.

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

Meticulously researched fascinating hypothesis.<br />

While I initially thought this was going to be a book on diving, it turned out to be that AND so much more!

interesting subject field understandable to laymen

Opened a totally new subject field for me. Excellent narration, especially good pronunciation of foreign place names.

Very interesting subject

very interesting subject which needs more global attention but could have been summarised more .

Tantalising glimpses of an unacknowledged archaic world

A great theory well supported with facts and fiction.

Time and technology will inevitably cast more light.

underworld

Great book, Hancock walks the walk before telling his truth. Loved every minute of it.

Great book.

Another great book from Hancock. I will be listening to it again at least once more.