Why people recommend it
Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization by Graham Hancock is an extensive archaeological investigation into submerged human structures and lost prehistoric civilizations. On Modern Wisdom, Graham Hancock discussed publishing Underworld in 2002, noting its massive scope at around 700 pages and 2,000 footnotes. He reiterated similar points on the Lex Fridman Podcast, explaining that he wrote the voluminous 2002 work defensively as he detailed his extensive research into prehistoric civilizations and lost societies. On The Joe Rogan Experience in 2024, Hancock focused on the book's precise inundation maps of the ocean floor, highlighting his collaborative investigative work with geologists to document structures submerged by rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age. Earlier, on a 2019 episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, Hancock recounted how Underworld emerged from seven years spent scuba diving along continental shelves in search of architectural remnants swallowed by rising waters. Across these podcast appearances, the author consistently emphasized the exhaustive research and defensive academic posture that defined his quest to rewrite the timeline of human history through underwater archaeology and ancient mapping.
Who recommended it
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker — 4
“Take a look at a book I published in 2002 called Underworld; it’s about 700 pages long and has 2,000 footnotes.”
“But by 2002, when I published a book called 'Underworld', which was the most massive and heavy book that I've ever written because I was writing very defensively at the time.”
“And these inundation maps he has given us are a very accurate representation, and those original maps, the ancient ones—how old are they? That's the 153 PIR Rees map, which was based on more than 20 older source maps. As he tells us in his own handwriting, we only have a fragment of the map; it's full of inaccuracies and”
“and by the time i got to 2002 when i published a book called underworld that followed seven years of scuba diving on continental shelves looking for structures that were submerged by rising sea levels at the end of the last ice age”