Person
Every book Graham Hancock recommended on podcasts
Graham Hancock appears on podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience and The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett to discuss alternative archaeology, ancient civilizations, and his foundational theories about human history. Across these appearances, Hancock frequently credits specific academic and investigative works that fundamentally challenged his view of the past and inspired his lifelong research. He repeatedly highlights Giorgio de Santillana and Herta von Dechend's Hamlet's Mill, stating that this crucial 1960s study by a professor of the history of science at MIT was instrumental in making him question conventional historical narratives and recognize advanced astronomical knowledge encoded in ancient myths. Hancock also praises Brian C. Muraresku's The Immortality Key, for which he wrote the foreword, noting that the positive reception of its psychedelic research gives him hope. Additionally, he references Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind and J. David Lewis-Williams's The Mind in the Cave to support his arguments regarding upper Paleolithic cave art and altered states of consciousness. Finally, he credits Immanuel Velikovsky's Mankind in Amnesia as the origin of his signature phrase describing humanity as a species with amnesia.
Books recommended by Graham Hancock
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Hamlet's mill
Hamlet's Mill by Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend is an influential academic study published in the 1960s that argues ancient myths and sacred geometries encode sophisticated astronomical knowledge, particularly regarding the precession of the equinoxes.
Discussed“A very important academic study published in the 1960s, a book called Hamlet's Mill by Giorgio de Santillana, Professor of the History of Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and head of the foundation Professor of history of science.”
Where to get it
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Hamlet's Mill
Hamlet's Mill by Giorgio De Santillana and Herta von Dechend is an influential scholarly study examining how ancient myths preserve advanced astronomical and scientific knowledge across generations.
Recommended“there's an amazing book um which I may have mentioned to you before Joe a book called Hamlet's Mill and it was written by two professors of the history of science Georgio de santiana and he of vesan back in the 60s and what book is dynamite”
Where to get it
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How to Change Your Mind
How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan is an investigative exploration of the history and science of psychedelics, including psilocybin, LSD, and their potential therapeutic applications.
Recommended“well uh michael pollan who uh later in life experienced psychedelics and uh wrote pretty brilliantly about them for me that is he's one of the more interesting uh people to discuss it because michael is an investigative journalist he he he dot takes deep dives into these subjects and his deep dive into psychedelics was incredibly illuminating and so”
Where to get it
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Immortality Key
The Immortality Key by Brian C.
Recommended“one of the things that gives me hope is Brian esu's the the reception of his material that book The immortality key which is fantastic which points to real which I wrote the forward to”
Where to get it
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The Mind in the Cave
The Mind in the Cave by J.
Recommended“there's a professor at the university of witwatersrand in south africa david lewis williams written a book called the mind in the cave who's documented this in in great detail”
Where to get it
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DMT: The Spirit Molecule
DMT: The Spirit Molecule by Rick Strassman is a groundbreaking non-fiction book that details the author's pioneering, FDA-approved clinical studies on dimethyltryptamine at the University of New Mexico during the 1990s.
Discussed“and which is one of the reasons i'm so fascinated by rick strassmann's work you you presented his film dmt the spirit molecule”
Where to get it
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Food of the Gods
Food of the Gods by Terence McKenna is a well-known exploration of humanity's historical relationship with psychoactive plants and their role in the evolution of consciousness and culture.
Discussed“kudos to them for for for for realizing terence's book was called food of the gods that that the ex encounters with psychedelics with ancient psychedelics were what put Humanity on a huge leap forward”
Where to get it
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History Begins at Sumer
Discussed“and indeed i have a i have a book in my my library called history begins at sumer and it's by samuel noah cramer a very renowned archaeologist and it's a good book actually”
Where to get it
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Mankind in Amnesia
Discussed“That's why I refer to us as a species with amnesia. And when I use that phrase, I need to give credit to Immanuel Velikovsky, who wrote a book called Mankind in Amnesia.”
Where to get it
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The sacred mushroom and the cross
The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross by John Marco Allegro is a controversial historical study that proposes Christianity and ancient religious rituals originated from fertility cults centered around the sacramental use of psychedelic mushrooms.
Discussed“uh and so john marco allegro author of the sacred mushroom in the scroll so he releases that book in 1970 and he claims that uh christianity is the guys for a near eastern fertility cult and it's i mean i think it's very interesting but there aren't many linguists who who support the proposition”
Where to get it
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The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins is a landmark popular science book that presents a gene-centric view of evolution and introduced the concept of the meme.
Critiqued“richard richard dawkins is the author of the book called the selfish gene and he's not one of my favorite people because he's a he's a materialist reductionist”
Where to get it
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The Stand
The Stand by Stephen King is a sweeping apocalyptic horror novel depicting the aftermath of a weaponized pandemic and the ultimate battle between good and evil.
Discussed“oddly enough i've just been reading stephen king's dark tower series yeah very near the end of the seventh volume of that”
Where to get it
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The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas S.
Discussed“and there's a book called the structure of scientific revolutions by thomas kuhn which outlines what a paradigm shift is”
Where to get it
Books Graham Hancock wrote
- Fingerprints of the gods
- The Sign and the Seal
- Keeper of Genesis
- Underworld
- Supernatural
- Visionary
- America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization
- Magicians of the Gods
- America Before
- Immortality Key
- Heaven's Mirror
Appearances
Other mentions (30: passing, ad reads, own books)
“the book that put me on the map was Fingerprints of the Gods. And that's the book where I really investigate begin to investigate the possibility of a lost civilization.”
“Before that came The Sign and the Seal, which was which was about Ethiopia's claim to possess the lost Ark of the Covenant. It happened that as a reporter in the 1980s, I spent a lot of time in Ethiopia, and I came across this tradition...”
“Before that came The Sign and the Seal, which was which was about Ethiopia's claim to possess the lost Ark of the Covenant. It happened that as a reporter in the 1980s, I spent a lot of time in Ethiopia, and I came across this tradition...”
“Then, after Fingerprints of the Gods, there's a book that's not here, which is Keeper of Genesis, that I wrote with Robert Bauval.”
“Underworld. This was 7 years of scuba diving that Santha and I did all around the world following up tips from local fishermen, local divers.”
“Then, after Underworld, I wrote Supernatural, which is that one there. Which has been reissued in America under the title Visionary.”
“Which has been reissued in America under the title Visionary.”
“since I published Fingerprints of the Gods in 1995”
“they were going back to the Fingerprints of the gods that I wrote In 1995 in which I reported indigenous Traditions”
“could there be something missing from the story of our past and that's that's why I ended up writing Fingerprints of the Gods to to put that information before the public”
“and I dived back into it and and ended up writing another couple of books magicians of the Gods and America before which we talked about on your show back in 20 in 2019...”
“and ended up writing another couple of books magicians of the Gods and America before which we talked about on your show back in 20 in 2019”
“and ended up writing another couple of books magicians of the Gods and America before which we talked about on your show back in 20 in 2019”
“I wrote a book back in 2005 called Supernatural meetings with the ancient teachers of mankind and it is astonishing”
“a year after I published Fingerprints of the Gods”
“the first book that really put me on the map and that immediately attracted a lot of criticism was Fingerprints of the Gods in 1995”
“and a book that i published in 2006 called supernatural yes which which looks at the huge role that psychedelics have played in cultures and in religions all around the world”
“in fact joe i think you and i originally got in touch because of my interest in psychedelics in human culture uh and a book that i published in 2006 called supernatural which which looks at the huge role that psychedelics have played in cultures and in religions all around the world”
“kind of what happened to me when i when i wrote supernatural i had i had apart from one experience with lsd in 1974 i hadn't used any psychedelics”
“the publication date is the 29th of september and that's also the same publication date as the paperback of my lost civilization book america before i want to be clear that the immortality key is brian's book”
“this is the hardback of america before which we which we talked about the last time i was on your show and uh america before has been in hardback for the past 18 months”
“um and we were just talking about your your new book america before that there's two versions of it”
“It made sense to me in 1995 when i wrote fingerprints of the gods but there was no compelling evidence for a global cataclysm”
“it made sense to me in 1995 when i wrote fingerprints of the gods but there was no compelling evidence for a global cataclysm”
“i have in america before i've not gone over old ground that i went over in magicians of the gods that we covered in the various interviews”
“that was the essence of my book fingerprints of the gods that was published in 1995 that there has been a huge forgotten episode in human history”
“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”
“I ended up writing supernatural meetings with the ancient teachers of mankind about the role of psychedelics in in the origins of the of the human story”
“i ended up writing supernatural meetings with the ancient teachers of mankind about the role of psychedelics in in the origins of the of the human story”
“that's why i published magicians of the gods in 2015 and then as i was researching that book i became aware of something”