Earth in Upheaval Paperback – October 1, 2009

Immanuel Velikovsky presents his thoughtful ideas cogently and thoroughly. He manages to show that uniformitarianism is a false concept and that the earth was shaped by terrible and swift geological occurrences rather than slow undramatic ones. The author wrote in a period of time when the floating continents theory or plate tectonics was not an accepted theory. I went to college in the late 1960s and I was not taught anything about plate tectonics, and I was not exposed to Velikovsky's theories either. The uniformitarian philosophy was all I heard.The Earth in Upheaval is an eye-opening attack on the theory of uniformitarianism. If you believe even one half of what the author presents you must reject the theory that as things are now they have always been (uniformitarianism). Of course, with the introduction of plate tectonics many of Velikovsky's concepts have taken a hit because a lot of what was formally unexplainable is now understood; however, that does not mean his philosophy in opposition of uniformitarianism is defeated. Explaining that the Alps were pushed up by a northern moving plate doesn't mean the timing or the swiftness of the event is explained. And most of the problems with the evidence for slow change brought forth by the author in this book is still valid.Earth in Upheaval is an easy read. One doesn't have to be a geologist or a technician to read and grasp the ideas in this tomb. Highly recommended for those looking for a rousing assault on prevailing theories in geology.AD2-t

I stumbled into Velikovsky's "World's in Collision" while an undergrad university student nearly 60 years ago while being brainwashed into the "science" of "uniformitarianism". Later, while in grad school, had to take a course in Historical Geology. The prof started his course with the comment: "If you want to waste some money, get a copy and read Velikovsky's book "Earth in Upheaval." Well, I did, and it solved a mystery this amateur fossil collector trained in "Uniformitarianism" had puzzled over for years. Why is it that in every corner of the planet we find billions of fossils; plants, animals, fish and even soft bodied organisms that appear to have been buried alive and preserved in nearly perfect condition? CATASTROPHISM!“Every age has its superstitions, and ours is the notion that science is an infallible and all-sufficient guide to truth.” - Louis Cassels 1971 -

A must read for those who may feel that the Universe is not as slow and benign as current scientific thinking keep telling us, despite the evidence under their collective noses ! The extent of their denial can be seen even now, in the once called Man Made Global Warming to the current Man Made Climate Change.......the actual processes of the local and general Universes are not involved with climate change at all ?? This man had the courage to look at the obvious, beyond the indoctrination by religion with its various non sense beliefs over millennia and shorter periods to times when crap descends from the sky and elsewhere. The Steady State belief system probably is no more than the projection by regular scientists of their own varied religious brainwashing as children, in whatever culture they were raised. Those who are interested in an up to date and scientific projection of an alternate scenario should check out The Electric Universe and Thunderbolts.org , online

This book followed the great "Worlds in Collision" and is a must read for anyone who has an open mind about science and history. The great "scientific" minds who hit themselves in the nose with their knee jerk reactions at the mere mention of the name Velikovsky, are idiots. Even Randall Carlson and Graham Hancock don't seem to want to mention him and yet 70 years after Velikovsky wrote they go out and see the evidence for Noah's flood and other catastrophes themselves and act like they are the discoverers. Velikovsky after a generation of abuse and slander is still "The one who must not be named" in science and history.

This book is abit over my head, but the information was eye opening. To understand more about our planet and all that has happened in order for us to live here, is amazing. It was somewhat more scientific than I expected. I was thinking it might be along the line of God`s work thru the ages. It is interesting though the perspective of all these scientists, Leaning on man`s understanding, and trying to explain the events from human view point. All in all it was very good book, I have passed it on to my sister and she truely enjoys it as well. Thank you very much for your service.

Book arrived in very good condition except for an ink mark on the page edges. Wanted this book to learn more of Velikovsky’s theories on the formation of our solar system. Scientists are no longer shunning this man and what he believes. They now believe that his theories may have some truth in them.

This is an excellent source of information on writings of the most respected geologists from the 1700s to the mid 1900s - assembled and cited within a scientific manner that cost this man his reputation in his lifetime because he went against what was the common perception. Velikovsky was the more careful, the more specific, and the more detailed in what he presented because of the scrutiny of his peers, but he was vehemently rejected because his work appeared to point to the flood. Although he is still controversial in the field of Science, he will be vindicated fully in time for being true to scientific thought and process - this could be a manual on how to gather, develop, and present findings!!!

If you value your peace of mind, give this a miss... ! The author presents extremely well researched, immensely detailed evidence of cataclysmic events which have literally changed the entire face of the earth - probably several times in the past. Deals at length with the mystifying deposits of millions of animal, fish, flora and even human bones, all mashed up and deposited together, simultaneously, in certain strata of the earth, or caves and fissures in the rock all over the world. Also, inexplicable presence of certain types of rock, boulders, etc. in various places when they ought to be elsewhere... various other indicators of a global catastrophe.He discusses possible causes for these cataclysms, polar shifts, earth-crust displacement, collision with other cosmic bodies, etc. etc. This is NOT science fiction. All sources are meticulously documented and from thoroughly respected scientific articles and publications.When you've read this, you'll find all the hysteria about 'climate change' and global warming pretty futile ... we probably wont be around long enough to feel the climate warm up 0.2 degrees because people forgot to switch off the light.

Earth In Upheaval is essentially a companion to Worlds In Collision, but whereas Worlds In Collision recounts the events of thirty-four and twenty-six centuries ago through the words of the survivors and the offspring of the survivors of the events of those times, Earth In Upheaval recounts the paleological, archaeological and geological evidence which seems to confirm beyond reasonable doubt the thesis offered in Worlds In Collision: that there were two series of cataclysmic events thirty-four and twenty-six centuries ago on a global scale.In the first of these, in approximately 1495 BC, Venus was ejected from Jupiter as a comet on an orbit which brought it into contact with Earth and moved the Earth from its then orbit near where Venus now orbits, bringing about the end of the Middle Kingdoms in Egypt and Minoa, and in fact in every other civilised part of the world, raised mountains, emptied lakes, created oceans, changed whole continents, led to the widespread migration of hungry and desperate survivors, caused the extinction of many forms of life, such as sabre-toothed tigers, mammoths and mastodons and a myriad of others which orthodox history would have us believe perished millions of years ago, and later forced the recalculation of the length of months and years. The second series of events, from around 747 BC to approximately 687 BC, involved near-misses between Earth and Mars, and collisions between Mars and Venus, the intervention of Venus saving the Earth and the weary survivors on it from yet more calamity; nevertheless further recalculation of the length of months and years became necessary, leading to the conclusion that the Earth's orbit was changed yet again.In Earth In Upheaval Velikovsky shows that there can be no argument with the physical record: the archaeological finds of massive amounts of bones from the most amazing mixture of animal life from all parts of the globe in common graves dated to a common time period, the rate of sedimentation of lakes and estuaries, the rate of erosion of features such as the Niagara Falls, the discovery of marine life in the highest parts of the Andes and Himalayas dated at not more than 4000 years old, and much more, as well as independent research such as that of Schaffer (unknown to Velikovsky at the time of publication) all combine to confirm the dating of those events and the severity of the impact felt on Earth. It is amazing to find that major river deltas such as the Mississippi are no more than 4000 years old; it is staggering to read that scientists have confirmed over and over again over the past century that the highest reaches of the Andes and Himalayas were raised within the memory of man; it is nearly beyond the abilities of the imagination to picture either the diversity of life that evidently existed on the planet, many species wiped out with no survivors, or the violence of the events which apparently smashed into tiny pieces the bones of enormous animals such as mammoths and mastodons while the animals were still intact before mixing together their remains with creatures from all parts of the globe. That these species were contemporary with modern man is confirmed beyond doubt by a) the dating of the whole conglomeration to approximately 3500 years ago and b) the finding of human remains and stone tools within the mass.Beautifully written and, like everything by Velikovsky, hugely compelling, Earth In Upheaval presents a vivid picture of the real history of the planet we live on, a picture which is in sharp contrast to that created and maintained by orthodox academia over the past century and a half. Velikovsky's conclusions are impossible to ignore - indeed, the scientific/academic establishment found them so! - and if taken as seriously as they should have been, would have prompted a revolution in the general understanding of the events of our planet's past. Ignore the claims of "pseudo-science" you will always find in Google searches about Velikovsky and on book reviews, usually made by people who have not read a word he actually wrote, and read for yourself just how much evidence to back up his claims there really is.

In this book IV describes the vast amount of evidence that shows that the Earth and its inhabitants experienced several terrible catastrophes during humanities fairly recent past.These include 'mountains' of debris comprised of animal bones of an enormous range of animals, including human, many of which are now extinct. These mountains are he considers are a 'tidemark' of a series of colossal tsunami that must have been thousands of feet high.As Tsunami of this size could not have been caused by Earthly sources, they must have been caused by extra-terrestrial sources.These sources he concludes were probably a planet sized body passing close to Earth, or series of passes, in the form of a giant comet.Evidence for this has recently been confirmed, by the discovery of a layer of ash, which contains extra-terrestrial iridium, carbon dated to around 9800 years ago. This is supported by vast numbers of oval craters, clearly visible in North Carolina, and stretching as far west as Texas. This evidence has been confirmed to exist worldwide, and corresponds to the period when there was a mass extinction, which included the mammoths, making the theory that humans hunted the mammoths into extinction untenable.

I first read this book and Worlds in Collision back in the 1960's when catastrophism was pretty much heresy. What I have found interesting over the years is how catastrophism has become more mainstream and how differing groups use the same evidence to underpin their position. For instance, while Velikovsky is using geological and palaeontological evidence to demonstrate the viability of his theory of planetary perturbations within mankind's history, creationists view the same evidence to support short earth history and proof of a global deluge (eg Rose, The Noah Code.) Whatever the truth, there is no doubt that the earth has in recent times been subject to forces of nature that are not supported by the uniformitarian view. The present is not the key to the past, the past is the key to the past.

everyone should read this book if no other reason that it forces one to think "out of the box" rather than just accept received wisdom.