The Secret of the Incas: Myth, Astronomy, and the War Against Time

The book examines Inka and Mayan myths using a variety of tools, and many, many words. To the first myth the book applies the theories in Hamlets Mill to explain why the Foxes tail is black and pinpoint AD 650 as the rise of warfare in the Andes. From here it's mostly downhill.The book then drags us through his own internal mental processes of doubt and disbelief as we look at other myths. Through this long process we are subjected to forceful and unnecessary biases such as there is no proof that a matriarchal society ever existed anywhere in the world. Period. He returns to the subject of matriarchal disbelief many times calling it a big 'red flag'. We are lead through the authors admitted internal stubborness of this and many other issues.Although I believe the book is correct in it's assocation with the Fox's tail being black being a celestial event ala Hamlets Mills, we spend so many words looking at other myths from a plethora of angles that we are forced into a single conclusion. That no one outside of a culture has any clue at what a given myth really means. The entire book is like running naked through the forest yelling out conclusions about myths which rightly are interpreted only by their creators.At one point in the discussion of 'finding father' we hear a claim that the Andean man lacked a true heart with the ability to love while he was primarily a hunter within a matrilinear horticultural society. Andean man only gained his heart and full ability to love when the culture changed to fully agriculture and he had to stay at home with the wife and kids. Give me a break. To any Andean person alive this is rubbish. What kinds of conclusions and judgements can we make living outside the cultural box. It is this kind of subtle talk that is a jaguars hair short of prejudice and racism.Ultimately, although if you like reading from the 'academic' view, this book does lead you through enough alleys to make you feel like the author knows what he is talking about, ultimately it fails from it's biases and from being rooted in a combination of sexism and western scientific dogma.If the book you to really understand the Andean mind then the author would have had to undergo a process of breaking open his head and surrendering to the mystery of myth rather than trying to break open the myths using the rational mind. Myth is mythic. A view which ultimately escapes the author. It might be worth it to take this book on if you have a university paper to write. It will certainly scintillate your professor being of the same vocabulary and possibly biases. But if you are looking to expanding your understanding of the Inka or Andean cultures from a spiritual or mythic perspective then look elsewhere. Get yourself to South America, Peru, spend time with the shamans. Then you can learn what myth is really about. And how it lives today.

This book is every bit as entertaining as the run-of-the-mill speculative/paranormal UFO-from-Atlantis books with which it is unfortunately cross-listed on Amazon, but the author's scholarly rigor makes it much more satisfying. Sullivan supports his fascinatingly unconventional conclusions with evidence, sound reasoning, and a bit of self-critical skepticism.But the real charm of this book is the fact that he pursued such a crazy theory in the first place. Behind the scholarship is a "guy-with-a-crazy-dream" human-interest story (e.g. Fitzcarraldo, Field of Dreams). This would make perfect film material for Werner Herzog. To hear the author tell it, he spent several years in the academic wilderness (as well as the Andean wilderness), chasing after the (wholly-unsupported) hypothesis that Incan myth encodes both astronomy and Andean history. To his advisers, this must have sounded a lot like writing a grant to study the pyramids of Mars. For a lesser intellect, this would have been a career-killer and the reader gets the sense that Sullivan knew it. One of the best parts of the book recounts Sullivan's meeting with Owen Gingerich and "the Vatican Astronomer" at the Harvard planetarium. He's clearly terrified that these eminent astronomers will think he's a kook. But when they conclude: "he's done his homework," Sullivan breathes a sigh of relief.A word of warning: get the hardback. I got the paperback edition and the binding was defective and the first 50 pages fell out the first time I read them.

Great read of the mysticism of the Inca, and an underlying theory of how to decode myths from oral cultures. Great research and presentation that takes you on the authors journey of discovery while it also teaches you about the discoveries and what they mean. Lots of great insight here, and I feel like I learned not only about the Inca, but a number of other cultures and topics as well (some of the lessons and metaphors of this book are easily applied to other traditions as well).Lots of information here, so I could see some people having a little trouble making it all the way through the book. Some of the astronomy was a bit over my head, as I am not used to many of the terms used, but the author explained things well enough that I could understand most of it regardless of my inexperience with astronomy.I sometimes lead group trips to Peru to see Machu Pichu and other ruins, and I will hopefully be reading this book a second time before my next visit in a few months - a lot of this information will be very helpful in understanding some of the ruins and myths more deeply!

well written, well documented perspective on Incan history. Though a bit on the technical side and well documented, the book presents a challenging and believable set of assertions that make sense. William Sullivan does a very credible and provocative approach to history, speculating some but, overall, presenting a good case for Incan history and the impact of a most remarkable culture. This book helps to substantiate the well-founded argument that our prehistorical cultures were sophisticated and capable peoples.

Reads like a text book at times but it has much detailed info on pre Columbian myths and archae-atronomy. Because I live in the southern hemisphere it's easy for me to identify the stars and dark regions of the milky way discussed in the book and I can see first hand how the myths originated and developed up until the conquest.An absorbing read.

The book provides much information about the Incas, citing astronomy and influence of this in their myths. The book is very good, although it could work more the influence of the Spanish on what we know today about their myths.

A must read if you are open to expanding your "truths'. Something tells me the author uses more of his brain than the average human.

Great merchandise; great price.

I bought it several years ago, only just getting around to writing up my reviews on Amazon purchases. It is still one of the best books on the Incas, an astonishingly good work in fact. I cannot add to what has already been stated in other reviews so will just rubber stamp my seal of approval on it. Five Stars

I gave this book 5 stars because it is a work of both genius and love, both being clearly evinced by the author. I can't pretend I 100% comprehended everything on 1st reading, but the implications of what has been uncovered are outstanding. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in kicking down the down the doors of perception.

Ah but what is the secret. A Good Read.