POLE SHIFT: Predictions and Prophecies of the Ultimate Disaster

by John White ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 11, 1980

Mammoths frozen while eating buttercups, clever cultures in Antarctica, continents iced and de-iced in countless cataclysms--all are heralded here as postlude or portent of a polar shift. Why the shift? Maybe because the Earth's rotational wobbles become a staggering fall; maybe because the crust dips; maybe because of galloping earthquakes, cometary encounters, or a magnetohydrodynamic turn for the worse in the Earth's core. Certainly John White doesn't know. Instead he piles on ""data"" en masse, alternating an occasional fact with a multitude of fancies in bizarre combinations. The straightlaced geologist is quoted along with the fringe loner or cosmic cultist. Cayce, Zelikovsky, the Bible, and Nostradamus are among the more celebrated sources; but there are also chapters devoted to Native American prophecies, psychics, and assorted engineer-scientists such as Chan Thomas (disaster comes when Earth enters a ""magnetic null zone""), Charles Hapgood (a shifting crust and high culture in Antarctica), and Hugh Auchincloss Brown (flip-flops due to the weight of polar ice). Curiously, White often chides his sources for their lack of evidence, past errors, or anti-scientific attitude. Beneath the criticism, however, lurks the true believer. From a sociology of science perspective, the personalities, history, and sample writings are not without interest--as indeed is the current rash of Doomsday books (e.g., a recent Asimov, and Morris, above). Perhaps Armageddon forebodings are the order of this dreary day.

Pub Date: April 11, 1980

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1980

Categories: NONFICTION