MYSTERIOUS PLACES

A shamelessly seductive popular account of major archeological/legendary quests and fancifully selective gleanings from the work of both responsible scientists and gifted liars of past and present. Mr. Cohen has a lively interest in enduring whoppers based on little or no evidence and constructed on wish and thin air: Atlantis (""Everybody's Paradise Lost""); Lemuria (the Pacific version of Atlantis); the golden city of El Dorado, pursued in a mad and tragic search; and the elusive, Kingdom of Prester John, a Christian chimera. Mighty mounds, monuments and excavations well known -- everyone's favorite handy calendar -- Stonehenge (Mr. Cohen carefully includes criticism of this recent theory); India's Hill of the Dead; the stone fortress of Great Zimbabwe in Rhodesia; and of course Easter Island (with grumblings about the Kon Tiki conclusions of Heyerdahl). Mr. Cohen also rounds up bits about Arthur's realm and explores briefly the continuing studies of ancient peoples on the Gulf Coast of Mexico. Certainly not complete, and serious students may chaff at the cavalier, capsule treatment, but for the young or the dabbler in newsy, ancient mysteries, this is easy entertainment.