Magicians of the Gods

On one hand, Hancock is an iconoclast that is anxious to move archeology forward and make bold claims that, if proven true, would uproot much of what we take for granted about the history of modern humans. He is tireless in his search for evidence to back up his theory of a massively disruptive comet hitting the Earth about twelve thousand years ago. Much of what he finds is very convincing. He's creative and methodical and draws from many experts to back him up.

On the other hand though, he has a parallel theory that a meteor will return and hit the Earth sometime around 2040. He bases this on a variety of markers left by cultures around the world. The way he describes the evidence and the event is intriguing, but ultimately not very scientific.

I think this should be two books, a serious scientific book with shows evidence for a meteor hitting the Earth twelve thousand years ago, the societies that may have existed before then, and their influence on the post-catastrophe world. The second book would be could be a more speculative description of the return of the meteor in the near future. This second book would probably be less convincing but still interesting in a Nicolas Cage sort of way.

Magicians of the Gods is definitely worth reading. You'll learn a lot about some interesting archeological sites. The writing is very engaging and there is probably a lot here that will eventually make its way into the mainstream.