With the recent news concerning Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 exploding into the upper atmosphere of Jupiter, it was exciting to follow the cosmic adventure of the planet-comet Marduk as it swept past the planet Tiamat and its moon, Kingu. The difference between the outcomes of Shoe maker Levy 9 and Marduk is that Marduk caused the planet Tiamat to split in two. One half was eventually pulverized to become the Hammered Bracelet of Heaven (the asteroid belt between Jupiter and Mars) and the other half, along with Kingu, became our own planet earth and moon.
Sitchin uses the ancient Sumerian Creation epic to explain the creation of our planet and the configuration of the solar system. It is done in preparation to explaining the cornerstone of the book--the 12th planet. Even before he gets to the hard science of planet formation, he tackles the ancient pantheon, stating a fairly solid case for a common root for all the ancient pantheon--the Hittites, Greeks, Egyptians and others.
Sitchin's works are a combination of fact and speculation. The value of his work is the speculation. Like his other works in "The Earth Chronicles", he starts with the facts, primarily ancient text and artwork, and constructs a rational scenario as to the why of it all. This is valuable in and of itself. The reader is forced to go beyond the traditional rationalizations history being nothing more than rationalizations after all. Once beyond the traditional, other possibilities arise, including those of Sitchin.
For instance, traditional history holds that Greece was the foundation of western civilization. But what of the Sumerians who preceded the Greeks by some 3,000 years? The author is at his best in examining this foundation. That the gods of antiquity should all be of the scared number 12, that the personalities and dispositions of gods known under different names in different cultures should be in essence the same gods as those revered by the Sumerians is certainly not accidental. In reading Sitchin the only question is whether the commonality of humankind's culture was the result of extraterrestrial visitation. The reader may answer that with a resounding No. So be it. It does not distract from the contribution Sitchin makes to the study of histories and cultures.
Read this book. A farther reading suggestion. If you have read the bible and are