Finding Atlantis: A True Story of Genius, Madness, and an Extraordinary Quest for a Lost World

by David King

Book Overview

The untold story of a fascinating Renaissance man on an adventurous hunt for a lost civilization--an epic quest through castles, courts, mythologies, and the spectacular world of the imagination. What... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1400047528
• ISBN13: 9781400047529
• Release Date: June 2005
• Publisher: Harmony
• Length: 309 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.7" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

What happens when brilliance goes a bit too far

If you are interested in history, or at least curious about the subject, you'll want to give this book a read. It really does a good job of highlighting the fine line between genius and insanity. Upon starting the book I knew nothing of Olof Rudbeck, the subject of the text. I'd thought I was going to be reading something about a crazy old dude who thought Atlantis was in Sweden. The book, though, demonstrates that Rudbeck wasn't just some crackpot. He was actually quite brilliant. He just got a little obsessed with something. That said, some of his developments and observations during his Atlantis quest are still being applied to this day. The dynamics of Swedish politics during the 17th century is an interesting background element of the story. Also, the internal conflicts of the university at which Rudbeck was a faculty member were quite entertaining, is as much as I see the same things today through a professor friend of mine. I'm not going to call this an enrapturing read, but it was certainly a worthwhile one from my perspective.

Fun and Interesting Read

I just finished this book and found it very worthwhile. I have always been interested in the legend of Atlantis and oddly enough, had never heard of Olof Rudbeck. Therefore this book was quite intriguing (and has neat information about the history of Sweden and mythology as well). A few of the chapters in this book could be a bit boring, hence the not-perfect rating, but the rest of the book is quite fascinating. I highly recommend it!

Engrossing biographical account

Much like the Holy Grail, the search for Atlantis is a topic that demands curiousity. Here, Peter King writes with mangificent prose the account of Olof Rudbeck and his quest to prove that his Sweden was indeed the location of the lost, advanced civilization. Before getting there, however, King illustrates Rudbeck's upbringing and education, which is fascinating in itself. For instance, he tells us that Rudbeck made the first major medical discovery of any Swede when he discovered the lymphatic system after performing a dissection on a cow carcass in an open market. After this discovery, Rudbeck experienced a meteoric rise in both the educational and royal graces, and was eventually asked for help researching the whereabouts of an ancient Norse tale from folklore... As a result of that research, Rudbeck began to see connections from Classical Civilization to the folklore of Sweden, both in geography and in their legendary rulers. The majority of the book is devoted to Rudbeck's obsessive mission, which eventually became proving that Sweden was the home of Plato's Atlantis. Rudbeck's methodologies were ground-breaking and impressive. King casts Rudbeck as an intelligent eccentric, both ridiculous enough to constantly ruffle the feathers of his peers and charming enough to get himself out of most jams. The background history of Sweden and Europe make it a worthwhile read, but the story of Rudbeck's mission make it an excellent one.

A range of disparate legends to an ancient lost civilization

In 1679 one Olof Rudbeck succeeded in tracing a range of disparate legends to an ancient lost civilization which once thrived north of his native Sweden: he'd spend the last thirty years of his life seeking evidence of his theory. Finding Atlantis: A True Story Of Genius, Madness, And An Extraordinary Quest For A Lost World charts his extraordinary ability to chase down the most diverse clues in his search for the truth. Chapters probe the adventures he had tracing lends of the lost Atlantis, the publication of his 2,500-page history, and his research in uncertain times. Reading at times with the drama of a novel, Finding Atlantis is charged with action and even intrigue - as well as historical accuracy, and remains the only biography of Olof to probe his theories in detail.

Less Genius, More Madness

Olof Rudbeck was some kind of seventeenth century wonderful, according to author David King in Finding Atlantis, A True Story of Genius, Madness, and an Extraordinary Quest for a Lost World. Rudbeck comes across more self-delusional than either the mad or genius of the subtitle but either way it is an interesting story. He found Atlantis in ancient Sweden, which also became the birthplace for all language, mythology, and culture known throughout classical Europe (and later stretched to the Indus River itself by Rudbeck). There was nothing this man could not interpret to meet his needs for fitting into a particular hypothesis. At times, the reader may even feel a little embarassed for Rudbeck and a little shocked that less scholars were not laughing at him. The author gives a good glimpse into post Renaissance, pre-Enlightenment Sweden, a country not much discussed in most histories. Sweden was at the height of its power and maybe from so high up it was easy to imagine that everything glorious that was once existed there first. An interesting footnote in history.