The Forbidden Knowledge of Enoch by R.J. Von-Bruening
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Disclaimer: I got this book for free as part of Good Reads First Reads
I asked for this book because I find it interesting that it’s actually mentioned in by canonical books in the New Testament, but the book itself did not make it into the canon – at least not in the Protestant churches I attended growing up. So I thought it would be interesting to see what’s in there. Instead I got something much, much larger.
The book posits the Book of Enoch as being a record of the origins of humanity. From there he goes to some interesting places. Let’s just say it’s been a very interesting year for me when it comes to Esoteric Religions/Free Masons intruding into my books. The three I can remember off the top of my head: From Hell, Limbus, Inc., and now this one. I think there are some others and an idea or two in this book overlaps with American Gods.
I’m also hoping the author never plays the original Assassin’s Creed trilogy because I think his head will explode. Let’s just say his main plot overlaps heavily the Abstergo sections and Adam/Eve video you find when you solve the puzzles.
I had a slight idea what I was getting into, but not how deep it would go. But I just wanted to know about the Book of Enoch, I never expected the author to convince me of anything and so my 3 stars is not a penalty for failing to convince me of his hypothesis. It’s an indication that I enjoyed the mind games and I thought he did a good job laying out his ideas. He does fall victim to quite a few logical fallacies. I think a few years ago I might have found the ideas possible, but thanks to the podcast of the author of You Are Not So Smart: Why You Have Too Many Friends on Facebook, Why Your Memory Is Mostly Fiction, and 46 Other Ways You’re Deluding Yourself, I’ve gotten pretty good at spotting those – at least in others. I’m sure we all have blindspots for our own thoughts.
I would say that if the author is looking for any ideas for a second edition or another book, one thing that knocked off a star for me was the over-reliance on “does this mean this? Maybe? I’ll talk about it later.” I know he had a hard task because this is not something we think about a lot and he couldn’t use mental shortcuts, but usually by the time he got to it, I’d forgotten how it applied to whatever he was talking about before.
I think it’s worth a read if you’re into theories of how the world “really works”. After that, it’s up to you, your thought processes, and your biases whether or not you go along with him. (I didn’t agree with him, but didn’t regret time spent reading)