This is one of those books I've had on my shelf for years but never got around to reading. This delay only made Ancient Mysteries, published in 1978, even more outdated than it already was. We now know much more about many of the subjects Rupert Furneaux discusses in these pages, and Furneaux himself seemed to rely heavily on books published in the 1950s and '60s. Honestly, I don't know how the Chicago Tribune could have described the author's research as "impeccable." Furneaux certainly doesn't share much of that research with us. There's no bibliography or list of consulted works (or, for that matter, an index), and the sparse footnotes sprinkled here and there are the product of direct quotes from other works.

As far as the material goes, the quality varies -- some pretty good, some not so good. The last section of the book is particularly frustrating; in what seems to be a rushed and sometimes contradictory narrative on the subjects of ancient astronauts and the question of extraterrestrial life in the universe, Furneaux criticizes others for introducing unsubstantiated facts and ideas, then proceeds to throw out several wild and unsupported notions of his own.

Ancient Mysteries deals with many of the usual suspects: Atlantis, the Great Pyramid in Egypt, Noah's Ark, Stonehenge, Camelot, etc. Most chapters are 12 to 15 pages, which tells you that Furneaux isn't going into great detail about any of the subjects he covers. Since most of what he does say is incomplete and outdated, this really should not be considered any type of go-to book for those seeking answers to any of the mysteries of life, the universe and everything.

I did find value in reading this book, however, and that value lay in Furneaux's discussions of several ancient mysteries I was quite unfamiliar with. For example, there's the "Hairy Ainu," the aboriginal Caucasian natives of the Japanese islands; the Panagyurishte Treasure found in Bulgaria in 1949; the surprisingly ancient tombs and temples found on the island of Malta; and the fantastic stone ruins found in Zimbabwe that point to a highly advanced African civilization. It is also interesting -- albeit disturbing -- to see how such finds as those in Zimbabwe were disavowed or explained away for decades for purely racist reasons.

All in all, this really isn't a book that those interested in ancient mysteries should seek out; you can find much more information on virtually any of these subjects in any number of more modern sources. If you happen to come by the book, though, it is worth picking up for its chapters on some of the more obscure but nonetheless fascinating mysteries Furneaux discusses.