Product Description

Howard Blum tells the story of the discovery of Mount Sinai and how 20th-century politics conspired to keep this momentous find secret. The text contains revelations about the most holy place in the Bible.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #285627 in Books
• Published on: 1999-01-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Customer Reviews

Provocative
In this book, author Howard Blum chronicles the adventures of Larry Williams and Bob Cornuke, treasure hunters. When Larry receives a letter, which suggests that Mount Sinai is not actually in the Sinai Peninsula but in Saudi Arabia, he determines to go retrieve the treasure left there by the Israelites-the gold of Exodus. However, unknown to Larry and Bob, that same Arabian mountain is a main part of the Saudi "Operation Falcon," the Saudi building of a first-strike capable nuclear missile program.

This book is written like an adventure novel. Following a narrative, that includes numerous flashbacks, asides and sidebars, the story weaves together the treasure hunt of Larry and Bob with the espionage activities of the Mossad and Saudis. Overall, I am not at all certain what one can believe about this story; it includes in-depth reporting of meetings of the Saudi royal family, plus the secret working of the Mossad.

That said, though, I did find this an interesting book, with a provocative subject.

[If you are interested in similar archaeo-investigative stories, then I highly recommend Nicholas Clapp's The Road to Ubar and Sheba.]

Compelling Reading
I love non-fiction and this is probably the most engrossing piece of non-fiction that I have read to date. It's sheer gripping nature is largely due to the fact that the treasure hunters are constantly finding modern day evidence of the biblical writings contained in the book of Exodus.

One big question hangs over the authenticty of this tale however - how did they manage to get the daytime pictures on the mountain when they were there under cover of darkness??? According to the author, the mountain is still a secure military base today. If you remember too the night vision equipment never worked.

Very interesting, stirs one's curiosity...
It's a cocktail of treasure hunting, religion, politics, and history, even humor. It's quite unbelievable that it's a true story but they have experts who they referred to as well as the bible itself to base their suppositions. It's quite an engrossing reading full of adventures and interesting facts.

My boyfriend read it too and he recommends it to his friends.