The Great Flood in Legend, Science and History takes on one of the world’s most enduring legends, the Great Flood, and treats it with the seriousness usually reserved for scientific debates. The author sifts through stories from Mesopotamia, the Bible, and cultures across the globe, and places them alongside geological evidence and academic theories. From Noah’s ark to ice dam failures, from the Epic of Gilgamesh to modern geomythology, the book asks a simple but difficult question: could there have been a real event behind these myths? It is both a history of ideas and a challenge to the conventional dismissal of flood legends as nothing more than fireside exaggerations.

What struck me most was the author’s tone. He is not afraid to poke at the arrogance of academic orthodoxy, and I found that refreshing. At times, he writes with the zeal of someone who wants to set the record straight, almost daring the reader to scoff and then proving that scoffing is lazy. I liked the way he pulled in evidence from Greece, Mesopotamia, and even Native American legends, weaving them together into a bigger pattern. There were moments where I felt swept along by his confidence. His criticism of scholars who explain away everything as just a local flood felt a bit sharp, but also honest.

One thing I appreciated most about the book was the author’s insistence on treating flood legends as more than just colorful folklore. Too often, stories like Noah’s Flood or the Epic of Gilgamesh get brushed aside with a shrug, but here they’re examined against real geological evidence, from sediment layers to flood deposits in Mesopotamia and beyond. I liked how he challenged the uniformitarian mindset that dominates much of geology, pushing us to consider that catastrophic events may leave behind signatures we sometimes explain away too quickly. It reminded me that geology is not just about rocks and strata but about human memory etched into story, and the bridge he built between science and myth felt bold and necessary.

What I thought was especially bold was the author’s conclusion about the cause of the Flood. After carefully weighing and rejecting explanations like tsunamis, local river floods, or even an asteroid impact, he argues instead for a close fly-by of a comet whose gravitational pull disturbed Earth’s oceans and atmosphere. It’s an audacious idea, yet he builds his case by showing how this scenario better matches both the geological evidence in Mesopotamia and the recurring themes in ancient legends. I found the apparent alignment between mythic descriptions of overwhelming waters and the physical consequences of such a cosmic encounter fascinating. It gave me the sense that science and legend, so often kept apart, might actually be telling two sides of the same story.

This book is best suited for readers who like their history mixed with geology, myth, and a touch of argument. If you’ve ever been curious about whether Noah’s Flood was just a tale or a memory of something real, you’ll find plenty to chew on here. It’s not a light read, but it is a rewarding one. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys questioning official answers and who doesn’t mind following a passionate writer into the deep waters of science, story, and belief.

Pages: 421 | ISBN: 979-8-31780-432-9