me / message boards / atlantis of the north

[alshainofthenorth]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Catlady (Rita Prince
Winston)" <catlady at w...> wrote:


> << Reminds me of Olof Rudbeck's work "Manhem" from the 17th century,
> where he quite seriously argues that Sweden is really Atlantis and 
> the cradle of civilisation. >>
> 
> *jumps in excitement* There is a 20th century book in English about
> that! ATLANTIS OF THE NORTH by Jurgen Spanuth. I read it very
> carefully searching for any sign of neo-Naziism and didn't find any.

Why would you want to find signs of neo-Nazism in it? Have I missed
something? I googled for the author and couldn't find anything more to
damn him than crackpot theories about Atlantis and ancient civilisations. 

Rudbeck was one of those natural philosophers who combined serious
work (he was among other things an anatomist, a botanist and an
astronomer and wrote a dissertation on the lymphatic system) with
things that we laugh about today. One of his saving graces is that
other scholars of the era could be just as bizarre -- Isaac Newton for
example, dead serious about astrology and alchemy. That mix of
pre-modern science and old superstition in the (aptly named) Baroque
era never cease to amaze, it feels somewhat like the first book of
Pullman's His Dark Materials or like a Discworld story.  

Alshain