Scan barcode
A review by theciz
The Ark Before Noah: Decoding the Story of the Flood by Irving Finkel
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
4.0
A short but fun book where Dr Finkel, with a kindly professor narration, tells the story of Assyriology and cuneiform writing and Babylonian history, and how these things link up with the story of Noah in the Bible. Essentially, Dr Finkel is given a new cuneiform tablet with a new version of the Babylonian flood story, and from that forms a hypothesis of how this story tradition made its way into the Old Testament.
To be honest, I found it hard to grasp the overwhelming significance of the discovery itself, but the background explanations and the way he compares and contrasts the versions of the story available from different sources was very entertaining. It’s kind of funny that this reinforcing of the link comes from a long list of ancient boat specifications.
To be honest, I found it hard to grasp the overwhelming significance of the discovery itself, but the background explanations and the way he compares and contrasts the versions of the story available from different sources was very entertaining. It’s kind of funny that this reinforcing of the link comes from a long list of ancient boat specifications.