Noah's Ark by Henri Nissen

Nissen wrote a book in 2005 critical of attempts to find Noah's Ark on Mt. Ararat. Now he believes the ark may be found and that recent eyewitness accounts might be true.

He has divided this book into three sections.

The first part is historical. He reviews the story of Noah, the Flood, and Mt. Ararat. He covers all the recorded attempts to discover the ark.

The next part of the book looks at the recent Kurdish-Chinese discovery. Noah's Ark Ministries International is from Hong Kong. They seek the truth about the ark from a faith-based yet objective, scientific perspective. They made a preliminary trip to Mt. Ararat in 2003. Their first expedition was in 2004 and they returned each year after that.

The team received a message from their Kurdish guide in June of 2008 that indicated he had new information. In October of 2008 the team found an opening to a cave in the snow at 4,200 meters. They returned in October of 2009 and entered. Wood and rooms were found. In May of 2010 they announced their discovery and controversy has followed.

Nissen covers the claims of Dr. Randall Price and Dr. Don Patton who say the discovery is a fraud. The Chinese have been quiet and the controversy continues. Nissen adds the verifying work of Dr. Joel Klenck (Harvard) who visited the site. He says it is no hoax but others attack him as well.

Nissen writes that one cannot come to a conclusion one way or the other. We will have to wait for further discoveries and reports.

In the third part of the book, Nissen investigates a variety of topics related to the ark. He reviews other flood accounts and archaeological dating. Other topics include boat design and stability, possibles causes of the flood, the contribution of Velikofsky, where the water might have comes from, a possible model, why people lived so long in pre-flood days, dating the flood, the book of Jasher, and Gilgamesh.

Nissen has drawn on a wealth of resources in writing this book. He has included a great deal of background on the area, its history, and geography. This book could be titled something like, Everything You Wanted to know about Noah's Ark and the Efforts to find It. There are wonderful photographs in the book, including ones from the Chinese discovery.

Nissen has presented both sides of the Chinese discovery, the evidence that they found the ark and the critiques of those who claim it is a fraud. We are left to decide for ourselves.

Henri Nissen is a journalist and has written thousands of articles, produced radio broadcasts and television programs, and written 11 books. He is now an independent media consultant. He is married to the artist Birthe Engedal and has a daughter and two sons. The search for Noah's Ark has been his passion for the last ten years, and he has visited the Ararat Mountains several times.

Scandinavia Publishing House, 336 pages. 

You can buy the book from Amazon here.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for the purpose of this review.