Speculation and alternative history are two of the hottest genres in non-fiction. For every quack book of conspiracies, there is a legitimate one that advances the field. The re-evaluation of the historical record in light of new discoveries used to be the sole domain of archaeology, but with the success of Fortean-type books exploring everything from Atlantis to Graham Hancock’s ancient world before ours, the subjects have become more varied.
Structural engineer Richard Guy, who has over 40 years of experience in the field, has brought his expertise to The Mysterious Receding Seas, a new addition to the alternative history genre. The underlying theory is an interesting possibility. It goes against a lot of assumptions we make about human history, as well as geology. Guy believes that receding seas and expanding earth have combined to alter the fundamental geography of the globe. He uses cities in Italy and the Caribbean as examples of areas where former sea ports are now located many miles inland. Anecdotally the few examples he cites are interesting, but they don’t make for a particularly strong argument.
Of course one immediate question is how Guy reconciles his theory with the evidence of a sea level rise. He glances over the subject somewhat, but basically maintains that the idea of a fixed sea level is a flawed concept and that the ever-changing nature of sea level fluctuations make an idea of increasing sea levels a relative concept.
I don’t buy Guy’s rejection of plate tectonics, and some of his other ideas don’t really fly. Though the book’s premise was intriguing, there were two problems with it. First was the layout. The book has few paragraphs breaks. Most of the chapters ran together. It’s purely a stylistic issue and one that can be easily resolved. The second was a lack of documentation. In a book that brings a new theory that involves scholarly historical work, it is essential to back up the work. It’s difficult to tell what ideas are the author’s and those that are built on work done by others. I also would have liked to see more photographs of the cities he cited, as well as any historical photos of the sites back when they were closer to the sea.
As a read, though there are a few typos and the aforementioned layout problems, The Mysterious Receding Seas is still interesting enough for fans of alternative history and science to check out.
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