An interesting read. I have never seen the show Decoded, but if it is like this book I might check it out! As the title says there are 10 conspiracies and each is broken down into what is known and what questions still exist. The addition of primary documents and specific interviews was helpful and created a sense of reality for the conspiracy. Some I expected and others I never heard of. Not a quick read, but I read a different conspiracy each day and enjoyed learning more about these topics and theories!

The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time by Brad Meltzer

9781523512362

224 Pages
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Release Date: November 10, 2020

Nonfiction, History, Conspiracy Theories

The book covers the following theories.

John Wilkes Booth
Confederate Gold
Georgia Guidestones
DB Cooper
The White House
The Spear of Destiny
The Real DaVinci Code
Fort Knox
UFOS
Kennedy Assassination

This book reminded me a lot of Brad Meltzer’s Decoded television series. Each entry was researched and provided information that may or may not be true. It is all speculative depending on your point of view. Some of the theories were not new to me but some of the information presented I had not read before. If you enjoy reading conspiracy theories, you will like this book.

This did not format well on my Kindle so this was a difficult read. What I was able to read was a good History's Mysteries kind of thing, It was light. Not many things resolved, Kind of like the Decoded TV series. Fun read

If you've watched Brad Meltzer's series, "Decoded" this book will look and sound very familiar to the many things he's covered, but for those who've not seen the series, this is a great book to pick up.

At first, I worried this would be for those who love purchasing tin foil in bulk, but Meltzer has a great way of picking apart difference conspiracies and getting to the core of its creation, why it turned controversial, and then putting it back together again.
It's the story behind the story that always interests me more and I enjoyed this book.

*I received an advanced reader copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review of this book.

I was very interested in reviewing this book and had high hopes. For this book. The first time I read it, it did not grab me. So I put it down and vowed to read it again. It was no better the second time. Thanks to Netgalley, the author and publisher for the arc of this book in return for my honest review. Receiving the book in this manner had no bearing on this review.

Brad Meltzer has a way with teaching you about history, but not in a boring, stodgy way. He makes it interesting to learn and I could hear his voice in every word I read. This book sounded just like his TV show.

Thank you to Netgalley, Workman Publishing and Brad Meltzer for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I wanted to like this more than I did, I did not feel in covered any new ground.

While interesting it didn't feel like anything new, and I say that as someone who had never heard of most of these conspiracies. It also seemed kind of repetitive at times, like there wasn't much more to say about the topic but the page still needed to be filled.

This is an interesting book if you are interested in mysteries or conspiracies. Brad Meltzer writes about what he considers the 10 greatest conspiracies of all time. You might have heard and read about some of these before and maybe some of these will be new to you. Either way, this book was a fun way to spend an afternoon reading.

Loved this book! I love conspiracy theories! Not all of them, mind you. Some are just ridiculous lol , but some are questions that really need to be asked and tried to find the answers to. Like in this one about the JFK Assassination and the Fort Knox Gold and others that we wonder so much about. Grab this one if you get the chance. I don’t believe you’ll regret it. Thank you to #NetGalley and the publishers for #TheTenGreatestConspiraciesOfAllTime for the opportunity to read and review with my honest opinion.

In this updated version of Meltzer's 2013 book, not all of the historical mysteries are actually conspiracies, but all are interesting. As readers learn about such events as missing Confederate gold or UFOs at Roswell, they also experience the research methodologies used by Meltzer and his team try to discover the truth about the subjects they investigate. This is makes the book a great choice for school settings. However, with only a few international entries (the Spear of Destiny and a mysterious prediction by Leonardo da Vinci), this will probably be most popular with American readers.

Thank you to Workman Publishing Company and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

A really interesting read about different conspiracy theories, some of which I have heard of before and a couple new ones for me. An entertaining way to spend a few hours.

If you have never read the Conspiracy theory by Brad Meltzer - you are in for a treat. This is the latest book and to me it was a fun and educating read - especially Davinci and the JFK assassination. What I love about these books is the research that Mr. Meltzer puts in.

I love history - so to me his books are always winners.

What I managed to slowly work through of this book was interesting and held some good information. However, reading it is next to impossible, as the text is mixed in with the text explaining pictures (which are not always there) in a very jumbled up fashion. This makes reading the book next to Impossible. I recommend that, if someone wants a review of any substance, they send out a readable copy of the book, not the mess I got, I am surprised NetGalley, who sent me the book, was involved in this, as it has never happened before, and I have read and reviewed dozens of NetGalley’s books. Based on what I got and tried to read, I am not even able to give it a good rating.

I originally received an eARC of this book from NetGalley. Very soon after starting reading it on my Kindle I realized that this book is not suited for e-format. It was formatted very badly, I couldn't see any of the photos or exhibits that Brad Meltzer was mentioning. So, I waited until the publication date and purchased a physical copy. So glad I did. Looking through the photos, maps, copies of reports, etc really added to the experience of reading this book.

Don't we all love a good conspiracy? Brad Meltzer counts down his top 10 conspiracy theories of all time. It includes well-known topics - Area 51, the JFK Assassination, D. B. Cooper - as well as some lesser known ones - America's Stonehenge and The Sword of Destiny. Meltzer is a fantastic writer and has thoroughly researched each topic. Photos and pertinent documents are included where available. A fun read.

I received a complimentary advanced reader copy of this book through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Who doesn’t like a good conspiracy theory? So when you get a chance to decode the world’s most intriguing conspiracies, it’s worth a read. Brad Meltzer guides us through the 10 greatest conspiracies of all time, from Leonardo da Vinci’s stolen prophecy to the Kennedy assassination while attempting to answer all unexplained questions.

Meltzer has selected the Top 10 Greatest Conspiracy of all Time and attempted to solve the mystery through evidence, testimonies, and alternate theories. In the end, the book tries to give you the most likely explanation. The research that went into each case is amazing and also the rare photos and illustrations. There are some cases where the books leave it up to you what you choose to believe. Though I had read about most cases, there were a few I didn’t know about which made the book interesting. To rate each case individually:

• Did John Wilkes Booth escape capture for 40 years after Lincoln’s assassination – Interesting Case though feels incomplete
• The Missing Confederate Treasury – Mysterious and nicely backed up.
• The Georgia Guide stones – Mysterious but not so fascinating
• What happened to D.B. Cooper? – Really liked this one. The book had a prime suspect and presented all possible evidence to back it up.
• Where is the White House cornerstone? – Not much of a mystery really
• Hitler’s pursuit of the Spear of Destiny – Nice myth/conspiracy. Wish it had been explored more.
• Did Da Vinci’s paintings predict an apocalypse? It– Mysterious but not a conspiracy.
• Is there any gold in Fort Knox? – Just about Ok.
• UFOs/Roswell/Area 51 – Nothing new from what most people already know.
• JFK Assassination – Another fav case. This systematically destroys any conspiracy case especially originating from Oliver Stone’s JFK.

Among my favorites from this book would be Lincoln Assassination, D.B Cooper, Spear of Destiny, and JFK Assassination. The book mostly presents the reader with multiple explanations rather than one official line and lets the readers believe what they want to. However, it does disprove some outlandish theories. The book offers a lot of evidence and logic to go along with the discussion. There were quite a few omissions from the list. I would have loved a chapter on the conspiracies surrounding the moon landings, 9/11, and The Illuminati.

Overall, this is a nice read. I think some cases needed more in-depth coverage than the rest. But if you love reading about real-life conspiracy theories, you will enjoy this. 3.5 stars out of 5.

Many thanks to the publishers' Workman Publishing Company and Netgalley for the ARC.

I think if the people that buy this book buy the hard copy it will probably read better than the electronic copy. The main reason being it will have plenty of pictures whether photos or drawings to go along with the different stories. The e-version did not have that so it really did not convey the message that I think the author was trying to get across. Most of the stories are ones that have been out there before but he is trying to give a different take on them. The last one in the book of course being the Kennedy assignation. Overall, not bad.

HISTORY DECODED

Some people know of Brad Meltzer as a history buff, author of bestselling thrillers, and comic book writer. But several years ago he also developed and hosted a television series called Decoded focused on mysteries and conspiracy theories that have captured the popular imagination. That series, which aired twenty-three episodes over two seasons, also produced a companion book in 2013 called History Decoded: The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time, authored by Meltzer with contributions from Keith Ferrel.

With the television series having run its course long ago, the book has apparently gotten a re-issue sans the Decoded branding. Even many years later, The 10 Greatest Conspiracies of All Time is still a lot of fun to read, though it will likely never satisfy either those who believe wholeheartedly in the conspiracy theories featured in the book or those who seek to debunk them.

Those ten conspiracies and mysteries are as follows:

- Whether John Wilkes Booth actually escaped and lived in hiding for forty years or more after assassinating Abraham Lincoln
- Whether the American Confederacy set aside a fortune that to this day remains hidden
- What the massive guidestones in Georgia, sometimes described as America’s Stonehenge, represent (as well as what the mysterious order known as Rosicrucians are all about)
- The real identity DB Cooper, who hijacked skyjacked a commercial airline and disappeared with the ransom money
- The location of the cornerstone of the White House (and whether this was secreted away by Freemasons)
- The provenance and location of the so-called Spear of Destiny
- Whether Leonardo da Vinci foretold a coming apocalypse
- Whether there is any gold in Fort Knox
- Whether UFOs are real, and what really happened in Area 51
- Whether a lone gunman was really responsible for John F. Kennedy’s assassination

Obviously, the bulk of the subjects are unique to the history United States of America (and nothing on whether the Apollo moon landings were faked—a glaring omission!). Nonetheless, it’s an entertaining romp through what some might call the fantastical and others might insist is the truth.

In effect, Meltzer and Ferrel go over what the conspiracy theory is about in the first place, and in most cases the multiple reasons why such can’t be debunked and laid to rest with finality. By its very nature this means that the book offers no real closure, though the real fun in a conspiracy theory lies in the “What if?” as opposed to “What is.”

What a fun, engaging and interesting novel! My family is a big fan of the Decoded tv show with Brad Meltzer and this book was the perfect companion to go back and relive those episodes with even more details. We always enjoyed learning about an event in history that we thought we were familiar with, but then Brad Meltzer just turned it upside down, giving us a whole new perspective. This book is the perfect gift for that history buff in your family or a non-fiction fan. Honestly, it is just a great all around engaging novel that I think everyone would enjoy.

I received this book courtesy of Workman Publishing Company through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.