The Ark Before Noah

Decoding the Story of the Flood

By: Dr Irving Finkel

Narrated by: Dr Irving Finkel

Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

In The Ark Before Noah, British Museum expert Dr Irving Finkel reveals how decoding the symbols on a 4,000 year old piece of clay enable a radical new interpretation of the Noah's Ark myth.

A world authority on the period, Dr Finkel's enthralling real-life detective story began with a most remarkable event at the British Museum - the arrival one day in 2008 of a single, modest-sized Babylonian cuneiform tablet - the palm-sized clay rectangles on which our ancestors created the first documents.

It had been brought in by a member of the public and this particular tablet proved to be of quite extraordinary importance. Not only does it date from about 1850 BC, but it is a copy of the Babylonian Story of the Flood, a myth from ancient Mesopotamia revealing, among other things, instructions for building a large boat to survive a flood.

But Dr Finkel's pioneering work didn't stop there. Through another series of enthralling discoveries he has been able to decode the story of the Flood in ways which offer unanticipated revelations to listeners of The Ark Before Noah.

©2014 Irving Finkel (P)2014 Hodder & Stoughton

Critic reviews

"The charged thrill of Finkel's chase permeates the book - the pages don't just join dots, they supply new pieces for a beautiful, Bronze-Age jigsaw-puzzle... Scholarly and droll, Finkel's writing is also eccentrically vivid... it is a joy." ( The Times)
"One of the most important human documents ever discovered... his conclusions will send ripples into the world of creationism and among ark hunters." ( The Guardian)

Fascinating archaeological insights

The story of the flood and the 'ark', and how it relates to the Biblical accounts is, by itself, quite interesting for those who are interested. But the book does more than that, it provided great insights into the the dimensions of the cultures in that part of the world. This is really helpful as all I learnt about the Mesopotamian civilization in school can be summarized in a side-bar… which means very little.

But what makes this book unique is the author. Irving Finkel is clearly passionate about his subject, and his enthusiasm comes through both the book and his narration. The content of the book is very approachable to the general public.

The only thing I have to pick about the book is the recording… the recorded volume tends to fluctuates, making it necessary to constantly adjust the volume dial in my car.

But beyond that, I throughly enjoyed the book. It is engaging and it is informative. What else can one ask for in a non-fiction? 5-stars overall!

One of the best detective stories ever!

I love detective stories, where the protagonist takes the littlest of clues and using knowledge, context and imaginations create plausible scenarios to explain some mystery of another. This book is like that, ten times over! Even more, it feels as if Sherlock Holmes himself -a much nicer, accessible and brilliantly funny Holmes- was narrating all the adventures discoveries made inside the British Museum, never too far away from his desks and, I imagine, frequently interrupted by a lost tourist from Mexico or Alabama asking for the toilet. The amount on information and world recreation Dr. Finkle is able to get out of a clay tablet the size of an iphone is ase inspiring.

I had absolutely no knowledge about Mesopotamian civilization before listening to this book, it has become an obsession after listening to this book. It manages to take the ark table as a jumping board to talk about Mesopotamia, Jerusalem, ancient cultures in general, boat making, writing, magic and incantations, the road to monotheism, names of ancient dog handlers and achieving its expressly intended purpose of bringing these people close to us, they feel very alive and human. I truly regret living so far away from the British Museum.

The narration by Dr. Finkle is really great; sometimes I wished more paragraphs could end it the word 'boat', it is so wonderful to hear him say it. I have since also bought the printed book (used, at it is hard to find new) because I wanted to see how cuneiform looked, it has been worth it because the book is fool of wonderful and illustrative photos of that and much more, but I would not miss the audiobook at all. Having herd it twice and read it once, I think I will know read it along with the narration.

I have also bought Dr. Finkel's book on Cuneiform, much shorter, but full of beautifully printed pictures. It is a great and short introduction to the writing system.

Fascinating for the ancient civilizations lover

What did you like best about this story?

The book is not only about the story of the Flood, but encompasses all the facets of the three millenniums old Mesopotamian civilization, and the legacies it left to Jews and even Muslims. The author’s technical expertise is impressive, sometimes a bit too much: I confess been drowsing while listening to the finest details of how the ancient Sumerians built boats using reeds and ropes. But it’s a minor drawback, I really enjoyed the book, not least because it is read by the author himself, who manages to convey his enthusiasm for the subject. Lastly, good news for the not native English speakers like me, he speaks quite clearly and cleanly.

Dreamlike history of humanity. So far as we know..

I have always enjoyed dreaming about how things happened in the past. The verses in the Bible always rang hollow to me, as if they were just retellings of a better story. This book opens the door to world that was, or maybe just might've been, and lets us join the museum curator/narrator on this interesting adventure of what ifs.

The story starts slow. Going very much in detail on the writers origins and history. Although tedious at times, this gives decent context to the later story and.the passion he feels for discovering these lost mysteries.If you can power through the first 3 hours of tedium, it gets rather juicy towards the end.

All this assuming that you are are (bible)history buffs as well.