A Review of Lost in Time: Our Forgotten and Vanishing Knowledge, by Jack R. Bialik

 

(Maitland, FL: Mill City Press, 2024). ISBN: 979-8-8685-0229-3

I’m going to start this review with a question. How secure is humankind’s accumulated knowledge?

Take a moment to think about it—the oldest known cuneiform tablets are approximately 5400 years old. The cave paintings in Lascaux might be as old as 22,000 years old. Yet, for all of our supposed technological sophistication, VHS tapes and audio cassettes degrade after 30 years, a DVD may last a century (we won’t know until we know), and floppy disks only last 15 years (although they are useless unless you collect and have the expertise to maintain older computers and disk drives).

Consider as well that digital files are susceptible to corruption, being accidentally deleted, or being made obsolete by new software. In the case of a massive solar flare, a great deal could be lost in the blink of an eye.

These sobering facts and more are the core subjects of Jack Bialik’s impressively and expansively researched book on “knowledge we’ve forgotten and destroyed.” According to the acknowledgments, it was a ten-year process to write and publish this 249-page book, although it’s clear that this was only possible because of a lifetime of research.  Lost in Time also uncovers the truth of supposedly “modern” inventions that actually have their roots hundreds and thousands of years ago.

Although I usually end my reviews with some comments on the amount of research that goes into a book like this, here they must be front and center. The bibliography is nearly 30 pages long and there are 421 footnotes. Bialik draws on a wide array of sources, from books to documentaries to magazine articles and websites. His four-decade career in science and technology includes some impressive credentials: F15 aircraft simulation for the USAF, and telecommunications and IT infrastructure for the Department of Homeland Security, as well as work as a program reviewer for the White House.

As the book unfolds, Bialik takes us on a journey of myth-busting, archaeological uncovering, and invention illumination, all while posing a series of serious questions regarding the nature of knowledge, the wisdom and technical efficiency of the ancients, and the fragility of data—what we might lose and have already irrevocably lost.

There are chapters on ancient inventions, lost libraries, vanished cultures, disappearing data, and time capsules. Bialik then applies all of his experience and his keen mind to questions of the future, which he categorizes as “bright.”

What follows are some of the highlights.

The book opens with a look at the core elements of Modern Humanity’s identity (as I term them): industry, technology, and science. Intricately related, and the epicenter/nexus of almost all of the planet’s wealth (along with their chief funding mechanism, the banks), this trio tends to claim that ALL knowledge is THEIR knowledge. Through a series of examples, Bialik debunks them. The ancients accomplished plenty, and how so much of it was lost or suppressed makes for fascinating reading in the chapters that follow, starting with “Ancient Triumph,” covering the use of zero in mathematics, fountain pens, celestial globes (a truly stunning feat of design and engineering), and more.

A sobering chapter is “Lost Libraries.” Most of us know about the burning of the Royal Library of Alexandria in 391 AD, accounting for at least some of the loss of ancient knowledge—the library was built in 200 BC; some of its scrolls were probably even older. Bialik introduces us to fifteen more lost libraries, including the destruction of Mayan codices by agents of the Roman Catholic Church and the loss of millions of volumes during the wars in Bosnia and Iraq.

Connected to the destruction and loss of libraries is the destruction of entire cultures. Bialik begins with the mysteries of Göbekli Tepe, located in modern Türkiye. Those who follow the work of Graham Hancock are well familiar with this elaborate ceremonial site, which dates to around 9,000 BC, predating the pyramids of Egypt by some 2,000 years (although their age is in a constant state of debate). Who built it and exactly why is rife with speculation, but we do know it was deliberately buried. Bialik also discusses nine other civilizations, including the Mayans and Minoans and, in North America, the Clovis people, about whom there have been myriad misunderstandings.

The remainder of the book is devoted to subjects related to a possible (some say probable after Cloudflare recently went down) “Digital Dark Age,” which provided the source material for some of the data with which I opened this review. The chapter about time capsules is fascinating reading, from time and expense to elaborate facilities and a list of time capsules that have been stolen, lost, or inadvertently buried in a way that makes them all but inaccessible. A bit of a teaser—not all time capsules are underground. As part of this chapter, Bialik offers a sobering list of dangers to the planet’s stored digital knowledge. There is also a section on extinction prevention banks. Like time capsules (and, in a way, they are more similar than different), these repositories represent a staggering amount of effort, time, and expense.

As I mentioned earlier, despite the cautionary tales and dire warnings, the book ends on a positive note with the chapter “Our Bright Future.” Bialik again applies four decades of expertise and it is well worth listening to what he has to say.