What kind of books do you like to read? ( Archived) (34)

This morning I read The Art of War, by Lao Tzu.

I really liked it better than the Quran.

The Quran seemed like Mohammed was pleading for the reader to believe he was in contact with God, then began threatening.

I really found the verse in the Quran that said to ask an Israelite if the Quran sounded like The Bible to be weak, and not at all like God declaring, "Ye are my witnesses, I am God," in The Bible.

But, I don't think The Quran compares with worldly wisdom in literature either.

For instance, when I just read The Art of War, I found myself hanging on every word; because, Lao Tzu doesn't use any extra words.

Every word in The Art of War is integral to understanding the rest of his book.

When I read The Quran, it's like wading through mud. The words don't go down like water. I have to force myself to read the Quran.

I've been trying to force myself to read The Quran for years. I still haven't finished it.

I've read the whole Bible through so many times; but, The Quran doesn't read like a holy book to me: it seems contrived.

The Quran doesn't even compare with The Art of War, which claims no divine inspiration.

To me, it's a treasure hunt!

Here's something that might make searching texts more interesting to you too.


Sanskrit (of ancient India) is a basic language, dating back nearly to the time of the Flood. According to the legends of India, Ma-nu was the man who built the boat and then, with seven others, entered it and were saved. Ma is an ancient word for "water." Ma-nu could then mean "Noah of the waters." In Sanscrit, Manu later came to mean "mankind."

The most ancient man in the Germanic tribes was called Mannus.

Mannus was also the name of the Lithuanian Noah.

In the Hebrew, "karat" is the same as "Armenia." The prefix Ar means mountain, so "Armenia" probably means the mountain of Meni.

According to Genesis 8:4, Noah landed on mount Ararat.

The legendary founder of the first Egyptian dynasty was Menes; and Minos was the man who is said to have been the first man of Crete.

The nearby Greeks said that Minos was the son of their god, Zeus, and the ruler of the sea.

The English (as well as all Germanic) words for man comes from the Sanskrit, manu.

The Egyptian god, Nu was the god of waters who sent a flood to destroy mankind. They identified Nu with the rain and the atmosphere.

Summerians taught that Anu was the god of the atmosphere. The rainbow they called "the great bow of Anu."

The Hawaiian word for rainbow is "anuenue."

In ancient Africa, the king in the Congo was called Mani Congo. Later, Mani became the title of respect given to all leading men of the country.

In Japan, manu became maru, a name included in most Japanese ship names.

Chinese mythology taught that Hakudo Maru came down from heaven to teach men how to build ships.

In Japanese, Maru also means a protective circle or enclosure of refuge.

The first people to inhabit Japan were called Ainu, and mai means "original man" in some Australian aboriginal languages.

Among the North American Indians, manu became minne, meaning "water" for the Sioux; hence our Minneapolis (city of water) and Minnesota (sky-blue water).

Minnetoba (our Manitoba, Canada) meant "water prairie" to the Assiniboines.

In South America, we find the Nahuatl, managuac (our Managua, capital of Nicaragua) which means "surrounded by ponds." The fabled city, Manoa (meaning "Noah’s water"), was supposed to be the capital of the god El Dorado.

A number of important rivers in South America are derived from manu: The Amazon (named after the Manau), the Manu in Peru, and also the Muymanu, Tahuamanu, Pariamanu, Tacuatimanu, etc. In all of these, manu means "river" or "water."

The Egyptians invented their picture writing—hieroglyphics, we call them—soon after the Flood. Their word for water was a wavy line.

When the alphabet was later developed, that symbol became the letter "m," for mayim, the Semitic word for water. It later became the Greek letter Mu, the Roman letter Em, and our Western M.

The Assyrian name for "rain" was zunnu.

The Roman god, Janus (our January), was originally the Estruscan father god of the world and inventor of ships.
This could have easily have been derived from the Hebrew word for "God of Noah," and by the Estruscans, who pronounced this Jah Nu.

The Greek sea-goddess was naiade, which meant "water goddess."

The ancient Norse of the Scandinavians called their ship god, Njord (Niord), who lived at Noatun, the great harbor of the god-ships.
Noa in Norse is related to the Icelandic nor, which meant "ship."

The original Sanskrit word for "ship" was nau, which later passed into our English word, navy, nautical, nausea (sea sickness).

(We are indebted to Bengt Sage for the above information. See "Noah and Human Entomology" in Creation, the Cutting Edge, pp., 48-52. The publisher, Creation Life Publishers [Master Books],
and "The Evolution Cruncher" aka "The Evolution Handbook."

No problem.

Aloha