This book is a fascinating read, as it’s based on the beliefs of the first known civilization that seemingly popped up out of nowhere – Mesopotamia. People there believed an extraterrestrial race created humans as a slave race to mine gold for them by combining their DNA with the DNA of local hominoids to speed up evolution. Their society had two captivating stories that overlap with the Bible, including the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’, which closely resembles the story of Noah and the Flood, and the Myth of Adapa, which contains interesting parallels to the story of the Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden. Both of these stories are touched on in this book.

Sitchin’s book tells the story of the supposed architect behind humanity – Enki, one of the Anunnaki leaders appointed to represent the interests of their race on Earth. The book gives a background on why the alien race arrived on Earth looking for gold in the first place. According to the tablets the book is based on, their planet suffered from a dying atmosphere and became too hot to bear. To reflect the sunlight, they needed to suspend tiny gold particles in their atmosphere, so the planet didn’t overheat.

The book begins by sharing details about the Anunnaki’s troubles on their planet, including what seems to be a nuclear war between different factions of their race struggling for power. The leader of the losing faction then flees and winds up visiting Earth to find raw materials to help with their problems. After sending word of the news back home to their planet, their government decides to forgive his past misgivings and send a formal expedition to help extract raw materials to solve their problems back home.

This later results in the Anunnaki setting up permanent bases and cities on Earth as they continue their extraction. To speed the process up, they decide to create a race intelligent enough to help them mine the gold; thus, according to the legend, humans are born. The book then discusses the power struggles between humans and Anunnaki as humans grow tired of being Anunnaki slaves, with various Anunnaki figures reacting differently to our race’s desire for freedom.

According to Sitchin’s compilation, Enki himself turns out to be a riveting figure who ultimately sides with humans over his race at critical moments and even disobeys orders from his government to help ensure our survival. In particular, in the story of the flood, Enki supposedly warns humans about the coming flood (which was intentionally done by other members of the Anunnaki), and helps us protect life on the planet by empowering us to store the DNA of all Earth’s species and repopulate the Earth after the flood. Though it can be challenging to read at times due to the old English and awkward grammar, it’s an excellent book for people interested in learning about ancient civilizations and possible gaps in human history.