Lets just say I loved this book. Plain and simple.
Really quickly, if you don’t know that much about Oak Island, let me give you a short summary. Oak Island is an island off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada. The mystery surrounding it is that there is buried treasure, whether it’s a jackpot of silver and gold, or the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant that is said to have been buried there by the Knights Templar. Oak Island also has a curse on it, a curse that says 7 will die before the treasure is revealed. Oak Island even has it’s own tv show on Discovery Channel, The Curse of Oak Island.
This book is filled with so much facts and history about Oak Island. Since the author, Scott Clarke, is a Freemason, I would say that this book is mostly told from a Freemason’s perspective. There’s a lot history about some of the first Freemasons, where they came from originally and how they ended up on Oak Island, how things on the island are connected to Masonic Rituals and symbols, how the first owners of the island were Freemasons, and discoveries of Oak Island artifacts that are Masonic. Lots of connections and parallels to who is connected to Freemasons, and who has Masonic roots that date back for generations. It’s all very interesting, and I like how the author tied his own experiences and his own life into all of it as well. I find that it’s more exciting and interesting to read about something that’s the account of a person’s life, rather than mostly facts.
It is also very well illustrated, there are plenty of pictures that help support all of the theories and evidence in this book. Since the author has appeared on the Oak Island show, The Curse of Oak Island, he has many ties to it and is involved in all of the new discoveries happening on Oak Island. The book also lists these top 10 discoveries here:
10. Chinese cash coin
9. Piece of ship railing dated to 660 CE to 770 CE
8. Red garnet brooch
7. Gold plated brooch
6. Leather bookbinding and parchment
5. Warf on the island, in Smiths Cove
4. Lead cross from medieval times and Southern France
3. Paved area in the swamp
2. Stone road in swamp
1. Silver in the money pit, possibly from Spanish galleon, Conceptión
I love how everything in this book was thoroughly explained. The only parts where I felt an explanation was lacking were the Freemason bits, where I didn’t really understand the terms. Nothing a quick Google Search wouldn’t fix, but I would much rather get the details from the book, rather than some computer generated response.
There are a lot of theories in this book, and it’s really great to see all of them. I love theories. I want to know why people believe something based on clues that they’ve found. It’s like piecing together a mystery—and that’s exactly what Oak Island is. I do also love the fact that the many stories in here are written like mystery stories. Some of them really had me gasping in shock. I liked the many ties to mythology, and the Bible as well. All of the connections made were actually so smart. So many clues and ciphers alluding to treasure, I enjoyed reading them all.
This book is such a journey. I consider this book as nonfiction because it is solely based on true events. The stories of Oak Island are not just baseless rumors, they all stem from truth. Everything about Oak Island is so interesting, and this book does such a great job of tying it all together. I can read it for entertainment and still be interested, while also learning something new. This is exactly my kind of history book.
I also found so much inspiration from this book!
Here’s what I learned reading Oak Island Odyssey:
~ A lot about the Freemasons
~ Oak Island most likely has multiple deposits of treasure mysteriously hidden away
~ There were many connections and a lot of history with the Freemasons. (All “Top 10 Suspects” said to have buried treasure on Oak Island are either directly linked to or associated with Freemasonry in some way.)
~ The “Top 10 Suspects” are: Captain William Kidd, Captain James Anderson, Sir Francis Bacon, Prince Henry Sinclair, the Knights Templar, and Sir William Phips.
~ Masonic symbols, like the triangle that represents deity
