Here are 100 books that Shroud Encounter fans have personally recommended if you like
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My passion for the Shroud of Turin began when my brother sent me Ian Wilson's The Blood and the Shroud. That book ignited a fascination that has grown into a lifelong pursuit. I now serve on two non-profit boards dedicated to the Shroud, sharing its mystery and history with others. I’m writing several books on the topic, started a podcast with over 13,000 subscribers, have interviewed over 100 Shroud experts from around the world, and created a TikTok video that has garnered over 600,000 views. Each post deepens my connection to this extraordinary artifact and allows me to engage with a vibrant, global community of fellow enthusiasts and researchers.
I couldn’t put this book down—it captivated me from the very first page. I loved how Jack Markwardt dives into the layers of history with such precision.
This book felt like a personal discovery for me, unlocking aspects of the Shroud of Turin that I wasn’t aware of. I was amazed by the depth of research and the way it challenged me to think differently about the Shroud's journey through time. It’s affecting my next book in a big way.
I found myself eagerly highlighting passages and revisiting chapters.
Is the world-famous Shroud of Turin an authentic relic of the Passion and death of Jesus Christ or is it the product of one of the most cunning hoaxes ever perpetrated?
In 1978, scientists established that the relic’s image was not created by paint, and, in 1988, the relic’s fabric was radiocarbon-dated to late-medieval times, a conclusion which was subsequently determined to be unreliable. In this book, Jack Markwardt, an internationally-renowned Turin Shroud historian, discloses and discusses the relic’s entire hidden history, from the time of its discovery in Jesus’ tomb to the time of its first exhibition in Western…
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
My passion for the Shroud of Turin began when my brother sent me Ian Wilson's The Blood and the Shroud. That book ignited a fascination that has grown into a lifelong pursuit. I now serve on two non-profit boards dedicated to the Shroud, sharing its mystery and history with others. I’m writing several books on the topic, started a podcast with over 13,000 subscribers, have interviewed over 100 Shroud experts from around the world, and created a TikTok video that has garnered over 600,000 views. Each post deepens my connection to this extraordinary artifact and allows me to engage with a vibrant, global community of fellow enthusiasts and researchers.
I used Ian Wilson’s book as the basis for my very first book on the Shroud. My brother gave it to me, and it was this book that was truly inspirational. I was drawn to how Wilson masterfully blends scientific inquiry with detailed historical accounts.
I don’t know how he found so many historical references to the Shroud. I loved his meticulous approach to unraveling the story of the Shroud of Turin, which felt like a detective story rooted in faith and fact. I couldn’t put it down because it made me think, question, and marvel all at once. It is now an important reference for my next book.
Refuting a 1988 claim of forgery, the author of the best-selling The Shroud of Turin scrutinizes all available evidence to provide a convincing argument that recent discoveries, including human blood and DNA on the Shroud of Turin, prove that the image of Christ is not a fake. Reprint. 30,000 first printing.
My passion for the Shroud of Turin began when my brother sent me Ian Wilson's The Blood and the Shroud. That book ignited a fascination that has grown into a lifelong pursuit. I now serve on two non-profit boards dedicated to the Shroud, sharing its mystery and history with others. I’m writing several books on the topic, started a podcast with over 13,000 subscribers, have interviewed over 100 Shroud experts from around the world, and created a TikTok video that has garnered over 600,000 views. Each post deepens my connection to this extraordinary artifact and allows me to engage with a vibrant, global community of fellow enthusiasts and researchers.
Andrea Nicolotti’s book is an incredible reference book on the Mandylion, aka the Image of Edessa. Is the Mandylion the Shroud, or are they different clothes? Was there a letter from Jesus to King Abgar or not? Nicolotti attempts to answer these questions.
I love how Nicolotti, a historian's historian, meticulously peels back centuries of myth and legend with a scholar’s precision His rigorous attention to detail and relentless pursuit of the truth is incredible. This book deepened my understanding and challenged my perspectives in ways I didn’t expect.
According to legend, the Mandylion was an image of Christ's face imprinted on a towel, kept in Edessa. This acheiopoieton image ("not made by human hands") disappeared in the eighteenth century. The first records of another acheiropoieton relic appeared in mid-fourteenth century France: a long linen bearing the image of Jesus' corpse, known nowadays as the Holy Shroud of Turin. Some believe the Mandylion and the Shroud to be the same object, first kept in Edessa, later translated to Constantinople, France and Italy. Andrea Nicolotti traces back the legend of the Edessean image in history and art, focusing especially on…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
My passion for the Shroud of Turin began when my brother sent me Ian Wilson's The Blood and the Shroud. That book ignited a fascination that has grown into a lifelong pursuit. I now serve on two non-profit boards dedicated to the Shroud, sharing its mystery and history with others. I’m writing several books on the topic, started a podcast with over 13,000 subscribers, have interviewed over 100 Shroud experts from around the world, and created a TikTok video that has garnered over 600,000 views. Each post deepens my connection to this extraordinary artifact and allows me to engage with a vibrant, global community of fellow enthusiasts and researchers.
Joe Marino's book is page after page of all of the international machinations to try and carbon date the most studied artifact, the Shroud of Turin. I was blown away by how Marino unravels the politics and intrigue behind one of history’s most controversial scientific experiments. The way he exposed the botched process and the personal dynamics involved made it impossible for me to put down.
I’ve never read anything with such meticulous research. This book will be referenced for decades to come. I felt like I was uncovering a secret history alongside him, and the revelations left me both fascinated and deeply reflective.
A majority of scientific and historical evidence proves the Shroud of Turin is the authentic burial cloth of Jesus of Nazareth. Only one test says otherwise-the carbon date performed in 1988.
The Shroud of Turin is the most studied artifact in human history. If science can prove the Shroud to be the authentic burial cloth of Jesus, the spiritual, psychological, and societal consequences would be unthinkably profound. In 1978, an investigation by a group of elite scientists known as Shroud of Turin Research Project (STURP) pointed toward authenticity. STURP, composed mostly of U.S. scientists who worked in the country's nuclear…
I am an author, theologian, musician, historian, and college professor who has written more than twenty books about ancient and alternative history, religion in modern culture, and long-distance, meditative bicycling. My study of the past convinced me that modern life has, for far too many of us, grown one-dimensional. It lacks the magic and mystery that imbued the ancients with the deep and rich mythology which we inherited from them, but then allowed to grow dormant within our sheltered lives. Remembering their vision and experience is a key to restoring our own sense of self-worth and essence. Maybe we all need to meet a “Wizard in the Wood!”
Combining some of the greatest conspiracy subjects ever put forth, this book offers a fresh take on the familiar, compelling secret history of what might have been, rivaling even Dan Brown in the process. How might the Templars have interacted with the Shroud? What might they have done with it? What are the secrets of Freemasonry that were known to so many of America’s Founding Fathers, and why is the world still interested? This is a book that made me think. And, more importantly, wonder!
2000 Barnes Noble hardcover, Knight, Christopher; Lomas, Robert (Uriel's Machine). Is the Shroud of Turin genuine? That is the question that Christopher Knight and Robert Lomas set out to answer in the follow-up to their ground-breaking first book, The Hiram Key. For over 700 years the world thought the shroud bore the image of the crucified Christ, but results of carbon dating have shown that the fabric could not have predated 1260. The authors have produced new evidence that conclusively proves that it is not a fake-yet neither is it the image of Jesus Christ. - Amazon
I became fascinated by history when, as a child, I visited the Coliseum in Rome; my father told me, “This is where they fed the Christians to the lions.” That awakened my curiosity for people of the past, and I went on to earn an undergraduate degree and a PhD in history at the Universities of Michigan and Hamburg respectively. My interest in the crusades was ignited by the enormous disconnect between popular perceptions and historical reality, and I have published two nonfiction books on the Crusader States, as well as seven novels set in the era of the crusades. The Knights Templar were an important component of my research.
A picture is worth a thousand words! History books are filled with text and lots of footnotes and bibliographies, but so much of what is written can be boiled down or better explained by good pictures. And that’s what Nicholson has done in this book.
To supplement her concise and factual text (she’s a leading scholar on the topic of the Military Orders), she’s collected hundreds of images that illustrate the Templars—their castles and manors, their churches, their seals. She also provides colorful depictions of them from medieval sources, both frescoes and illuminated manuscripts. This book evokes the Templars and their lifestyle in a way that other books don’t even try. I love it!
Much has been written about the Knights Templar in recent years, most of it highly speculative and with no historical foundation. They have been associated with everything from Freemasonry to the Holy Grail, the pyramids, the Shroud of Turin and space travel. A leading specialist in the history of this legendary medieval order now writes a full account of the knights of the Order of the Temple of Solomon, to give them their full title, bringing the latest findings to a general audience. There is no other accurate popular history of the Templars currently available aimed at a general audience.…
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
I became fascinated by history when, as a child, I visited the Coliseum in Rome; my father told me, “This is where they fed the Christians to the lions.” That awakened my curiosity for people of the past, and I went on to earn an undergraduate degree and a PhD in history at the Universities of Michigan and Hamburg respectively. My interest in the crusades was ignited by the enormous disconnect between popular perceptions and historical reality, and I have published two nonfiction books on the Crusader States, as well as seven novels set in the era of the crusades. The Knights Templar were an important component of my research.
Historical accuracy is important to me. I am not interested in fantasy or alternative history, so when I read about any topic, whether in fictional or nonfictional form, I want books based on the historical record. Malcolm Barber is one of the leading scholars on the Knights Templar of the last three decades.
This book is a concise summary of his scholarship and is for me the absolute bible on the history of the Knights Templar.
The Order of the Temple, founded in 1119 to protect pilgrims around Jerusalem, developed into one of the most influential corporations in the medieval world. It has retained its hold on the modern imagination thanks to the dramatic events of the Templars' trial and abolition two hundred years later, and has been invoked in historical mysteries from Masonic conspiracy to the survival of the Turin shroud. Malcolm Barber's lucid narrative separates myth from history in this full and detailed account of the Order, from its origins, flourishing and suppression to the Templars' historic afterlife.
Microbial ecologists once had the luxury of no one caring about their work. My colleagues and I had been busy showing that there are more microbes than stars in the Universe, that the genetic diversity of bacteria and viruses is mind-boggling, and that microbes run nearly all reactions in the carbon cycle and other cycles that underpin life on the planet. Then came the heat waves, wildfires, droughts and floods, and other unignorable signs of climate change. Now everyone should care about microbes to appreciate the whole story of greenhouse gases and to understand how the future of the biosphere depends on the response of the smallest organisms.
I almost put this book down when Marra started to describe what happened one early morning off the coast of Iceland, where he was trying to measure photosynthesis by marine microbes. A day earlier, he had filled bottles with seawater spiked with a radioactive form of carbon, carbon-14, and thrown the bottles overboard to incubate in the ocean. Now he had to retrieve them. As Marra recounted how the ship rolled in huge waves whipped up by 55-knot winds, my stomach churned as I remembered similar experiences on other vessels, in other seas.
Luckily for me and perhaps other seasick-prone readers, Hot Carbon returns to land for several chapters to sketch out the discovery of carbon-14 and its use in C14-dating historical artifacts such as the Shroud of Turin and in unraveling the mechanism of photosynthesis.
In the last part of the book, Marra returns to the ocean and outlines…
There are few fields of science that carbon-14 has not touched. A radioactive isotope of carbon, it stands out for its unusually long half-life. Best known for its application to estimating the age of artifacts-carbon dating-carbon-14 helped reveal new chronologies of human civilization and geological time. Everything containing carbon, the basis of all life, could be placed in time according to the clock of radioactive decay, with research applications ranging from archeology to oceanography to climatology.
In Hot Carbon, John F. Marra tells the untold story of this scientific revolution. He weaves together the workings of the many disciplines that…
Doing the research forThe Italian Partymeant submerging myself in the Cold War Italy of the 1950s. But I found I couldn't understand that period without a better understanding of World War II and Italian Fascism. Cue an avalanche of books from which this list is culled, and the new novel I have just finished. I am drawn to first-hand accounts of women’s lives in wartime because I wonder how I would react and survive such challenges. Recent events in Europe have revived the nightmare of life under an occupying army. These stories are back at my bedside right now because I need their humor and wisdom.
I could have broken the rules and just listed five books by Caroline Moorehead here. I love her writing; her highly-researched biographies are a joy to read and utterly immersive. I chose A House in the Mountains because it shows me what it’s like to survive the hardscrabble blow-by-blow of daily life under an occupying army, and how you can defeat it. The five women whose lives in the Italian Resistance during WWII she chronicles here are models of courage and creative resistance to tyranny.
'Moorehead paints a wonderfully vivid and moving portrait of the women of the Italian Resistance...an excellent book... She depicts a tragic fate that is timeless, of dreams forged in adversity, shattered by collisions with practical politics' MAX HASTINGS, SUNDAY TIMES
A Spectator Book of the Year
The extraordinary story of the courageous women who spearheaded the Italian Resistance during the Second World War
In the late summer of 1943, when Italy changed sides in the War and the Germans - now their enemies - occupied the north of the country, an Italian Resistance was born. Ada, Frida, Silvia and Bianca…
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the book…
Tim Parks moved to Italy in 1981 and is still there today. He has written five bestselling books about the country, brought up three splendid Italian children and translated some of the country’s best-loved authors. There cannot be many foreigners more familiar with the country, its literature, its history and its people.
Among the greatest family memoirs of all time. Novelist, Natalia Ginzburg (née Levi) grew up in a big family in Turin between the wars. Her Jewish father was a famous and famously irascible scientist, her mother a charmer from the well-to-do bourgeoisie. The last of five, Natalia gives a sparkling picture of the loves, friendships and conflicts between her older brothers and sisters as Fascist Italy drifted toward war. Impossible not to laugh and cry, while at the same time getting a sense of the deeper forces driving Italian life.
A masterpiece of European literature that blends family memoir and fiction
An Italian family, sizable, with its routines and rituals, crazes, pet phrases, and stories, doubtful, comical, indispensable, comes to life in the pages of Natalia Ginzburg’s Family Lexicon. Giuseppe Levi, the father, is a scientist, consumed by his work and a mania for hiking—when he isn’t provoked into angry remonstration by someone misspeaking or misbehaving or wearing the wrong thing. Giuseppe is Jewish, married to Lidia, a Catholic, though neither is religious; they live in the industrial city of Turin where, as the years pass, their children find ways…
