How do you know the earth is round?

Because “everyone knows” the earth is round! (eye roll), right? Well… not according to Mark Sargent, the creator of the popular “Flat Earth Clues series” released on You Tube in February 2015. The conclusion in his book is that the world is flat! And it’s causing a buzz and much debate.

For those of you new to this idea, theory, conspiracy, research (you decide) – it may seem absurd, but it is a topical subject trending on Google - no doubt helped by the recent outburst of rapper BoB claiming that the earth is flat , (maybe he’d watched Sargents’ clues?) quickly followed by Astrophysicist Professor Neil deGrasse Tyson wading in with a few choice words; Then Tysons nephew joined in and a rap battle ensued.

Sargent, currently residing in Washington, USA spends most of his time trying to unravel the hidden truths of our civilisation said: “I’d gone through just about every ‘conspiracy theory’ out there. All the major ones. But there’s one conspiracy which is the runt of the litter. One conspiracy that even the conspiracy guys won’t touch. It’s silly and its ludicrus. And I didn’t want to touch it either. It was called the flat earth theory. One weekend, I got frustrated, and I thought I’m going to look at this thing, and just debunk it. Knock it out over the weekend and be done with it. So I started to look at it. And slowly but surely … it started to make sense. The globe earth model just didn’t add up.”

At this point you may want to get out your tin foil hat and cue the twilight music in the background as Sargent continues: “Everyone laughs at first, but when you're done, ask yourself this: When did you first find out you lived on a globe? Because of the model you saw when you were six? or because of the ONE picture you saw in a textbook?”

You may be thinking that this is some sort of joke or that you’ve accidentally fallen down a worm hole and stepped out into the Dark Ages. But this is no joke. So who are these people who believe this theory? What qualifications do they have? They are known as flat-earthers. And their official science background is normally non-existent. They haven’t learned what they ‘know’ from a PhD or degree in Cosmology or Galaxy Dynamics, but via their own ‘research’ and ‘observations’.

Most scientists are not available for reply to this sort of debate. It’s damaging to their credibility if they even entertain such a discussion which was why Professor Neil deGrasse Tyson’s comments were so unusual. President Obama hasn’t got time for a meeting of the Flat Earth Society (yes, they do exist) and Tyson doesn’t believe this research should get equal airtime. But one thing Tyson does say is: “The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.”

Good point, but who does believe in it? Aside from the flat-earthers, ‘off the record’ there are airforce, army, military pilots, navigators and ex-NASA employees who would testify to this but (understandably) very few will want to stick their neck on the line. The negative publicity and damage to their reputation would most likely mean they’d never find work again.

Editor in Chief, Lisa Newton, spokesperson for the publishers commented: “Many people researching the idea of the ‘flat earth’ or ‘enclosed world’ would have stumbled across it and watched the clues on You Tube. However, not everyone has internet access and we wanted to be able to present the information in a book format to make it accessible to everyone, so that you can then decide and make up your own mind about what is going on. ”

Despite the ridicule and controversy such a topic invokes due to the widespread belief that the world is round, the book does have some throught- provoking questions, such as why doesn’t the GPS tracking system track plane flights for the entire duration of the journey? Why are all pictures of the earth from space composite images? Why has there only been one official photo taken of the earth in 43 years ? (Note the Whitehouse tweeted when the second one was released in 2015) – a perfectly round blue marble image covered by clouds. And why is Antartica off-limits? The list goes on.

Sargent adds, “I didn’t want to believe it either. But do your own research, and ask questions.”

Notes to the editor

• Flat Earth Clues is available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1523851430?keywords=flat%20earth%20clues&qid=1456657057&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1
• The audiobook version will be available on itunes and audible in March 2016

Flat Earth Clues is available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1523851430?keywords=flat%20earth%20clues&qid=1456657057&ref_=sr_1_1&s=books&sr=1-1
The audiobook version will be available on itunes and audible in March 2016

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This release was published on openPR.