The Rise and Fall of the Nephilim: The Untold Story of Fallen Angels, Giants on the Earth, and Their Extraterrestrial Origins

The Rise and Fall of the Nephilim gives a great account of the mysterious 'watchers', the ones who were called the sons of god who looked upon the daughters of man, which apparently started all the vice on Earth. It's not much of a stretch to speculate that lust for the beautiful earth women is what caused the downfall of even the 'sons of god', because lust seems to be what drives our society even now. Just look at advertising, or a Victoria Secret catalog and you'll see that lust is what drives us to buy-buy-buy, and can even bring down a president.

Scott Alan Roberts pulls together the threads of the story by way of Biblical references, where he certainly knows his subject. While apologizing way too much for stepping on the toes of believers, in my humble opinion, Roberts shows how the passages of the Bible, and the Book of Enoch can be made much clearer if you insert real beings for the 'watchers', instead of angelic beings. This makes sense, since imagining a being made of spirit, giving up his lofty position just for sex, does seem a bit silly.

Pros: Roberts gives up a great Biblical background to the Nephilim, and even includes the ancient astronaut theories. He includes Stichin's theories, giving us background into how the translations were amiss. I can't vouch for that since I don't read ancient languages, or more than one modern one for that matter.

Cons: I didn't feel as if I learned anything new with this book, though I had just been reading The Genius of the Few, by Christian & Barbara Joy O'Brian, two authors who define this research.

Roberts does back up his work with a very thorough, notes, bibliography and an appendix which will come in handy to fellow researchers. This book is a good introduction to the subject of the Nephilim.

The author is correct about pop culture and the popularity of demonology and related subjects. That's why this book is timely.
There are so many theories about the Nephillim and it's a complex subject aided in no small part by religion and the actions of Constantine. Mr. Roberts quotes from the "Book of Enoch" and the "Book of Jubilees" to attempt to define what the Nephillim and giants of Genesis were. These books didn't meet the unanimous support of canonization when Constantine reigned. They are invaluable in that they provide specific details to the circumstances of Genesis 6.

While reading this book you will find the theory that is sometimes known as the "Serpent Seed" from the Garden of Eden.
Mr. Roberts studies the Hebrew word "nachash" to reveal that the serpent may not have been a snake originally but possibly a shining enchanter. I've heard this theory before and it definitely gives the reader pause!

You will read about Scripture that describes YaHuWaH's mode of transportation in numerous Psalms (18:1-19, 68:17, and 102:3 to name three). Whether it's the clouds or a fiery chariot it must be air-borne. This all reminds me of the first chapter of Ezekiel.

Other interesting interpretations by Mr. Roberts are what the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was and the definition of "Elohim".

On page 43 the author writes "Understanding the past gives illumination to the present." How true that is!

This book is written well and makes a lot of sense on some topics without abandoning Scripture. The author doesn't subscribe to far-fetched speculations about aliens that are so popular now a days.
The book is both interesting and challenging when it confronts the stories of childhood regarding Adam and Eve and the ignoring of taboo subjects like the Nephillim.

I am not sure the spirit in which this book was written. First it speaks of everyone needing an open mind, and then begins to bore us with intellectual crap. Way over thought and not enough understanding of biblical truth. Then in their own ignorance they begin to rewrite and Blaspheme the bible to prove their ideology is true. This book isn't worth the paper it is printed on. 2 Tim. 3:15-17, Hebrew 4:12, Mark 13:31, Jerem. 1:9, Isaiah 40:8, Isaiah 55:8-9,11. 2 Peter 1:16, they must have miss these verses in the bible.

I have finally finished this book. I've had to take several forced breaks while reading it. Life kept getting in the way. But, even knowing the author outside of the literary world, I was skeptical of the idea of this book. The subject really has a ultra-fine line one has to tread to even speak on the subject with colleagues and friends. Too far one way, you get in trouble with the non-christians. Too far the other way, you get in trouble with christians. And to weigh in heavily down the middle road, you can get in trouble with everyone in between. Scott Roberts knocked it out of the park with this one.

I've heard some of his interviews and lectures on the topic since I first met him. Even with the fore-knowledge, I started this book with a ton of skepticism. There are so few direct references to Nephilim in the bible. My first thought is, "How the heck is he going to devote an entire book to this?" My first thought went out the window within the first few chapters. This book is very well researched (though I know he only scratched the surface in this volume due to space). His leaps of logic AND faith are not so outlandish that they would make him sound like a crack-pot. He cites his references and influences well. The humor in his telling can only be QUANTIFIED as "Pure Scotty Classics". The rhetoric in this book will captivate and entertain anyone. At his book signing, one of the attendees later blogged that his lecture reminded her of Aristotle speaking with his colleagues. She is right. And this book exemplifies that characteristic of him. My years of studying theology and comparative religion made me want to read a book that collects the thoughts I've had into one place. The Rise and Fall of the Nephilim is one of those books. READ IT, AND LEARN. Good job Mr. Roberts.

Scott makes a valiant effort, but doesn't score. The book is too uneven. Some of the conclusions are empty and leave the reader hanging in the air. Along with his extreme theories, he does explain Genesis 6 well, and brings in the evidence from the Book of Enoch and Jubilees. Two issues that reduce my score to one star: 1. Grammar - there is no excuse for spelling errors. I have found that many of these type of books lack a good editorial review. 2. Like most of the authors who tackle the Nephilim issue, Scott fails to recognize the underlying issue behind all the chaos mentioned in Genesis. If you miss that, everything else you try to make sense of will always lead you down a path that ends up in the wrong location.

Just finished "The Rise and fall of the Nephilim"
One word to make it short and simple.
"Phenomanal"!!!!

Thank you for openining my mind,you have started me on a path in search of more knowledge,& presented biblical writtings to me in a more understandable light.In your words "I will never stop asking questions"
With warmest regards,Thank you very much Scotty!
David Woodby

I have read many a good (and few bad) books about this intriguing subject. Some are written by scholars pushing the clearly flawed official view of these bizarre events in early human history while others at the other end see alien spaceships around every corner. But in my own long and extensive research I have found that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. While Roberts is a good writer and has a good command of the language and comes off sounding like a scholar, he most certainly is not. He;'s just a guy who went to Bible college, obviously never had a strong faith to begin with and so lost it, while succumbing to the naturalist worldview quite easily and starting a radio show (or something like that) to sound-off his new-found opinions -and probably to make some $$$.
Most of his sources are dubious, but what is more frustrating is his almost complete lack of footnotes and the use of strong outside material to support his opinions clearly. And when it comes to opinions, this book is chocked full of 'em! I can guarantee that this book would never pass muster as a thesis for a degree in any college worth it's salt! And not necessarily because of his conclusions, or his writing ability or even the subject matter itself, but because it's really just Mr. Robert's personal opinions droning on and on and on. While I don't begrudge anyone publishing a book on their opinions, to take it seriously one needs to support ideas with some evidence that and scholarly work that has come before to some extent. There are too many off-hand assumptions without evidence to support them. Too much guessing. This reads like a guy who is not sure what to believe and is mulling things over in his head - except this is for the entire world to read.
Like Von Daniken, he clearly leans toward ascribing supernatural (or as I call them more accurately I think: "hyper-dimensional") events to nuts and bolts spaceships. I don't necessarily have trouble with that view if done carefully, but such a view is as irresponsible as ascribing every unexplainable event as due to demons or angels. While I happen to think that the truth lies in the middle somewhere, this book seems to want to lure people of faith away from a position of faith to questioning that faith - as he clearly is. More than once he asks us to step outside the "faith box". To anyone well acquainted with "faith", such a thing is not "believing what you want" but taking God's Word as true. In fact the Apostle Paul said faith is the EVIDENCE of things unseen. Clearly, Mr. Roberts thinks Paul was wrong about that.
There are a number of historical and literary facts that the author simply gets dead wrong...which is ok, except he bases much of his entire thesis on those wrong facts, which undermines the entire book.
There are many books published on the Nephilim. Some are good, some are awful and others, like this one, has it's interesting points but loaded with pure conjecture and personal opinion. I honestly expected a more scholarly approach and was disappointment that I didn't get it.
Honestly, this book should simply be called " What I Think About Who the Nephilim Were...Maybe" - by Some Dude.
So take it for what it is, and it isn't much.

The basic theory is that the Nephilim were the offspring of a bunch of randy aliens (Watchers) who came down to earth to mate with our women. The Nephilim got up to no good so the 'powers that be' caused a flood (Noah and the ark) to get rid of them. Noah was saved because he and his family were the only bloodline which was not mixed with Watcher blood. The only proof that the author offers is re-interpretation of bible stories and ancient myths to support this. It doesn't help the author's credibility that he worked in advertising (the art of making things up) for 33 years.
The idea that aliens came down to visit in our distant past has been done to death. For a better researched book about this see "Chariot of the Gods".

Mr. Roberts promises to tell the story of the Nephilin on Earth and to tie them to the Fallen Angels, the Giants of old, and Extaterrestrials. He does this, using extensive quotations from the Bible and numerous other ancient documents. For anyone unfamiliar with the overall topic, including our earliest civilization of Sumer, Roberts provides ample food for thought.
On a personal level, I would have appreciated knowing, early on, the author's point of view. He expresses his own conflicts in many ways, but I found his ambivilance off-putting. Perhaps he doesn't know how to regard this mountain of evidence, but I would have liked an up-front acknowledgment.
On another level, the book lacked good organization, and some quotations pop up in different places. Both faults causing the book to be longer than needed. I wholeheatedly agree with Roberts that this topic has been ignored for too long, and I applaud his efforts to bring some light to the subject.
One final gripe. Roberts mentions the work of Zecharia Sitchin, but, as has become all too common these days, he disparages this work. Regardless of what one thinks of Sitchin's interpretations, no one has done more to popularize this most ancient culture and educate the masses about its history and mystery. Give the man his due

For someone who has never read anything about the Nephilim before, I guess this book is Okay. But there is better information out there.