I remember first reading about the Oak Island mystery (sometimes called "the money pit") when I was just about becoming a teenager. The idea, at that time, was that it contained buried pirate treasure - probably that of Captain Kidd. I was intrigued, but then moved on to other topics of interest. Now I'm back to the original mystery, but this time with a different slant.

Since this book is subtitled "Solving the Oak Island Mystery," you might expect a majority of it to be devoted to Oak Island. In fact, only about 90 pages are devoted to Oak Island, with the majority of the remainder being devoted to the background of the Knights Templar, the Merovingian dynasty, and other interconnected topics.

It, like the book I reviewed previously (The Knights Templar in the New World), is a fascinating compilation of facts and speculation. It is sure to inspire others to their own explorations and seekings. However, its use of the name Knights Templar seems, to me, to be a simple attempt to attract readers who might otherwise pass it by.

No one knows what the treasure of the Templars actually was. If it was gold and silver, no one knows how much there was. Many people assume that there must have been huge amounts of it, but the expenditures for outfitting an order of knights, building and maintaining castles, seeing to the care of its older members, and all of the other requirements of the time must have taken up enormous amounts of money.

If, on the other hand, it was religious icons and relics, its relevance in the modern world may be questioned. Even as little as 100 years ago, Christianity had a much stronger hold on society than it does today. While icons and/or relics would have a certain amount of historical value, their primary value would be to the church, it would appear.

If, as a final possibility, the treasure consists of lost genealogies which might prove embarrassing to the Christian religion, it would not be surprising to find a great deal of effort devoted to concealing them. It is well written and enjoyable. It is not essential to an understanding of the Templars, but it is a good summation of the Oak Island mystery.