The HAB Theory
Encyclopedia
The HAB Theory is a 1976 science fiction
novel by American author Allan W. Eckert
. The novel is from the apocalyptic fiction
subgenre. Eckert believed that the real-world facts and conclusions he quoted in the novel, were worthy of further exploration. One such conclusion was that hyper-specialization in the physical sciences was a big problem and that more interactions between hyper-specialists was overdue. He wove facts and concepts into the novel form, then his 17th book, to get more minds considering them. The book explores a version of pole shift hypothesis postulated by Professor Charles Hapgood
in two volumes, plus Cataclysms of the Earth
by Hugh Auchincloss Brown
.
Brown published "Cataclysms" in his 90s and is represented in the novel by the character Herbert Allan Boardman (The "HAB" of the title) also in his 90's. Boardman stages a clever faux
assassination attempt on the President of the United States
as a ruse to draw attention to his theory. The ruse involves a wax .38 caliber bullet propelled only by the cartridge-primer at a Presidential rope-line handshake stop. HAB completes the ruse and survives his arrest long enough to wake up in a hospital and tell his story to a fictional Woodstein which sets the action in motion.
The HAB Theory was Eckert's second novel, but first major fiction publication, and had sold 150,000 copies by 1978. The book was made available via demand printing in 2004, though this version appears to contain a number of typos indicating that it was produced from something a bit earlier than the final published draft. The novel's romantic sub-plot which today seems quite archaic, was consistent with similar storytelling threads of the mid 1970s and was in fact based on the author's own divorce.
The novel borrows heavily from Brown's theory and book, which is that approximately every 6,000-7,000 years the Earth's polar ice cap
s become over-burdened with ice, creating such an imbalance in the planet's center of gravity, that the Earth's poles and the Earth's equator shift positions. The former poles are soon located somewhere between the Tropic of Cancer
and the Tropic of Capricorn
, where the weight of the polar ice cap leaves a large circular depression and other dramatic geological changes occur as the huge quantity of water is released by the ice caps melting.
Called "capsizing" in the novel the "rollover" takes place in a single day. Since the velocity of an object at the equator of the Earth
is approximately 1,000 MPH (1,674 km/h), any such rapid change in rotational axis is a massive disturbance to everything from a grain of sand to a mountain or an ocean. Humans and their works in such an event would be as fallen leaves before a windstorm. The exception being two places on earth called "pivot points" which the book says can be calculated and further that prior civilizations had calculated them and placed long-term-surviving information at such points.
OOPARTS - "out of place artifacts" real-world scientific anomalies (flattened petrified forests in Nova Scotia, huge depressions in Hudson Bay and the Sahara Desert, ancient maps showing Antarctica's coastline free of ice, wooly mammoths found with un-swallowed food in their mouths) are presented as evidence of The HAB Theory's possible validity. These OOPARTS are interpreted to suggest that human civilizations have existed on earth many times, during intervals like the current 6,000 - odd years of recorded history only to disappear over and over in yet another "capsizing." Thus human civilizations rise from hunter/gatherer/shepherds to builders of cities and flying vehicles - only to see that civilization "rebooted" by the planet's repeated capsizing.
Citing OOPARTS in support of an out-of-the-mainstream theory is a technique used in other works, including for example the well-known: Chariots of the Gods
(1968) by Erich von Däniken
in which they are interpreted as evidence that extraterrestrial
civilizations visited pre-modern earth and influenced historic and pre-historic events.
Imagining then trying to prevent an interesting end of the world
scenario, is a well established plot-line in storytelling and fiction. Each tale will have unique dramatic twists. In The HAB Theory, another "capsizing" is overdue, perhaps delayed because the Southern polar ice cap is (by sheer coincidence), centered on top of a land continent, but nevertheless probable, because the Northern polar icecap is centered over the Artic Ocean.
In the mid 1970s global cooling
was a more common popular headline than global warming
, so that fit rather well with this plotline.
No form of a "capsizing" hypothesis is currently accepted amongst the scientific community.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel by American author Allan W. Eckert
Allan W. Eckert
Allan W. Eckert was an American historian, historical novelist, and naturalist.-Biography:Eckert was born in Buffalo, New York and raised in the Chicago, Illinois area, but had been a long-time resident of Bellefontaine, Ohio, near where he attended university...
. The novel is from the apocalyptic fiction
Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction
Apocalyptic fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization due to a potentially existential catastrophe such as nuclear warfare, pandemic, extraterrestrial attack, impact event, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics, supernatural...
subgenre. Eckert believed that the real-world facts and conclusions he quoted in the novel, were worthy of further exploration. One such conclusion was that hyper-specialization in the physical sciences was a big problem and that more interactions between hyper-specialists was overdue. He wove facts and concepts into the novel form, then his 17th book, to get more minds considering them. The book explores a version of pole shift hypothesis postulated by Professor Charles Hapgood
Charles Hapgood
Charles Hutchins Hapgood was an American college professor and author who became one of the best known advocates of a pseudo-historical claim of a rapid and recent pole shift with catastrophic results.-Biography:...
in two volumes, plus Cataclysms of the Earth
Hugh Auchincloss Brown
Hugh Auchincloss Brown was an electrical engineer best known for advancing a theory of catastrophic pole shift. Brown claimed that massive accumulation of ice at the poles caused recurring tipping of the axis in cycles of approximately 4000–7500 years...
by Hugh Auchincloss Brown
Hugh Auchincloss Brown
Hugh Auchincloss Brown was an electrical engineer best known for advancing a theory of catastrophic pole shift. Brown claimed that massive accumulation of ice at the poles caused recurring tipping of the axis in cycles of approximately 4000–7500 years...
.
Brown published "Cataclysms" in his 90s and is represented in the novel by the character Herbert Allan Boardman (The "HAB" of the title) also in his 90's. Boardman stages a clever faux
Faux
'Faux is a French word for "false".When manufacturing faux objects or materials, an attempt is often made to create products which will resemble the imitated items as closely as possible...
assassination attempt on the President of the United States
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
as a ruse to draw attention to his theory. The ruse involves a wax .38 caliber bullet propelled only by the cartridge-primer at a Presidential rope-line handshake stop. HAB completes the ruse and survives his arrest long enough to wake up in a hospital and tell his story to a fictional Woodstein which sets the action in motion.
The HAB Theory was Eckert's second novel, but first major fiction publication, and had sold 150,000 copies by 1978. The book was made available via demand printing in 2004, though this version appears to contain a number of typos indicating that it was produced from something a bit earlier than the final published draft. The novel's romantic sub-plot which today seems quite archaic, was consistent with similar storytelling threads of the mid 1970s and was in fact based on the author's own divorce.
The novel borrows heavily from Brown's theory and book, which is that approximately every 6,000-7,000 years the Earth's polar ice cap
Polar ice cap
A polar ice cap is a high latitude region of a planet or natural satellite that is covered in ice. There are no requirements with respect to size or composition for a body of ice to be termed a polar ice cap, nor any geological requirement for it to be over land; only that it must be a body of...
s become over-burdened with ice, creating such an imbalance in the planet's center of gravity, that the Earth's poles and the Earth's equator shift positions. The former poles are soon located somewhere between the Tropic of Cancer
Tropic of Cancer
The Tropic of Cancer, also referred to as the Northern tropic, is the circle of latitude on the Earth that marks the most northerly position at which the Sun may appear directly overhead at its zenith...
and the Tropic of Capricorn
Tropic of Capricorn
The Tropic of Capricorn, or Southern tropic, marks the most southerly latitude on the Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This event occurs at the December solstice, when the southern hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun to its maximum extent.Tropic of Capricorn is one of the five...
, where the weight of the polar ice cap leaves a large circular depression and other dramatic geological changes occur as the huge quantity of water is released by the ice caps melting.
Called "capsizing" in the novel the "rollover" takes place in a single day. Since the velocity of an object at the equator of the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
is approximately 1,000 MPH (1,674 km/h), any such rapid change in rotational axis is a massive disturbance to everything from a grain of sand to a mountain or an ocean. Humans and their works in such an event would be as fallen leaves before a windstorm. The exception being two places on earth called "pivot points" which the book says can be calculated and further that prior civilizations had calculated them and placed long-term-surviving information at such points.
OOPARTS - "out of place artifacts" real-world scientific anomalies (flattened petrified forests in Nova Scotia, huge depressions in Hudson Bay and the Sahara Desert, ancient maps showing Antarctica's coastline free of ice, wooly mammoths found with un-swallowed food in their mouths) are presented as evidence of The HAB Theory's possible validity. These OOPARTS are interpreted to suggest that human civilizations have existed on earth many times, during intervals like the current 6,000 - odd years of recorded history only to disappear over and over in yet another "capsizing." Thus human civilizations rise from hunter/gatherer/shepherds to builders of cities and flying vehicles - only to see that civilization "rebooted" by the planet's repeated capsizing.
Citing OOPARTS in support of an out-of-the-mainstream theory is a technique used in other works, including for example the well-known: Chariots of the Gods
Chariots of the Gods
Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past is a book written in 1968 by Erich von Däniken...
(1968) by Erich von Däniken
Erich von Däniken
Erich Anton Paul von Däniken is a Swiss author best known for his controversial claims about extraterrestrial influences on early human culture, in books such as Chariots of the Gods?, published in 1968...
in which they are interpreted as evidence that extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
civilizations visited pre-modern earth and influenced historic and pre-historic events.
Imagining then trying to prevent an interesting end of the world
Risks to civilization, humans and planet Earth
Various existential risks could threaten humankind as a whole, have adverse consequences for the course of human civilization, or even cause the end of planet Earth.-Types of risks:...
scenario, is a well established plot-line in storytelling and fiction. Each tale will have unique dramatic twists. In The HAB Theory, another "capsizing" is overdue, perhaps delayed because the Southern polar ice cap is (by sheer coincidence), centered on top of a land continent, but nevertheless probable, because the Northern polar icecap is centered over the Artic Ocean.
In the mid 1970s global cooling
Global cooling
Global cooling was a conjecture during the 1970s of imminent cooling of the Earth's surface and atmosphere along with a posited commencement of glaciation...
was a more common popular headline than global warming
Global warming
Global warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
, so that fit rather well with this plotline.
No form of a "capsizing" hypothesis is currently accepted amongst the scientific community.