The author's interests include puzzles, science fiction, video games, baseball, golf, tennis, and Florida vacations. The author's obsession though is the Phaistos Disc.
As a child, the author loved reading about the ancient Greeks and Romans. In more recent years, the author has developed a passion for decoding an ancient Minoan relic called the Phaistos Disc. Decoding is the correct term since the Phaistos Disc is the world's toughest cryptogram. The author has all the raw skills needed to decode the Phaistos Disc : a love of research, data interpretation, pattern matching, puzzle solving, an open mind, determination, fresh ideas, the will to dominate, and the desire to succeed.
Why should the Phaistos Disc be of interest to you the reader? The Phaistos Disc is ritualistic and mythological in origin. No other objects in the Minoan relics come close to telling this level of information. The Minoans remain shrouded in mystery. The Minoans have parallels yet careful distinctions from both the Greek mainlanders and the islanders at Akrotiri.
The Phaistos Disc's approximate age is 1650BC, which means the relic can provide insight into ritual and myth from a culture that predates the Exodus of the Bible by only hundreds of years. How were people such as the Minoans expressing their curiosity and connection to the divine? This is the real question I am after : What were the religious beliefs of other cultures in the region, such as the Minoans, right before the Exodus of the Bible? Did those religious beliefs influence the Old Testament? How does humanity make the theological transition from the rituals of the Minoans to the Old Testament? What was religious thinking like in the region before the Exodus? We know the religious thinking of the Egyptians, Sumerians, and mainland Greeks, but the religious thinking of the Minoans on Crete still eludes us. The Phaistos Disc is the key to Minoan religious thinking.
Roberto Mason has published three non-fiction books which detail the progression of solving the Phaistos Disc. The first book "Decoding the Phaistos Disc: Divine Messenger" explores ancient writing systems and the relics of the Minoans and provides an initial translation. The second book "The Phaistos Disc Paradox" explores the question of the Minoan or Greek mainland origin of the disc in terms of language and writing systems. The third book "The Phaistos Disc: New Secrets Revealed" details new discoveries and surprises, an updated translation, and dives deeper into the ancient writing systems. This third book also explores the real world objects behind Linear A syllables. The three books posit that the Phaistos Disc is written in an artistic flavor of the Minoan Linear A writing system, so it is critical to know the real world objects behind Linear A in an effort to the map Linear A characters to the Phaistos Disc characters.
Roberto Mason has also published one fiction book : "Damokoro : The Phaistos Disc Puzzle". This book will take you back to ancient Crete where you find yourself shipwrecked. Solve the puzzle to escape the island, but keep a close eye on your fellow castaways.
