When I picked up this book I thought the premise sounded intriguing: a researcher retraces the steps of the Wise Men from Persia to Bethlehem, and then writes a book to tell us who they really were. After reading the book, however, I am not certain whether the author actually intends to be taken seriously. His work is a mishmash, alternating between a hilariously profane account of his journey and his philosophical musings about the descent of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam from Zoroastrianism. The result is something resembling "Chariots of the Gods" or one of those books about how the Ark of the Covenant is now secreted away somewhere in Ethiopia, hidden by the Knights Templar and their descendants the Masons. It is hard to give much credence to any of this, and one is tempted to suspect that Roberts is offering it with his tongue planted firmly in his cheek. Do your Christmas reading elsewhere.