Chariots Of the Gods? Anyone read it?

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Teyrnon

My father was somewhat into Von Daniken's stuff back in the 70s and 80s. I tried reading a couple of the books a few years ago and was struck by this very thing. Von Daniken seems determined to find evidence for aliens in everything and many of his mysteries have well documented answers that he completely ignores.

I wouldn't recommend his books for anything except entertainment. On the other hand I have to admit hearing my father's speculations on the subject when I was growing up sparked my own interest in ancient history and human origins and prehistory.

Also, I rather enjoyed the Stargate television shows so I guess I should thank the ancient astronaut crowd for inspiring the writers involved in that.

Erich von Däniken speaks of the Biblical book of Ezekiel as if there were no other way except for the actual existence of flying saucers to explain how an ancient writer could come up with the concept of a "wheel within a wheel."

Well, here's an alternative explanation: lead in the drinking cups!

[rock]

Originally Posted by Teyrnon

My father was somewhat into Von Daniken's stuff back in the 70s and 80s. I tried reading a couple of the books a few years ago and was struck by this very thing. Von Daniken seems determined to find evidence for aliens in everything and many of his mysteries have well documented answers that he completely ignores.

I wouldn't recommend his books for anything except entertainment. On the other hand I have to admit hearing my father's speculations on the subject when I was growing up sparked my own interest in ancient history and human origins and prehistory.

Also, I rather enjoyed the Stargate television shows so I guess I should thank the ancient astronaut crowd for inspiring the writers involved in that.

Exactly and after the first episode of Ancient Aliens, that all it is on History. The only explanation is Aliens. You see the drawing, he has an oblong shape. Alien. Wait people can do that to their skulls themselves? Ok they are doing it because they honor the Aliens, because there is no other excuse.

Egyptians called themselves Gods. Want to know why, because they are Hybrids.

It is embarrassing to watch, because it is so one sided, but they get like one guy to rebuttal something and they have to put CHRISTIAN ARCHEOLOGIST so it makes it look like he is just a religous nut.

The only plausible conclusions is Aliens for everything!

[PKFFW]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

And yet we still haven't found so much as even a simple radio message. I believe that the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of other extraterrestrial civilizations having developed in our galaxy, but the fact that we still have not one shred of evidence of their existence is disturbing. It leads to the disquieting speculation that perhaps advanced civilizations don't have a very long shelf life. Maybe the norm is for intelligent lifeforms to destroy themselves soon after achieving the capability to do so. It certainly isn't unreasonable to suppose that we're headed in that direction.

I read an interesting theory once, based in part on quantum physics, which postulated that there can only ever be one intelligent species in the universe at one time. The theorist took the idea that quantum probability waves have infinite possibilities until they are observed and the act of observation collapses the waves into a single event and applied it to the universe. He came up with the idea that intelligent life, once able to examine and observe the universe, thereby collapsed the infinite quantum probability waves into the single event of their own existence. As such, it wouldn't be until that intelligent species died out that another could possibly exist.

I'm sure I'm not explaining it very well but it sounded pretty cool to me at the time anyway.

Cheers,
PKFFW

[William Campbell]

I read Chariots of the Gods in the early seventies when I was young. Great book, very worth reading, so do continue and finish it. Is it real? I usually avoid the arguments, though much does seem a stretch, and yes, more so once you grow up and lose that view from a starry-eyed child. But the possibilities are fascinating if perhaps only a fraction of his claims were real. At any rate, having consumed this book at a young age set the stage for my own writing later. The ideas Von Daniken proposed are one example of many sources that inspired my story, in which the existence of non-earthlings goes far back into the past, well beyond Earth's limited recorded history. Fiction, of course. But still, the possibilities let the mind wander, and make for good reading.

[ardeegee]

http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2004

[carld]

I read it many years ago. It was an interesting read for its time, and no worse than The Late Great Planet Earth my Mom was reading. I read that one as well. I enjoyed "Velikovsky's crap" too, though I really read it as speculative fiction.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by carld

I read it many years ago. It was an interesting read for its time, and no worse than The Late Great Planet Earth my Mom was reading. I read that one as well. I enjoyed "Velikovsky's crap" too, though I really read it as speculative fiction.

Years ago I read somewhere that Hal Lindsey was putting his money into long-term real estate investments. A strange thing for someone to be doing who's convinced that the end of the world is immanent.

The works of all three of these authors -- von Däniken, Velikovsky, and Lindsey -- belong in the fiction section.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Years ago I read somewhere that Hal Lindsey was putting his money into long-term real estate investments. A strange thing for someone to be doing who's convinced that the end of the world is immanent.

The works of all three of these authors -- von Däniken, Velikovsky, and Lindsey -- belong in the fiction section.

Wait???? I thought they WERE fiction!

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Wait???? I thought they WERE fiction!

I'm sure the authors knew they were fiction...

[SensualPoet]

The best thing about The Chariots of the Gods? was the theme to the TV documentary. If you are very lucky, you'll find a used Polydor LP of it at a garage sale.

[CazMar]

It would be an interesting topic for research to find out why so many people are willing to believe and spend good money on books about aliens founding human civilisation/Atlantis/secret societies plotting the overthrow of the world etc, etc, etc. Is it just a modern version of the mythic story? Odysseus fighting sea monsters, St George and the dragon? People doing real archaeology or trying to decipher real ancient texts have to scrape by on miserable amounts of funding, yet write a book about some crackpot theory involving Atlantis and you can retire on the proceeds.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by CazMar

It would be an interesting topic for research to find out why so many people are willing to believe and spend good money on books about aliens founding human civilisation/Atlantis/secret societies plotting the overthrow of the world etc, etc, etc.

A book in that direction:

http://www.amazon.com/People-Believe.../dp/0716733870

[CazMar]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

A book in that direction:

http://www.amazon.com/People-Believe.../dp/0716733870

Yes - and I notice it's selling at $5.75, I'll bet the latest pseudo-science book sells for 3 times that price! I think I'll just go and write a best seller about Alexander the Great really being an alien from Atlantis, that should really put some dollars in my bank account!

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by CazMar

Alexander the Great really being an alien from Atlantis, that should really put some dollars in my bank account!

No, no, he was from Atlanta. Time travel accident.

[GeoffC]

Once upon a time ..... then I grew up and started to believe in Stargate