Erich von Däniken (1935–2026)

It's interesting to read Chariots now considering the immense influence it's gotten in the form of the very successful Ancient Aliens franchise. It was written in 1968 and it's extremely evident from the state of science fiction and actual science at that time. Däniken thinks men on Mars is a distinct possibility. He returns again and again to "looks like X to me" type reasoning such as how any ancient depiction of a figure with rays around its head must be wearing a helmet with an antenna. show more Because of course at this time you think of antennas in the form of rabbit ears for radio or TV, or the sci fi round helmet with the sproingy antenna on top. Or how other symbols seem like a battery to him. It's precisely in the dated futurism the method behind the madness becomes evident - and the method hasn't changed. Däniken and his acolytes just morph the looks like X to me arguments to be more in line with what sounds plausible today.
Similarly with the arguments about men on Mars or starships needing people to scratch out landing paths in the dirt are quietly dropped in a God of the Gaps fashion as new science comes in and makes old arguments sound dumb. Especially interesting to note how closely this book lines up with Graham Hancock's alt-history, with many notable staples like the Piri Reis map and the exact same lines about how it "exactly" shows a snow free Antarctica. Hancock has borrowed liberally from Däniken's books but also scoffs and swears off the ancient astronauts as nonsense. There's some scale of plausibility where he's gone close enough to actual history to remain in good graces with people who would dismiss Däniken (even though if you listen deeper than his popular appearances you'll soon find such headscratchers as sonically levitated megaliths). show less

Unmitigated tosh from cover-to-cover. Admittedly, I was taken in at age 11, but how any adult could accept this tissue of lies is beyond me. Interesting, maybe, for its sci-fi concepts, but as one of the initiators of modern pseudo-science, an awful, awful book.

You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant - Harlan Ellison

Seek and ye shall find whatever it is you are looking for - especially if you make up the evidence, ignore the most likely "mainstream" explanation and suspend any critical faculty you might possess. Yes, then the impossible becomes possible.

In 2018, Berkley published this 50th Anniversary Edition of Erich Von Däniken's Chariots of the Gods. The grandaddy of all ancient aliens books, shows, websites, and theories. There was an old copy in my city library, and I leafed through it from time to time. As a teen onward, I read around Von Däniken and his theories, so I have always been cognizant of him. I much preferred Irwin Ginsburgh's Genesis-centric knock-off First, Man. Then, Adam! and the seemingly more evidence and show more history-based works by Zecharia SItchin. So, it took me a long time to get to Von Däniken.

There are several problems and issues with Von Däniken's magnum opus. He is very chatty. The book mainly consists of him pointing out some big building or odd artifact and saying: "This is odd: aliens." He was the progenitor of the Giorgio A. Tsoukalos meme: "Aliens!" The book is also rather anti-religious, especially against Christianity. It is also full of errors. Historical, categorical, archaeological, etc. Nazca lines look like airfields. (Why planet-hopping UFOers would need an "airfield" is beyond me.) These have been addressed in numerous other locations, so no need to harp on them here. Also, Von Däniken uses the word "utopian" a kajillion times to mean "far-fetched." It was annoying. In fact, the book is rather lean on evidence for ancient alien contact, and is mostly suppositions, though experiments, and digressions on science and the future. Half the book is about modern-day rockets and possible future technology, rather than ancient aliens. Still, the greatest hits of future ancient aliendom is here. The skeleton script for all episodes of Ancient Aliens is here. Big blocks, pyramids, Easter Island, Piri Reis, Pacal, etc. He is very lean on history, it is mostly just "well this must be aliens" supposition. He is definitely the poor man's Sitchin.

In this 50th Anniversary Edition is a new foreword, a foreword from 1999, and a new afterword. In the new foreword, Von Däniken explains away some of his mistakes and again tells how his book came to print. Then there is Von Däniken's foreword from 1999, where he again claims his mistakes are okay, but any mistakes by his critics destroy their whole critique. In his afterword he tries to explain away one of his arrests, again attacks his critics, tries to backdate his theories, and lists legitimate scientists who tangentially give credence to some of his theories. (The theory of panspermia, for example, if true, does not thus support the ancient alien hypothesis.) He claims he never wrote about alien gold, "that was Sitchin!" he bemoans (p. 193), ignoring his own book The Gold of the Gods and the monstrous falsities it was based on.

There is then the original English text of Chariots of the Gods, with introduction, main text, bibliography, and index. The same pictures remain from the original version, with their inane, chatty captions, and the same errors abide. (Like the pillar that "does not rust"; mentioned as false in the foreword, still in the text and photographs.)

It is a nice, new hardcover edition of a seminal, though completely flawed work. show less