Chariots of the Gods

Rating:
Summary: Fun, but horribly wrong
Review: Von Däniken claims that the myths, arts, social organizations, etc., of ancient cultures were introduced by astronauts from another world. He questions not just the capacity for memory, but the capacity for culture and civilization itself, in ancient peoples. Prehistoric humans did not develop their own arts and technologies, but rather were taught art and science by visitors from outer space.

Where is the proof for von Däniken's claims? Some of it was fraudulent. For example, he produced photographs of pottery that he claimed had been found in an archaeological dig. The pottery depicts flying saucers and was said to have been dated from Biblical times. However, investigators from Nova (the fine public-television science program) found the potter who had made the allegedly ancient pots. They confronted von Däniken with evidence of his fraud. His reply was that his deception was justified because some people would only believe if they saw proof ("The Case of the Ancient Astronauts," first aired 3/8/78, done in conjunction with BBC's Horizon and Peter Spry-Leverton)!

However, most of von Däniken's evidence is in the form of specious and fallacious arguments. His data consists mainly of archaeological sites and ancient myths. He begins with the ancient astronaut assumption and then forces all data to fit the idea. For example, in Nazca, Peru, he explains giant animal drawings in the desert as an ancient alien airport. The fact that the lines of the drawing would be useless as a runway for any real aircraft because of their narrowness is conveniently ignored by von Däniken. The likelihood that these drawings related to the natives' science or mythology is not considered. He also frequently reverts to false dilemma reasoning of the following type: "Either this data is to be explained by assuming these primitive idiots did this themselves or we must accept the more plausible notion that they got help from extremely advanced peoples who must have come from other planets where such technologies as anti-gravity devices had been invented." His devotion to this theory has not dwindled, despite contrary evidence, as is evidenced by still another book on the subject, Arrival of the Gods : Revealing the Alien Landing Sites at Nazca (1998).

There have been many critics of von Däniken's notions, but Ronald Story stands out as the most thorough. Most critics of von Däniken's theory point out that prehistoric peoples were not the helpless, incompetent, forgetful savages he makes them out to be. (They must have at least been intelligent enough to understand the language and teachings of their celestial instructors--no small feat!) It is true that we still do not know how the ancients accomplished some of their more astounding physical and technological feats. We still wonder how the ancient Egyptians raised giant obelisks in the desert and how stone age men and women moved huge cut stones and placed them in position in dolmens and passage graves. We are amazed by the giant carved heads on Easter Island and wonder why they were done, who did them, and why they abandoned the place. We may someday have the answers to our questions, but they are most likely to come from scientific investigation not pseudoscientific speculation. For example, observing contemporary stone age peoples in Papua New Guinea, where huge stones are still found on top of tombs, has taught us how the ancients may have accomplished the same thing with little more than ropes of organic material, wooden levers and shovels, a little ingenuity and a good deal of human strength.

We have no reason to believe our ancient ancestors' memories were so much worse than our own that they could not remember these alien visitations well enough to preserve an accurate account of them. There is little evidence to support the notion that ancient myths and religious stories are the distorted and imperfect recollection of ancient astronauts recorded by ancient priests. The evidence to the contrary--that prehistoric or 'primitive' peoples were (and are) quite intelligent and resourceful--is overwhelming.

Of course, it is possible that visitors from outer space did land on earth a few thousand years ago and communicate with our ancestors. But it seems more likely that prehistoric peoples themselves were responsible for their own art, technology and culture. Why concoct such an explanation as von Däniken's? To do so may increase the mystery and romance of one's theory, but it also makes it less reasonable, especially when one's theory seems inconsistent with what we already know about the world. The ancient astronaut hypothesis is unnecessary. Occam's razor should be applied and the hypothesis rejected.

Rating:
Summary: How is this guy still selling books?
Review: This is pure pseudo-science, one that in spite of being thoroughly debunked over 20 years still manages to attract overtrusting and gullible readers. I have to hand it to this guy that such pure unadulterated fiction, although advertised as fact, continues to sell books. Don't know the particulars as to why he was jailed for embezzlement, one would think that the revenues from this book alone would have made him rich for life.

Rating:
Summary: very creative
Review: This guy may be an absolute nut job but I'll give him 5 stars for creativity. If taken as a work of fiction this is a great book, and hey: it inspired the creation of the tv show Battlestar Galactica. So it can't be all bad.

Rating:
Summary: The Missing Link?
Review: When I first read Chariots of the Gods years ago, it grabbed me like no book before. The hypothesis was staggering, the evidence astounding. I recall my teenage enthusiasm over learning the origins of our species. But as the years went by and I grew more cynical and crotchety, and saw much of the "evidence" disputed and discredited, I've had to back off on the conviction that Von Daniken was right about ancient aliens visiting Earth and spawning the race of Man.

However, since its publication, the pendulum of mainstream science has swung toward belief of life on other planets--even intelligent life. There remains many reasons to keep an open mind on the subject: unexplained and credible UFO sightings; our own space travel capabilities; the statistics supporting intelligent alien life; reports of ongoing alien abduction and breeding; the unsolved mysteries of Man's origin; and a good deal of Von Daniken's compelling evidence that has not been otherwise explained. Every decade or so there is a paradigm shift in the body of scientific knowledge Man has accumulated, which always makes us more enlightened, but also proves that throughout the past we were wrong on many things and never as smart as we thought we were. There's no reason to think the trend won't continue.

So who knows what really happened in our past? Surely, much of Von Daniken's premise is inaccurate, but that doesn't change the fact that his book is a highly stimulating and entertaining read. I loved it. --Christopher Bonn Jonnes

Rating:
Summary: Interesting, But Flawed
Review: A UFO obsessed friend of mine recommended this title to me, and now having read it all the way through (twice!) I'm not really sure what all the fuss is actually about. Sure it is interesting, and yes it is a lot of fun to read this theory, however it appears that Von Daniken has thrown the idea of "proper research" out the window, and instead relied upon so the so many speculations, and falsities which seem to make up this fringe group of UFO obsessives.

Do I believe in extraterrestrial life? Absolutely. Do I believe they have made contact with the human race throughout history? Possibly. Do I believe that anything in this book is true? No.

What Von Daniken is trying to do with 'Chariots of the Gods?' is to make the claim that humanity, within all it's diversity, and intelligence is little more than a product of alien intelligence (what's that say for us?); that all of the great civilizations which have existed through time (the Maya, the Egyptian, the Sumerian, etc.) were all involved in some kind of "alien worship"; and that all of the beautiful relics of the past (the statues at Easter Island, the lid of Paleque, the Pyramids, etc.) were little more than "landing instruments" for these extraterrestrial "gods".

Not to be taken seriously, but would make an excellent storyline to an number of sci-fi films out there today.

Rating:
Summary: An insult to humanity.
Review: Although a fun read, the basic logic of this book is that our ancestors were primatives who were incapable of achieving the kinds of accomplishments that exist, and therefore, the wonders of ancient civilizations must have been created with alien knowledge!

People 3,000 years ago were every bit as smart as we are, and had generations to study, to learn, and to build. Were there alien encounters? Maybe, but the facts presented in this book do nothing to make that case.

This book should be read with a critical eye. The archaeological experts may not always be right, but they are more open minded than Mr. Von Daniken in their search for answers and explanations.

Rating:
Summary: This book shouldn't be ridiculed.
Review: First of all, it's not science-fiction. Just because mr. Daniken's interpretations are different from the typical archeologist community, it doesn't mean they're bad. He is not preaching anything, just stating his theories based on facts. Yes, facts. He did make some mistakes, but he was perfectly able to correct them in other books later on. And his hypothesis didn't come out of thin air; the mythological "coincidences" he stated are worthy of mention and study, and he did travel all around the world to explore the sites. He did meet several people to interview, etc. This book hooked me to the mysteries of ancient history, and then I discovered other brilliant authors like Charles Berlitz, Robert Charroux and Graham Hancock. And no, mr. Daniken doesn't think a trivial thing is evidence of extraterrestrial visits; the hints he shows are more than interesting, and it's about time someone criticizes and rebutes traditional history. And I read that book for the first time at age 13 (I'm now 16), it opened my eyes to new concepts, it made me start asking more questions, and rebutting some major problems and contradictions of our history as told in classes. Why were we never told in school that Glozel's site existed (cf. Robert Charroux's Mysterious Unknown Book), which contradicts our modern thinking of when writing appeared? Why were we never told about Nazca's plains? Many people seemed to misunderstand Mr. Daniken's interpretation: he doesn't think the *drawings* are the landing sites, the large fields next to it are. Many said the idea of the drawings in the sand as landing strips was ludicrous; indeed it is, Mr. Daniken said they were SIGNS to these landing sites, just to clear out the confusion. Well, this is getting long, so I'll finish by saying this book is worthy of recognition.

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Summary: Planet Earth's Forbidden History
Review: I am an avid reader into the paranormal and I recently read Chariots of the Gods? by Erich Von Daniken. I am absolutely taken back by the theories that are presented by Mr. Daniken. Chariots of the Gods left me questioning the validity of our ancient past on earth.

Did space travelers really land on Earth in the past? Were the chariots spoken of in the Bible really space crafts? Are the Nazca lines really a landing port for visitors from outer space? There are just so many questions that need answering. Erich Von Daniken is on the right track with his book. Maybe we all need to start a new movement to search for the REAL answers that humanity needs to know. Thank you Mr. Daniken for the wonderful book.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely Interesting
Review: Although they seem a little far fetched, especially in this consumerist world where one will only believe that which is placed in front of him as "proof", I highly enjoy reading Erich Von Daniken's theories relating to the possible origins of human civilization. I mean think about it for a minute, what if the theories were in fact, true? Would you then believe?

Von Daniken's first book "Chariots of the Gods?" fascinated me when I read it in high school, not because of his writing style (which he really should have worked on), but rather the fact that it was putting out new ideas which were completely "taboo" at the time. Yes, the UFO craze was in full force with everyone, and their mother writing about "visitors" from "spaceships" doing everything from experimenting on humans to impregnating females, but this was the first time that someone created a theory that human civilization could have indeed been founded by these ancient "gods" in their "flying machines".

I'm not saying that any of it is true (nor his other works), but I get him credit for creating a theory that would go on to influence everyone from Graham Hancock to Robert Temple. Pick this up, and read with an open mind.

Rating:
Summary: INTERESTING BOOK, ALSO A DVD -- BUT ANYTHING BUT CREDIBLE
Review: Daniken has sold over 60 million copies of his 9 books worldwide. He is a man you can look up to, he rose from waiting tables in Switzerland to being a hack philosopher. But here is something for the teenagers going gaga over his work.

His basic premise was clever, that our ancestors were approached and affected by aliens, for the same reasons that X-Files has caught the fancy of our generation. Most of it however is unsupported and some of it plain screwball.

Basically his big breakthrough came when he found the critical piece of evidence to back up his theories -- the Palenque Stone in Mexico. He claimed that a large stone in the temple at Palenque had a carving of a creature sitting as if inside a rocket. In truth though, archaeologist and Mayan expert Dr Ian Graham explained his view of the figure on the Palenque Stone -- that there was no proof that this being sitting inside a "rocket" was a "spaceman." There weren't any oxygen tubes for examples, which would have been easy to sculpt by even "primitive people" such as Mayans. It was a standard Mayan face as is seen all around in the architecture of that period.

Several quotes from the bible such as "a celestial beam of light" etc were spun to reflect space travel (tractor beams of a space craft for e.g.) After several spells of ups and downs (for financial peccadiloes) Daniken's credibility was finally undermined after he was unable to substantiate claims made in another book, "Gold of the Gods," that he had photographed metal plaques containing the wisdom of extraterrestrials. In 1977, a BBC Horizon programme, The Case of the Ancient Astronauts, took a rational look at his theories and showed them to be pseudo science.

Several other such "wonders" cited by von Daniken as corroboration for his theories were similarly debunked. In the late 1970s he rapidly disappeared from the public arena, and in 1982 he could not find an English or American publisher for his 10th book. As though this were not enough, the guy has been arrested several times for petty crimes such as defrauding his hotelier boss in Zurich, to more elaborate ones such as being in unpaid bad debts of up to Euro 350,000.

While his books make for a fun read, primarily "Chariots of the Gods" as this is perhaps the only one that comes close to credibility, it is not a great idea to go about bandying ideas contained therein with a delusional passion usually associated with farts. (Believe me, an alien told me so)