Erich von Daniken, the Swiss author whose bestselling books about the extraterrestrial origins of ancient civilizations brought him fame among paranormal enthusiasts and scorn from the scientific community, has died. He was 90.
Erich von Däniken is dead, aged 90. Many of my generation will remember him as a proponent of the pseudoscientific 'ancient aliens' theory, just one of the many sensationalist supernatural topics that flooded culture in the 1970s. I've had this book since I was a little kid.
-- Richard Littler (@richardlittler.bsky.social) Jan 12, 2026 at 7:27 AM
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Coriolanus ...
In the 50s, as a kid, I devoured Frank Edwards (en.wikipedia.org(writer_and_broadcaster)#Books) " Stranger Than Science, etc., and other great, preposterous stuff that could withstand no real scrutiny (along with Mad and the usual horror magazines). The problem, of course, wasn't that the writers hadn't done any research; they just hadn't bothered to conduct any real research. Von Daniken demonstrated how playing on wishful thinking and ignorance could be monetized. He wasn't the first and he certainly won't be the last, but he was hugely influential and historians and anthropologists still answer questions generated from his grab bag of Great Whatisits.
Hi Zed
But Erich von Daniken was entertaining.
Decades ago I read the book and saw "Chariots of the Gods."
Soon after the US release of the film, a TV show called "In Search of...." aired to capitalize on the success of the movie.
Hosted by Leonard Nimoy, he used his rich voice to narrate each episode which explored UFOs, yetis, spontaneous combustion, etc.
This should be the entire 1974-75 series here: www.youtube.com
.
If I had time, I would re-watch the "In Search of...." TV series I posted, but that would mean less reading.
You may enjoy reading Immanuel Velikovsky's books.
I re-read this every few years amongst his other books on my shelf: images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com
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