Erich von Däniken

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. 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).… (més)