This was the book published by Erich von Däniken in 1968, and yep, it became a major best seller. Give me a path to a more scientifically literate world in which this doesn't happen.
I think this writer does a good job weaving together personal narrative and broader events of the time.https://fontfolly.net/2016/02/17/chariots-of-the-who-part-two/
'So, fast forward to 1973…
'My dad had been promoted and we had moved back to the town where my grandparents lived, becoming members of the Southern Baptist Church there, again. A documentary based on Chariots of the Gods had been dubbed into English with Rod Serling narrating and was released as a theatrical film. Not realizing that In Search of Ancient Astronauts was from the same book I had already been skeptical of, and since a friend wanted to go see it in the little theatre in town, I went. Based on conversations at school the next week, at least half the kids in town saw it during the three days it was playing [emphasis added] [narrator was age 13 and in middle school].
'A quick digression: the movie theatre in that small town played all movies on a very strict schedule: one movie would come to town and play Monday through Wednesday. Another movie would play Thursday through Sunday. No matter how sold out a movie was, it would not be held over. And because we were such a small town, there was only one movie distributor that would send movies our way, and they gave the theatre a limited set of choices. . . '
Just to show some people like chocolate and some vanilla, I think the guy's a good writer! Plus, he has this whole foreign name going for him, but still eminently pronounceable.. . . I set the thing aside & never went back. . .
People will always love those sorts of wild theories.
And look how he (and/or the publisher) sells it!
.
.
"DID ASTRONAUTS VISIT THE EARTH 40,000 YEARS AGO?
"IS THERE EVIDENCE OF A PREHISTORIC AIRFIELD IN THE ANDES?"
People are weird and wonderful!. . I've known engineers who believed the Virgin Mary was making appearances around the world. .
People are weird and wonderful!For example, I'd love to find someone who's active in an atheist group, but who'd also argue with great passion that there really are 'Big Foot' living in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. I haven't found that one yet
It is not scientific illiteracy which makes books like this popular...This was the book published by Erich von Däniken in 1968, and yep, it became a major best seller. Give me a path to a more scientifically literate world in which this doesn't happen.
But it looks like ISO did not start till April 1977.Not to mention the In Search Of endorsement. Which is actually not all that wacked-out, given the time period. I remember adults in the 1970s describing that show as "educational". . .
I think I like where you’re going. Please elaborate some more.It is not scientific illiteracy which makes books like this popular...