Skepticfiles.org has a nice deconstruction of Eric Von Daniken’s Chariots of the Gods. Although this piece of refutation is about 30 years old, it is recommended if only to caution us–including me–from falling prey to frauds.

Was God an ancient astronaut? Do centuries-old legends of gods and heroes tell of space travelers who came to earth from distant parts of the Cosmos? Are some of the ruins of antiquity remnants of great airfields. the favored landing sites of extraterrestrial craft?

“Yes!,” writes Erich Von Daniken in his runaway bestselling book, “Chariots of the Gods?” [...]

It has been over twenty-seven years since “flying saucers” burst into the public’s awareness, and UFOs still continue to generate excitement and controversy. Sensational hypotheses such as these generate such levels of interest that they tend to become self-sustaining, quite apart from the question of whether they are true. [...]

Von Daniken serves up a “basic rocket equation,” derived by one Professor Ackeret, purporting to show how time slows down for space travelers who zip along at velocities near the speed of light. This is an important consequence of Einstein’s theory of relativity. Yet a quick glance at this “rocket equation” shows that it isn’t an equation at all! Every equation is a mathematical statement of the equality of two quantities: this equals that. But his “equation” contains no equal sign, and hence it cannot be a real equation; it must be intended as window dressing, since it serves no legitimate mathematical purpose. Yet that is not the only absurdity in this non-equation. A term in the denominator is multiplied by a very strange constant: ONE! Did Professor Ackeret think that multiplication by one was a necessary step in his calculations? Von Daniken himself must have known better, as even schoolchildren learn that any number times one equals itself!

Littered with amazing photographs and commentary on the “inner significance” of these archeological pictures, this book had me awed. That was many years ago. I never gave it further thought but I was curious when I glanced at Erich von Daniken’s “Chariots of the Gods?”: SCIENCE OR CHARLATANISM? on a casual visit to Skepticfiles.org. I’ve read my share of UFO/Aliens-genre of books in my adolescence but that was purely for fun, in a half-serious frame of mind. My uncle, himself a mathematician of a high order recommended this book so I kind of regarded it with a feeling of “his theories might be credible.” The deconstruction therefore shook me with surprise.

Daniken’s book was a phenomenal success–it still is “in its forty-fourth printing, with over four million copies currently in print”–and past suckers who fell for his trap must be wailing. I am. Of course, there are loyal readers nay, followers of Daniken’s mumbo jumbo. As this piece says,

Once a liar, however, does not infallibly prove him always a liar. However much this charlatanism may hurt one’s credibility, it never destroys it completely. (The followers of famous psychics are never shaken when their leader is caught cheating: they only cheat on bad days!)

Read the complete thing.

PS: I still have my copy of the book. Anyone interested? I’ll give it for free.