Erich von Daniken RIP

[Mike!]

I have to say, reading this thread, maybe he was on to something, with him having generating many shared experiences as documented above, myself included. Credit where due and all.
Some 53 years ago or so, a friend from my neighborhood and I were both into his books. My Mom saw he was going to give a talk at the local university and talked my older brother into giving us a ride there so we could see him. Just our luck, he canceled at the last minute, so we just got a ride there and back.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Didn't van Damnitall do prison time for stealing from the Boy Scouts?

 

[Jack by the hedge]

Didn't van Damnitall do prison time for stealing from the Boy Scouts?

That sounds even more bizarre than one of his own stories. I never heard of that.

 

[Lukraak_Sisser]

A friend of mine had the 'gods from outer space' comics by Danicken. I really liked them, I thought it was a fun sci-fi fantasy story.
On par with things like Storm or, the Trigan Empire or other french/belgium scifi pulp comics of the 80's

It wasn't until the late 90's I learned he ment it as history.

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

As I said in the Notable Passings thread, the day before he died I'd debated with myself about binning the books I have of his.

Now I'm debating whether to try and sell them or to remove them from the book gene pool.

Use them for kindling.

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

Didn't van Damnitall do prison time for stealing from the Boy Scouts?

Not the boy scouts but he had one conviction for theft (against an employer when 19) and two for fraud (for a fraudulent jewelry sale in Egypt and for defrauding the hotel he worked for while writing CotG).

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Thanks. Been a fair few years since I bothered with him.

 

[Darat]

We probably wouldn't have had the likes of Stargate without him.

 

[ferd burfle]

We probably wouldn't have had the likes of Stargate without him.

Yeah, it’s not a big leap to imagine Roland Emmerich is a big fan of von Daniken

 

[8enotto]

Still, it's good to cull the world of bad science.
Eventually this aliens did it crap can fade out as a bad joke from a distant past.

It won't ever be totally erased but reduced exposure is a good start. Like Dianetics. If you WANT to believe it you can but no need to randomly expose future generations to it by browsing a used book store.

 

[Darat]

Still, it's good to cull the world of bad science.
Eventually this aliens did it crap can fade out as a bad joke from a distant past.

It won't ever be totally erased but reduced exposure is a good start. Like Dianetics. If you WANT to believe it you can but no need to randomly expose future generations to it by browsing a used book store.

I do have the Dianetics book, and I have read it (I was given it), it isn't as good as The World of Null-A of which is its origin.

ETA: Oh and some good news Dianetics Mk 2 aka scientology is fading away.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

I do have the Dianetics book, and I have read it (I was given it), it isn't as good as The World of Null-A of which is its origin.

ETA: Oh and some good news Dianetics Mk 2 aka scientology is fading away.

Many moons ago I was browsing a box of remaindered books in a book store and came upon two copies of DIANETICS and bought one of them for ten cents. A day or so later I realized I could do a public service and remove the other copy from circulation but wen I went back it was gone.

 

[8enotto]

I found a copy of Dianetics. I read it and was told by a friend that the book will not burn in a fire. A paperback book...

Religious fervor aside it burned just as well as the rest of a box full of water damaged paperbacks. It was from a swap meet stockpile badly stored too long.

Having read it it became clear if one was not a believer by chapter 3 it wasn't worth its weight in paper.

I am working on clearing out another storage with water damaged books to save someone from her hoarding. She used to be a secretary at UNAM and grabbed every book and paper she could on her exit. It was a truckload.
No rare manuscripts, mostly 30 years of the history related magazines they used to publish. 40 copies of each from what I seen.

 

[novaphile]

I do have the Dianetics book, and I have read it (I was given it), it isn't as good as The World of Null-A of which is its origin.

ETA: Oh and some good news Dianetics Mk 2 aka scientology is fading away.

Really?

I have that and a few others by Van Vogt...

I thought L Ron Hubbard had created Scientology in response to a bet at a fan conference.

Edited to add:

Colour me surprised!

Today I learned that AE Van Vogt was an early proponent of dianetics!

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

Thanks. Been a fair few years since I bothered with him.

I'd remembered about the hotel as it was a fairly large scandal, but I'd forgotten the jewelry one until I checked to make sure.

 

[Gulliver Foyle]

We probably wouldn't have had the likes of Stargate without him.

Most of his stuff (at least earlier on) was cribbed from Morning of the Magicians*, which includes a lot of the stuff adapted or Stargate.

*Which was my first brush with ancient aliens cryptids and other bs. The book was so pretentious it soured me on that stuff pretty quickly.

 

[EHocking]

It is rather ironic that without meaning to, he did a great service for promoting scepticism in young people.

 

[Pacal]

Really?

I have that and a few others by Van Vogt...

I thought L Ron Hubbard had created Scientology in response to a bet at a fan conference.

Edited to add:

Colour me surprised!

Today I learned that AE Van Vogt was an early proponent of dianetics!

One of the stories about the creation of Scientology is that Isaac Asimov and L. Ron Hubbard were having a conversation sometime in the late forties or early 1950s and Asimov mentioned how much money they were making from their Science Fiction, Hubbard then mentioned that the real way to earn lots of money was to found your own religion!

I have no idea if there is any truth to this story.

 

[Pacal]

Regarding Von Daniken. I actually give fairly high marks to Chariots of the Gods. Of course the book is utter rot in terms of science of any kind. But I have found it great fun to read. It is sort of the Plan Nine from Outer Space of archeology books. Utter garbage but so damn fun!! Of course this book inspired the Plan Nine from Outer Space of documentaries! (Actually more than one!!)

 

[Orphia Nay]

Beware of Recency Bias.

Just because van Daniken recently died, the availability of this information could be colouring people's recollections of their skeptical development, and ignoring the many other factors and influences that contributed.