Chariots of the Gods? Was God an astronaut

This was a marvelous read from my youth, just bought it for my teenage son. I also seem to recall the film being the B movie for something like the Railway Children of all bizarre pairings. It has some splendid theories that the establishment have pretty systematically debunked over the years but still plenty of food for thought.
Only three stars not so much for the content but for the quality of this edition. The photographs are appalling, more like photocopies of photocopies than the crystal clear pics from earlier editions. Surely the publisher could have managed better than this.

I read this book a very long time ago. It takes the view that some of the ancient adorations to the gods of the time were better seen from a long way above . And that these civilisations would not have been able to visualise these unless told of their significance by somebody who could see them, ie aliens. Probably not an unreasonable assumtion. Of course Von Daniken embellises these theories with lots of reasons why they came and what they possibly did to enhance mankind. A interesting read . If you have nothing better to do on a holiday.

Absolutely fantastic book that keeps you hooked from start to finish. I look forward to reading the other books in the series

ByA customer

Although in the years following it's initial release, some of Von Daniken's theories have been proven to be somewhat spurious, much of the material in this book is both fascinating and valid. (And let's be honest, if somebody makes a lot of claims, some are going to be proved wrong at one point or another...)Chariots of the Gods explores the possible relationship of mankind's history with beings from other worlds. Was Jesus an astronaut? You may find the concept a little (or extremely) wacky, but read this book, and by the end, you'll be wondering. Absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in offbeat ideas, and almost as important to anyone else who needs to broaden their ideas of the world a little. However strange those ideas may be...

Read this book in my teens and had forgotten about it. Now read it again and it is just as thought prevoking as before.

I have bought a few of his books on similar topics, some nice ideas and interesting concepts. There are some grey scale photos of sites which was interesting too, a nice read you can pick up and put down, i have enjoyed all of his books.

As said in the title, it's an interesting read. I managed to read this in about a week (on the way to and from work), and I must admit, I was engrossed in it until the very end. Yes, his theories are far fetched, which, for me, in the end, were his downfall, but still, it put a different spin on things that you assumed were fact because of past, and so-called 'proven' theories.
The only gripe I have, he dismisses people who say his theories are far fetched, but in relation to the space-craft he says that crashed on earth, he says one theory is too far fetched, therefore dismisses it, tad hypocritical. (For all you interested, the theory that Daniken dismissed was that when a fireball hurtled across the sky of the Siberian Taiga, one man said that this could have been a direct result from the Krakatoa volcano eruption. This is due to the fact that this eruption sent out a large concentration of radio waves into space and the 'aliens' mistakenly took the radio waves for a signal from space, so directed a laser beam, which was far too strong, at the earth and when the beam his the earth's atmosphere high above Siberia, it had turned into matter, crashing into the surface of the earth).
Anyway, happy reading. If you're interested in learning a little bit on theories and seeing things in a different way, opening up new possibilities, get this book.

Very outdated book. Written in 1989 predicting man walking on Mars within 12 years! 25 years later still not there!
This books opens your mind and gets you thinking about how things where built 3000BC.
All in it's a good book to read and gives you some unanswered questions but also bare in mind this is one persons thoughts on God being an astronaut/Alien.

This book justified what I'd been thinking since I was a child. For curious minds who are questioning life and archeological discoveries of unexplained, Von Daniken librates our mind to what probably was but got lost in history by conventional religious and then government tactics over the years of human history.