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It is perhaps inevitable that books refuting the claims of von Daniken and his confreres shall be written in a more sober style, less amenable to those who take their information on such matters in easily consumed nuggets of sensation. So it is with this book, to a disappointing degree.
Curiously, like its major predecessor on the same theme, Some Trust In Chariots, it is an Australian production, its author being Lecturer in Pre-History at the University of Sydney. Its method of refutation is sound , emphasising the continuity of human history as revealed by the archeological evidence, and demonstrating the absence of any sudden 'surge' in technological development.
Most of the major ' mysteries' are dealt with - pyramids, Nazca, rock paintings, etc - and shown to evolve naturally from their cultural backgrounds. The treatment is broad, and the fallacies in the Danikenesque books are not refuted individually, (for one thing there's too many of them) leaving those who are all to reedy to miss the point free to say "Ah, yes! But what about XYZ?' , jumping on some point that is missed. Unlike Some Trust..., it is content just to 'put the record straight', rather than launch an attack on the dangers of the kind of sloppy thinking epitomised by the books it decries. Solid stuff then, and readable and interesting, but for a good fight-back I recommend Some Trust in Chariots, by E W Castle and B. Thiering (Baily Bros. & Swinfen, 1973)
- John Rimmer, from MUFOB New Series 3, Summer 1976
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