Excerpt
Chariots of the Gods
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1 - Are There Intelligent Beings in the Cosmos?
Chapter 2 - When Our Spaceship Landed on Earth ...
Chapter 3 - The Improbable World of the Unexplained
Chapter 4 - Was God an Astronaut?
Chapter 5 - Fiery Chariots from the Heavens
Chapter 6 - Ancient Imagination and Legends, or Ancient Facts?
Chapter 7 - Ancient Marvels or Space Travel Centers?
Chapter 8 - Easter Island—Land of the Bird Men
Chapter 9 - The Mysteries of South America and Other Oddities
Chapter 10 - The Earth’s Experience of Space
Chapter 11 - The Search for Direct Communication
Chapter 12 - Tomorrow
Bibliography
Index
Berkley Books by Erich von Däniken
CHARIOTS OF THE GODS
SIGNS OF THE GODS
PATHWAYS TO THE GODS
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
CHARIOTS OF THE GODS
A Berkley Book / published by arrangement with the author
PRINTING HISTORY
G. P. Putnam’s Sons edition / February 1970
G. P. Putnam / Berkley Medallion edition / April 1977
Berkley mass market edition / September 1980
Berkley trade paperback edition / January 1999
All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1999 by Erich von Däniken.
Copyright © 1968 by Econ-Verlag GMBH.
English translation © 1969 by Michael Heron and Souvenir Press. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by mimeograph or any other means, without permission. For information address: The Berkley Publishing Group, a member of Penguin Putnam Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.
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ISBN: 9781101076125
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Foreword
It was more than a quarter of a century ago—in February 1968—that my first book, Memories of the Future, was published by Econ, a German publisher. I had written the book two years earlier, but rejection letters from publishers fluttered on my desk with great regularity: “Sorry, not usable for our program ... ,” “We are very sorry ... ,” “We don’t want to go this way ... ,” “We recommend a more esoteric publisher....”
In later years I was often asked how this publishing miracle happened, to finally place this controversial work with a renowned textbook house. Today I can finally confess: with outside help and a little discretion.
I met Dr. Thomas von Randow, then the science editor of the weekly Die Zeit, in the summer of 1967. He leafed through the neatly typed manuscript, examined some of the peculiar pictures, and decided, “This is not for us. You have to publish it as a book.”
“And how does one find a publisher?”
Dr. von Randow puffed on his pipe, looked me straight in the eyes: “I do know a publisher. I could just give him a noncommittal call, if you wish.”
He picked up the telephone and asked to be connected with Dr. Erwin Barth von Wehrenalp, the chief of Econ Publishing. The blood rushed to my head. After all, I knew what Dr. von Randow could not know: My manuscript had already been turned down by Econ. Naturally, the ensuing conversation stuck in my gray brain cells.