Farewell Mr von Däniken and the importance of books
Possibly a slightly confused post this one, I learned today of the passing of Erich von Däniken an author, who if he is still known, is generally though of as one of the founding members for what now tends to be called alternative archaeology or Pseudoarchaeology depending on how cynical you are. He paved the way for people like Graham Hancock and a host of YouTube and podcast presenters currently marching around Egypt and Peru speculating on if ancient aliens or some other developed civilisation before the ice age built things we still can't really explain.
Whilst I don't subscribe to the vast majority of Mr von Däniken and Mr Hancocks theories, I do find it great fun to think about. I have read most of Graham’s books, listened to him on podcasts and watched both Netflix series he's done. I suspect very much that this on-going interest stems from reading von Däniken as a child. The books were my grandfathers and today I had a very distinct memory of pulling them off an old low bookcase in the box room of my grandparents house. (It was also accompanied by an Agatha Christie book - the title of which has changed over the years... I've never seen the original title on a book, the copy of my grandmothers had the ever so slightly less offensive version and its now called 'And then there were none' 1 ). Reading them when I should have been asleep and then asking to borrow them to read at home.
His books not only gave me an open mind on aliens, they also showed a curious preteen boy photos and descriptions of parts of the world previously unheard of. From Egypt to Peru and elsewhere, it made me curious about the world and that is something that hopefully I still have as a cynical, greying 40 something. (Not made it to Peru yet, but I'm working on it - bloody covid messed the last attempt).
Given my aversion to getting rid of books, I've just wondered around the billy bookcases of my house until I managed to find all 3 of them (shows memory is a tricky thing as I only remember 2). And perhaps I'll give one a re-read and remember not only my Grandparents but how many ideas it sparked in my head back in a cold box room in a big house a long time ago.
