Posted by Gunnar on March 26, 1999 at 22:17:36:
In Reply to: Worlds in Collision posted by Bob on March 26, 1999 at 16:12:02:
: Worlds In Collision, if I remember correctly, was by Eric Von Daniken (?), I am not sure since it's been about fifteen years since I read it. I remember how fascinating it was at the time. It was an attempted documentory from legends, ancient writings, the Bible, etc. to support the author's theory that some of earth's catastrophic or phenomenal events were the result of near collisions with Venus. These included the deluge of Noah's day, some of the events related to the Exodus, geological evidence of the earth's magnetic poles changing polarity, and much more (memory fails me). His theory was that the object we now call Venus was ejected from Jupiter and approached earth as a great comet and that several close encounters with earth and Mars finally adjusted its orbit to where it is today. It was interesting then, but looking back now, I think he interpreted evidence, legends, etc. to suit his pre-drawn conclusion. but if you are interested in Comets and such, I would still recommend it. Finding it might be a problem.
Pete is right: Velikovski wrote 'Worlds in Collision.' I disagree with him about it being a great book, however. It is one of the silliest psuedo-scientific books I know of. The late Isaac Asimov clearly showed just how silly it is in his short essay 'Worlds in Confusion,' which can be found in his collection of essays titled 'The Stars in their Courses.' Carl Sagan and other scientists also wrote devastating critiques of that book. Some even tried to suppress the book, which was, however, an exceedingly stupid thing for them to have done, resulting in Velikovski attaining undeserved credibility as martyr defending an unpopular truth. An even sillier book was Donald Patton's book, 'The Biblical Flood and the Ice Epoch,' which claimed to show scientifically that Noah's Flood was a real historical event caused by a similar near collision between our planet and either Mercury or Mars and an accompanying icy, comet-like satellite that actually did hit the earth, causing Noah's Flood, the most recent ice age and other catastrophes.