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The construction of the Great Pyramid of Cheops was the result of two hundred years of experiments in the art. There is even one example of a pyramid built (very early) with sides a bit too steep. It literally fell down, and the slope of another one then in the process of being built was abruptly changed to accommodate the lesson learned. It is called the Bent Pyramid. And why have the later pyramids lasted so long? Because the pyramidal shape is the most stable one for any structure. It is, in fact, the form that a structure takes when it falls down! In other words, having tumbled into a pyramid-shaped mass, it cannot collapse much further. Experience, care, dedication, skill, and hard work put the Great Pyramid where it is, not some super-beings from the stars.

We would do well to look into some of the finer points—rather than just the overall theory—asserted by von Daniken in his fascination with such wonders. It is a standard technique of miracle-mongers to present a general and faulty theory, begging for a chance to shore it up. This is done by supplying figures as fast, and as forcefully as possible. The author of Chariots of the Gods? says that the Great Pyramid is fitted together "to the nearest thousandth of an inch." Sure. One look at the structure shows that it is literally a heap of roughly squared rocks. Variations of many inches occur on almost every block. Mind you, we would be wrong to expect anything else, and it does not detract from the skill and care of the builders to note this fact. The "core" of the pyramid was a support only. Gravity held it in place. It was the superb facing—now torn away—that polished the structure into a fine work of art. But "thousandths of an inch"? The lengths of the four sides of the Great Pyramid vary by as much as eight inches!

Even von Daniken's calculations are sloppy. He claims that the height of the Great Pyramid multiplied by one billion equals the distance to the sun. First of all, the distance of the earth from the sun varies greatly during the year. The mean distance is 92,900,000 miles. The height of the Great Pyramid is 480.93 feet, or .09109 miles. Given this, simple arithmetic shows that the pyramid is a shade under ten feet too short! Or did the earth move away a bit? And this is the structure that was fitted together to "thousandths of an inch"?

I could go on quoting such errors and hyperbole for many pages, but we have other best-selling fantasies by the same author to deal with.

In The Gold of the Gods, von Daniken abandons all pretense at truth and creates one of the most shameful and juvenile books ever to masquerade as fact. It is shocking to see it (and Chariots of the Gods?) classified in local libraries under 913.031—Archaeology! Of course, there is no Dewey classification for Pseudoscience, or for Outright Lies. Even the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., lists the Castaneda books under "Yaqui History" rather than Fantasy. But then, that's Washington.

Whereas in his earlier book von Daniken is at worst revealed as rather dense, naive, and careless, The Gold of the Gods gives us a totally different view of the man. In this book he tells of a visit to Ecuador in South America, where he was taken by one Juan Moricz into the legendary Caves of Gold. These caves have been spoken of by Ecuadorians for generations, though they never quite manage to take visitors into them, nor can they point out exactly where the entrances are. On one of my first trips to that country in the early 1960s, I visited the marvelous gold museum in Guayaquil, where I was accosted by an American who was there to find the caves. When I expressed doubt that they existed, he suddenly became angry and turned to an examination of the artifacts, as if to escape this unwelcome opinion. Later, speaking with the curator's assistant, I learned that the museum was plagued with gringos who insisted that the fabulous wealth of the Incas lay within these mysterious caverns, somewhere nearby, and would brook