GODS OF AIR AND DARKNESS

by Richard E. Mooney ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 27, 1975

You've heard of Genesis and you've heard of Darwin's Theory of Evolution, but have you heard of Svante Arrhenius' Panspermia Hypothesis? Back in the 17th century old Arrhenius suggested that life began when seeds or spores were dropped on the earth from outer space. Mooney, who last year dropped Colony: Earth on our heads, offers an updated version: our ancestors came from outer space and not from the blue-green algae popular with scientists. Even if ""the evidence for many of the ideas we are seeking to elaborate is almost entirely missing,"" Mooney suggests that a nuclear war, circa 5000 B.C., would explain a lot of anomalies in our development. Like the dinosaurs: they were killed as part ""of an intelligently directed policy of destruction"" which wiped out the great, global civilization which existed perhaps as long as 60 million years ago. Since then-remnants, degenerates, clods. Like the Neanderthals and the Cro-Magnon men. They weren't primitive Homo sapiens--they were degenerate mutants, survivors of the great atomic holocaust. Similar theories of extraterrestrial origins have, of course, been put forward by others--by Von Daniken in Chariot of the Gods (1969) among others, and Mooney argues the fine points of our starry descent with them. But he has no use for the legends of Atlantis or Lemuria or Mu. He can explain all the missing links of archaeology and anthropology in one fell swoop. Even if the explanation isn't worth a poop.

Pub Date: Aug. 27, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Stein & Day

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1975

Categories: NONFICTION