Scientists Confront Velikovsky

by Donald Goldsmith

Book Overview

From his studies of historical records Immanuel Velikovsky has concluded that close encounters between the Earth and the planet Mars and Venus occurred at about 1500 B.C. and 775 B.C. He believes that these near collisions are responsible for many of the events described in Biblical texts and in other ancient writings. Although Velikovsky's views have not been generally accepted in the scientific community, public interest in them has continued for...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393009289
• ISBN13: 9780393009286
• Release Date: May 1979
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.8" x 7.3"

Customer Reviews

Layman's review

This book does exactly what the title indicates. It consists ofscientists criticizing Velikovsky on scientific terms. It is significant that they don't criticize so much on historical terms, which is the approach Velikovsky used. The longest chapter is by Carl Sagan, and he did include historical criticisms. This book was originally intended to include all speeches from a 1974 session of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. That would have included both Velikovsky himself and one sympathizer. But, not due to the editor, both of those chapters never made it into the book. Instead, another critic was added, and Isaac Asimov was invited to write a foreword, and Goldsmith himself wrote an introduction. So the title fits the final form. At the 1974 AAAS meeting Velikovsky was 77 years old and it was 24 years after the publication of "Worlds in Colision," which was the topic of the meeting.