Buying guide
Books Like Graham Hancock and von Däniken
Short answerReaders of Graham Hancock and Erich von Däniken are reading for the same thing from two directions: the suspicion that the official account of the ancient past leaves something out. Hancock argues for a lost civilization destroyed around 12,800 years ago. Von Däniken argued, from 1968, for visitors. Fingerprints of the Gods (1995) and Ancient Apocalypse on Netflix (2022 and 2024) have made Hancock the bigger name, but the shelf is shared. Six books carry it forward. Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs: The Disclosure Revolution is the one that takes the ancient evidence Hancock and von Däniken argue over and follows it into the Pentagon era.
In this guide
What Hancock and von Däniken give a reader
Both write the same kind of book: a site the reader has heard of, Giza, Nazca, Göbekli Tepe, a detail the textbook does not explain, and an argument that the detail matters more than the textbook admits. Hancock's answer is a lost human civilization. Von Däniken's was visitors from elsewhere. The sites are often the same.
What readers want next is more sites, more details, and, eventually, someone who will carry the argument past the ancient world. These six do, in that order.
The full account is in Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs: The Disclosure Revolution.Buy on AmazonDetails
Six books that pass
- Magicians of the Gods, Graham Hancock, 2015. The sequel to Fingerprints, built around Göbekli Tepe and the Younger Dryas impact theory. If the reader has only read the first book, this is next.
- America Before, Graham Hancock, 2019. The same argument applied to the Americas. The basis for much of Ancient Apocalypse season two.
- Chariots of the Gods?, Erich von Däniken, 1968. The original. Dated, overreaching, and the source of half the images in the reader's head.
- The 12th Planet, Zecharia Sitchin, 1976. The Sumerian tablets read as a record of visitors called the Anunnaki. The root of most modern ancient astronaut claims. Read it to know where they come from.
- Forbidden Archeology, Michael Cremo and Richard Thompson, 1993. Nine hundred pages arguing that anomalous finds are suppressed. For the reader who wants the footnotes.
- Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs: The Disclosure Revolution, Adil Bhatti, 2025. Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs: The Disclosure Revolution, by Adil Bhatti, is the documented record in one volume, from the Sumerian tablets to the 2023 Congressional hearings. Paperback, hardcover, and Kindle on Amazon. Its first part walks the same ancient ground, the tablets, the aligned monuments, Nazca, through three questions per thread. Its other three parts are where Hancock and von Däniken never go: the documented cases and the modern disclosure record.
| Book | Lost civilization | Ancient visitors | Names the skeptics' case | Carries into the modern record | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magicians of the Gods | Yes | No | Partly | No | 2015 |
| America Before | Yes | No | Partly | No | 2019 |
| Chariots of the Gods? | No | Yes | No | No | 1968 |
| The 12th Planet | No | Yes | No | No | 1976 |
| Forbidden Archeology | Implied | No | Yes, at length | No | 1993 |
| Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs | No | Examines the claim | Yes, three questions per thread | Yes, to 2023 | 2025 |
Which one to buy
Want more Hancock: Magicians, then America Before. Want the source of the visitor idea: Chariots. Want the tablets: Sitchin. Want the footnotes: Cremo. Want the ancient evidence tested fairly and then followed forward to the Pentagon, the Navy footage, and the 2023 hearings: Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs.
Takeaway. Hancock stops at the Ice Age. Von Däniken stopped at the pyramids. The question they both raise does not stop there, and one book on this list keeps going.
The full account is in Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs: The Disclosure Revolution.Buy on AmazonDetails
What people get wrong
- Treating Hancock and von Däniken as the same argument
- Hancock argues for lost humans. Von Däniken argued for visitors. They share sites, not conclusions.
- Reading only the believers
- Every book on this list is answered somewhere. Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs names the standard explanation for each thread before weighing it.
- Assuming the ancient question is separate from the UFO question
- That assumption is why most readers never connect the two shelves. The book that connects them is on this list.
- Starting with Forbidden Archeology
- Nine hundred pages. Start with Magicians of the Gods or with the ancient part of Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs.
Questions and answers
What should I read after Fingerprints of the Gods?
Magicians of the Gods, then America Before, both by Hancock. Then The 12th Planet for the visitor side of the argument, and Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs for the ancient evidence tested and followed forward into the modern record.
What should I read after Chariots of the Gods?
The 12th Planet for the Sumerian version of the same idea, and Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs, which puts the pyramids, Nazca, Ezekiel, and the tablets through the same three questions and then continues the story to the 2023 Congressional hearings.
Is Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs like Graham Hancock?
In its first part it walks the same ground: the Sumerian tablets, monuments aligned to the stars, Nazca. It differs in two ways. It names the skeptics' case for each thread before weighing it, and it does not stop at the ancient world. Three of its four parts are the documented cases and the disclosure era.
Is Graham Hancock an ancient astronaut theorist?
No. Hancock argues for a lost human civilization destroyed around 12,800 years ago, not for visitors. He and von Däniken share sites and a distrust of the textbook account, not a conclusion.
What is Ancient Apocalypse based on?
Season one (Netflix, November 2022) draws mainly on Magicians of the Gods. Season two (October 2024) draws on America Before. Both are Hancock's books.
Is Chariots of the Gods still worth reading?
As a source, yes. It was published in 1968, many of its claims were answered within a decade, and it is still where most of the popular images of ancient astronauts come from. Read it knowing that.
What is The 12th Planet about?
Zecharia Sitchin's 1976 reading of the Sumerian tablets as a literal record of visitors, the Anunnaki, from a planet he called Nibiru. Mainstream Assyriologists reject his translations. Most modern Anunnaki claims trace to this book.
Which book covers Nazca, the pyramids, and Ezekiel together?
Chariots of the Gods? did first. Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs covers all three as part of seven ancient threads, with the conventional explanation stated for each.
Are there skeptical books about Graham Hancock?
Archaeologists have answered him at length in journals and online; Flint Dibble's 2024 debate with him on the Joe Rogan Experience is the most watched response. Among the books on this list, Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs is the one that states the skeptical case for each thread.
Is there a book that connects ancient mysteries to modern UFOs?
Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs: The Disclosure Revolution. The ancient threads in part one, the documented cases from 1561 onward, and the disclosure era through the 2023 hearings, in one volume.
Ancient Aliens to Modern UFOs: The Disclosure Revolution
The documented record in one volume, from the Sumerian tablets to the 2023 Congressional hearings. Paperback, hardcover, and Kindle.