Velikovsky's New Book Falls Short Of First Endeavor

Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky, who dropped a bombshell with the publication of "Worlds in Collision" in 1950, has just released his new book. "Ages in Chaos," a comparative dud as an arouser of controversy.

The jacket of the new volume includes quotes from Robert H. Pfeiffer, lecturer on Semitic Languages and curator of the Peabody Museum, who commented on the interesting and revolutionary nature of the book. Nevertheles, Pfeiffer stated yesterday. "I disagree completely with his conclusions."

Harlow Shapley, Paine Professor of Practical Astronomy, who had violently opposed "Worlds in Collision," calling it "rubbish and nonsense," said that Velikovsky's new book concerned religion and philosophy rather than astronomy or science. "It has nothing to do with anything we're interested in," he added.

Shapley had been accused of trying to stop publication of "Worlds in Collision" in 1950, a charge he denied vigorously at the time. Although the work immediately climbed to the top of non-fiction bestseller lists, the MacMillan Company suddenly discontinued distribution in the face of great controversy.

The earlier work theorized on the possibility of comets approaching the earth around 1500 B.C. and causing some of the Biblical miracles and various cataelysmic results.