Amazon.com description: Product Description: "In no uncertain terms this work blows apart the Sun centered, Earth a sphere rotating, gravity based heliocentric theory." -Aplanetruth

Born in 1874, scientific inquirer Gerrard Hickson in 1922 published the lengthily titled book:

"Kings Dethroned: A History of the Evolution of Astronomy from the Time of the Roman Empire Up to the Present Day; Showing it to be an Amazing Series of Blunders Founded Upon an Error Made in the Second Century B.C."

In this book Hickson sets out in an allegedly irrefutable manner how throughout history astronomer after astronomer has perpetuated an error committed in the Second Century by using an incorrect method of measuring the distance from Earth to Sun, Moon and planets and how throughout history this has resulted in the necessity of coming up with "preposterous" theories, including heliocentricity, to account for the original erroneous theory.

According to a press release by Hicksonia Publishing Co., Hickson's book "contains one of the most momentous messages ever condensed into 112 pages."

According to the Boston Globe in an 1989 article, "Gerrard Hickson was nothing if not confident. His 1922 book, 'Kings Dethroned,' promised to show that the history of astronomy was 'an amazing series of blunders founded on an error made in the 2d Century B.C.' It debunked Copernicus, ridiculed Charles Darwin and showed Albert Einstein to be a fool."

Albert Ingalls, a former editor of Scientific American who donated the book to MIT in 1940, said the book could be "most charitably designated as unorthodox hypotheses in science."

Hickson writes:

"In the year 1907 the author made a remarkable discovery which convinced him that the sun was very much nearer to the earth than was generally supposed.

"The fact he had discovered was demonstrated beyond all doubt, so that he was compelled to believe that— however improbable it might seem— astronomers had made a mistake when they estimated the distance of the sun to be ninety-three millions of miles.

"He then proceeded to examine the means by which the sun’s distance had been computed, and found an astounding error in the “ Diurnal Method of Measurement by Parallax,” which had been invented by Dr. Hailey in the early part of the 19th century, and which was used by Sir David Gill in measuring the distance to the planet Mars in 1877 ; from which he deduced his solar parallax of 8.80.

"Seeing that Sir Norman Lockyer had said that the distance to and the dimensions of everything in the firmament except the moon depends upon Sir David Gill’s measurement to Mars, the author set himself the tremendous task of proving the error, tracing its consequences up to the present day, and also tracing it backwards to the source from which it sprang.

"The result of that research is a most illuminating history of the evolution of astronomy from the time of the Roman Empire up to April 1922 ; which is now placed in the hands of the people in 'Kings Dethroned.'

Hickson, founder of the Hicksonian Society, was a lithographer by trade and also a successful "weather prophet" who in 1909 had published a pamphlet "The Winds that Blow," describing the author's theory of the causes of wind ---Hickson's study of the wind is what led to his discovery of the error in the alleged distance of the sun. But he didn't limit his inquiry to the field of wind and astronomy---in 1921 he was also arrested as an unlicensed investigator of Jack the Ripper crimes.