Features
- Cover Type: Hard Cover with 224 pages
- Published by: Thomas Dunne Books
- Edition: 1st Edition January 24, 2000
- Written in: English
- ISBN 10 Number: 0312207034
- ISBN 13 Number: 978-0312207038
-
Book Dimensions:
11.2 x 9 x 1 inches
- Weighs: 2.6 pounds
From Publishers Weekly
There is no Cryptozoological Society of London, nor are there (as far as science knows) unicorns, kobolds, sphinxes, werewolves, batlike Japanese demons or man-eating horses, which the society purports to study. Since there isn't, and aren't, Levy and his band of photographers, artists and library researchers have produced a profusely illustrated coffee-table hoax, one that doubles as a multicultural reference book about mythical creatures. Levy and friends' achievement amounts to great fun, full of documents, detailed sketches and inventive reports of legendary fauna. Take, for example, the basilisk (Ophidiogallus basiliscus), whose mere glance kills all animals except weasels: "Everyone who observed the basilisk perished, so its appearance has always been in dispute." Men wearing suits made of mirrors freed Europe of the beasts in the 16th century, we're told, and its present-day range is confined to the Near East and Africa. Reproduced field notes show how the society teamed up with the "Balkan Werewolf Committee" to find Lyc-V, the HIV-like retrovirus that causes lycanthropy; a two-page article from Science Today explains how both HIV and Lyc-V work. The authors devote a few pages to amazing, but actual, animals, such as the giant squid, treating them just as they treat leprechauns, and many more pages to arguably more legitimate cryptozoological quarry, such as Bigfoot and living dinosaurs. Present and future zoology buffs may learn plenty of real science from the farfetched essays: folklore fans will learn even more. The volume's appeal may well prove wider still: think of this as the illustrated text from Harry Potter's biology class. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Reader ReviewsI think a lot of people are getting steamed about this book. It is not a book on cryptozoology, but rather folklore, set up the same way as The Flight of Dragons, another very good book. It contains a ton of excellant info, on both well known and lesser known creatures, and has some excellant information. However, I could not give it a 5, since it has no real disclaimer that it is not a real crypto book. However, I think most people who have read more than a few articles on cryptos will realize right away that the book is not to be taken as serious research. My favorite sections were probably the fake journal entries, as they gave the most info, while I thought many of the personal logs got kinda of boring. So, to sum it up, If you like fantasy, mythology, ect., you will probably like this book, but if you want a serious indepth discussion on cryptos, look elsewhere, because it only skims over them.
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