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Saturday, January 14, 2017

Christina Hollis: Things That Go Bump In The Night?

The eye of a living dinosaur?
I love reading, but I don’t have much time to sit and concentrate. Things changed over the holiday season, as my daughter gave me a book for Christmas which kept me glued to its pages. Although it wasn’t my normal sort of reading matter I managed to finish it in only a few days days. That was despite needing to jump up at regular intervals to walk the dog, feed the poultry and visit the bees, not to mention running the house! 

The book was about the study of mysterious creatures (Cryptozoology), and I’d never thought of buying for myself but it was an absolute winner. Short, illustrated and exciting, Cryptozoologicon Vol I, by John Conway, C.M. Kosemen and Darren Naish, turned out to be a great present.

Scientist Dr Darren Naish and his fellow contributors set out to shine a light on what they call the sloppy and wishful thinking that brings the study of mysterious beasts into disrepute. Cryptozoologicon gives details of what is known about twenty-eight shadowy beings such as BigFoot.  The available sightings and reports are examined in the light of the authors’ idea that;

"...cryptozoology should be seen as a mixture of sociology, psychology and ethnology as well as zoology." 

Go down to the woods today—you're sure of a big surprise...
If you're fascinated by why legends are born and develop, and how humans always try to explain away the unusual, this is the book for you. Each of the weird and wonderful creatures is examined in detail, and illustrated.  The Chupacabra in particular stopped me going out into woods after dark for a night or two, I can tell you!

Like all the best books, Cryptozoologicon produces nuggets of fascinating (and genuine) information where you least expect it. If you've ever wondered how bats evolved or why there aren't any large, water dwelling marsupials, this book offers some suggestions.

This was a new reading experience for me, and it’s encouraged me to look beyond my usual genres in the new year.


Have you made any reading resolutions for 2017?

2 comments:

dstoutholcomb said...

I just keep reading

denise

Christina Hollis said...

That's a perfect resolution, especially if the weather is as miserable where you are as it is here! Don't forget you were my prizewinner here last month, Denise. If you'd like to claim your ebook, please let me know your email address. I'm at christinahollis (at) hotmail (dot) co (dot) uk—just replace the (at) with @ and each dot with .