Customer Reviews

The Beasts that Hide from Man: Seeking the World's Last Undiscovered Animals

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Cyptozooly is the study of hidden animals-- those lifeforms that were so unseen as to often be thought of as mythical creatures. In The Beasts That Hide From Man: Seeking The World's Last Undiscovered Animals, Karl P.N. Shuker (Scientific Fellow, Zoological Society of London) draws upon his many years of experience and expertise in zoology, cryptozoology, animal mythology, and wildlife anomalies to provide his readers with amazingly accessible and "reader friendly" accounts of such diverse fauna as the "dobhar-chu" (Ireland's murders master otter); Mongolia's "death worm" (which is reported to electrocute its victims); Ethiopia's blood-drinking "death bird"; the "tzuchinoko (a bizarre Japanese snake); as well as sea serpents, hairy reptiles, furry fish, living unicorns, and a great deal more. Strongly recommended to the attention of zoology students as well as non-specialist general readers with an interest in wildlife and animal-related mythos, The Beasts That Hide From Man is unique and inherently fascinating reading from cover to cover!

Karl Shuker continues to stake a claim as the preeminent popular writer in the field of cryptozoology, the science dealing with animals whose existence has not been formally accepted. As Shuker demonstrates with skill, cryptozoology includes more than Nessie, Bigfoot and the Abominable Snowman; he does an excellent job at introducing such exotic rumored creatures as the Mongolian Death Worm and a Japanese horned snake. Accounts of such beasts are not accepted uncritically; rather, following in the footsteps of the father of cryptozoology, Bernard Heuvelmans, Shuker presents the evidence or lack thereof objectively, before drawing reasonable conclusions that sometimes debunk, rather than endorse the legend. An excellent introduction for newcomers to this field and a good source of new information for veterans.

Would you like a unique experience of the kind only 18th century explorers could imagine,seeking new,lost,and extinct animal species?
Then hop aboard the crypto-safari that will be the one of a kind reading experince that can only be found within the pages of Dr.Karl P.N.Shuker's books.
For the pioneering spirit of 18th century discovery where there were still many white areas on maps and hidden or undiscovered (i.e.undescribed by zoology)animal species is to be found within his latest tome The Beasts That Hide From Man.
As a qualified Ph.D.zoologist,Karl Shuker is himself a rare enigma found wihin a young discipline of zoology founded by Bernard Heuvelmans,himself a very capable zoologist in the late 1950's.
Unfortunately,cryptozoology has constantly come under attack from it's critics as any new discipline or science will.But cryptozoology has drawn constant fire because of some of it's practitioners association with occult,new age,and outlandish methodologies,field work,and sloppy conclusions!
This is certainly not the case with Dr.Shuker,with his solid foundation in zoology,mastery of several foreign languages,and experience of having written several excellent similar themed books,he is more than qualified to take the reader to the limits of human knowledge and back!
Check out the blood drinking death birds of Ethiopia if you dare!Have you ever heard of a jumping snake?It's case file is in this book!I could go on,but I think you get the picture.
And speaking of pictures,the cover has an illustration of a putative "death worm."The rest of the book is illustrated with a variety of beautiful illustrations including pre-20th/21st century engravings!
Finally,the book also contains a useful bibliography,an index of wildlife names,and the best of all,a supplement to Dr Bernard Heuvelman's 1986 "Annotated Checklist of Apparently Unknown Animals With Which Cryptozoology Is Concerned."
All in all,Karl Shuker's books tend to get progressively better.For those in want of high adventure of the real flesh and blood Indiana Jones kind,a genuine curiosity of some "lost world" animals which perhaps may still exist,or just want a good read,then surely The Beasts That Hide From Man will not disappoint!

Great book. Good and easy to read. Excellent info on Mysterious Beasts around the world. Here you find info on some lesser known animals of Cryptozoology and some of the popular animals that are out there. Such as the Mongolia's Deathworm to the Crypto Bats and the Brazilian Black Panthers. Also a great feature of this book is the Supplemant and updated Cryptozoological Checklist of Animals from Dr. Bernard Heuvelmans. " The GodFather of Cryptozoology"
DR. Karl Shuker is a great writer and person on the subject of Cryptozoology. He is very informative and his view's on this subject are straight forward and to the point.
If you enjoyed his other books which are also great or just a fan or cryptozoology you'll love this book. Can't wait for his next one.

Author Karl P.N. Shuker certainly is more liberal than I in assessing the legitimacy of strange animal sightings, myths, and legends. However, he is also much more conservative than others claiming Bigfoot exists behind every door!

Shuker, in his book The Beasts That Hide from Man: Seeking the World's Last Undiscovered Animals, tries to ferret out the truth when it comes to purported sightings or knowledge of mysterious beasts, such as the Mongolia Death Worm. From giant birds to sea serpents, he works to uncover connections between what IS known with what MAY be. For example, he reviewed what is known about giant birds, and discussed theories as to why a few very large eggs have been uncovered in Australia. Clearly he takes his investigations seriously.

It is very easy to be critical of this search for ..."the World's Last Undiscovered Animals." I have stuffed in my copy a review of a book discussing the "rediscovery" of cougars in Michigan and an article on cougars in Illinois (see pages 276-277 in The Beasts That Hide from Man), and articles about scientists discovering a new species of monkey in Africa, the highland mangabey, and a new rodent discovered in the Lao People's Democratic Republic (25 cm long... and found in a food market). There are animals waiting to be discovered!

I wish Karl P.N. Shuker was more critical in his approach to crytozoology. However, as I said above, he is more critical, and demanding of evidence, than most cryptozoologists. As far as this book, a number of the artist renditions were of poor quality, and the book would have been well served with Shuker partnering with an artist to develop new sketches. For these reasons, I give this book 3 out of 5 stars.

I look forward to using examples from this book to get budding naturalists to observe well, report accurately, and think critically. And if you've seen ANYTHING out of the ordinary, I suspect Karl P.N. Shuker would like to know.

What can you say about a book that includes chapters on "hairy reptiles;" "terror birds;" "living unicorns;" "crypto-bats;" and "furry fish"? Well, actually, you can say a lot and all of it good! From the examples I selected above, you might think that the book is somewhat of a sensationalized title. But that's far from being true. Karl Shuker's The Beasts That Hide From Man: Seeking the World's Last Undiscovered Animals, is a noteworthy and very welcome addition to the world of monster hunting and the creatures that continue to live alongside us in relative secrecy and obscurity. A scientific fellow of the Zoological Society of London, Shuker is the author of numerous books on wildlife oddities and unknown animals and his latest book never disappoints. For me, the most fascinating sections were those on (a) the Mongolian Death Worm and (b) man-eating trees and "vampire plants." The former is a bizarre worm-like creature that reputedly spits acid-like venom at its victims (and if that isn't enough it also - allegedly - has the power to electrocute them!); while the latter have been reported on a surprisingly regular basis from the darkest corners of the globe. Sounding like something conjured out of the imagination of horror writer H. P. Lovecraft and not unlike the famous Venus Flytrap plant, these critters (can a plant be considered a critter?) are much bigger and badder than their fly catching cousins and have their sights set on far tastier morsels - us! Shuker's book is a first-class look at some of the real and sometimes monstrous oddities that live among us.

Contains a brief review of more recently reported phenomenon. Not that the events themselves are necessarily recent, but since the early 1990's many reports from countries in the Soviet Block are coming to life.

The author extensively researched the book and you will find new creatures to be amazed by. Also included is the most extensive review I have seen on tatzelwurms.

Grab a glass of iced tea and prepare to stay totally absorbed with beast of the air, water, land and beneath the earth!

This book is great for anyone who is into CryptoZoology, and I mean people who are HARDCORE into it, and don't want to hear about the same old bigfoot, Aliens, and Chupacobra stories, I have to say every single one of the creatures in this book I have never heard of, it is truly great. Only problem is the author gets way into things, and explains things you really dont care about, like the mongolian deathworm section, he goes on comparing it to different lizards. Other than that, it is a great buy, and I would suggest it for anyone who is into the paranormal

A 4...out of 5.

I have quite the cryptozoological library and, moreover, a fair selection of Dr. Shuker's books. I was terribly, bitterly disappointed in this entry. I should have known something was afoot when, scanning the list of original sources, I found papers and columns from twelve-year-old magazines. In this book, Dr. Shuker does not review meaningful mysteries with substantive backing by trustworthy people, but (mostly) ridiculous reports of man-eating trees and such from uneducated Neolithic tribesmen whose "references" often amount to six generations' worth of heard-it-from-my-father. Do not waste your money on this compendium of the ridiculous from an otherwise laudable and trustworthy scientist who, for some reason (the money?), cobbled together his weakest material and slapped on a hastily sketched cover.

i received this highly anticipated book last week and devoured it in this span of time. it is an above average cryptozoology book; i was a bit disappointed with the choice of cryptids reviewed in this book and i'm not talking about nessie or bigfoot--these crytids are nonsense anyway. for example, the opening chapter about the super otter of ireland is not even critically examined; he takes the anecdotal evidence based on a tombstone as fact. also, the chapter on man-eating trees? he presents this as mythology, as well as some other cryptids such as the unicorn or dragon. if i wanted a fairy tale book, i would have read one, but i expected more from dr. shuker. all in all, worth 17 bucks, but not much more.