Customer Reviews

The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

No one wants to believe in monsters. We just do. On an almost instinctive level. We have an enduring fascination with them right into the 21st century. Every person on earth knows what a monster is. Sometimes monsters are people. Sometimes monsters are animals. Mostly monsters are imagination. But every once in while, monsters are monsters.

Like Ghosts, the belief in monstrous entities has remained constant since the dawn of history in all parts of the world. Each year, unsuspecting people with no reason to fabricate tall-tales report seeing (and sometimes being injured by) grotesque looking monsters. We hear about the occasional Bigfoot or lake-monster, but we rarely hear much about the weirder stuff like: lizardmen and goatmen.

John Keel once again uses his casual flare to report on disturbing patterns behind monster sightings. He unearths some very obscure and terrifying monsters accounts in this book. Although presented in a somewhat lighthearted manner, the research is chilling and not something I would recommend before bedtime.

This book is full of information on any type of creature that you can imagine. It grabbed my attention from page one and I couldn't put it down. If you've ever wondered what it is like to encounter bigfoot or be abducted by aliens this book explains it all, from Mothman to the Loch Ness Monster. I've been reading books on the unknown for years and the only one that could grab my attention and still be so informative is this one. If you're interested in mosters or a sci-fi buff you'll love this book!

I own a copy of every book written by Mr.Keel and this is my favorite.There is NO book comparable with this one when it comes to strange creatures.BUY IT.

If you're looking for out-of-this-world theories, shambling writing, and freakishly inept research, by all means, buy this book. However, if it's a truly objective guide to mysterious beings you want, you'd be better off turning to something like 'Cryptozoology A to Z."

John A. Keel (who's this mysterious 'we' he keeps talking about?) claims in this book to be objective, presenting only the facts of the cases concerned so that the readers may draw their own conclusions. He then proceeds to outline his explanation for many of the occurrences, which, by the way, has something to do with an inter-dimensional 'something' using feeble human minds to mess with our lives and our planet. His style of writing seems to indicate that he believes that the phenomena and creatures mentioned don't really exist at all, and are all a part of the massive hoax being portrayed by something not of this Earth.

Not only is his account subjective, it is patchy and uncoordinated, jumping from topic to topic with no apparent connections between them. It's as if he's written this book just to show off the sheer amount of stuff he knows as it comes to mind, without really attempting to organize it logically. In fact, his writing (which is somewhat amateurish and downright insulting at times) gives the impression that all he really wants to talk about is the Mothman of West Virginia, and he has to include these other phenomena just to justify the book's existence. Many of the facts not directly concerning the chornicled phenomena are inaccurate, including some of the biblical references, the dates, and the fact that he repeatedly asserts that the Mesozoic period ended a mere 9 million years ago...it was 65 millions years, sir. I'm sorry to disillusion you.

In fact, the only saving grace of this book that I can detect is the sheer numbers of cases he records. His theories may be confusing and more than a little off-the-wall, but at least he masses the 'evidence' to 'support' them. It's a good resource to check when looking for accounts of the appearance of the phenomena, and I would recommend for that reason and that reason only.

Keel, why don't you stick to the Mothman, huh?

Rating:A-
Alright lets get this out of the way now, granted I read this book for the first time when I was like 16 years old, but it was definitely not as bad as some of these reviewers place and grade it. This is honestly one of my favorite books to refer to and read and even quote for research when writing papers on the subjects of aliens, UFO's, The Mothman, The Jersey Devil, The Loch Ness Monster, to the Abominable Snowman, and Bigfoot. It is an interesting read that keeps you flipping the pages wondering what is going to be wrote about next, and each subject is very in depth with accounts of sightings, descriptions, and locations of where events have occured. Yes as one reviewer said the subjects do jump back in forth but reading the whole book beginning to end, is truly what is necessary to truly appreciate this book. When I first read this book I had never heard of some of the creatures which are talked about in here, namely the Jersey Devil, and The Mothman; however each subject (as I stated before) has accurate accounts of events that took place and even lists the areas where they took place. If you don't believe in these things, so be it, but don't go blatantly blasting a book and writing two sentences like "this book sucks, its bad", when the people that said it probably didn't even put in the time to read the whole thing. Anyway though, check it out if you like paranormal stuff, and can open your tunnel vision for a second,; I mean come on here people, I read this book for the first time in 1994 and again two years ago, and it still had me hooked from begining to end. Highly recommended reading, that expands your mind to other possibilities, and supports them to boot. Thank's for your time, and trust me , give this book a chance, it's really not as bad as these reviewers say.

This is a great book for students of the Unknown. The prose moves along quickly, and so digesting Keel's thesis may be a leap of faith for some. Basically, UFOs are not from another planet. They are closer to psychic energy, and therefore truly Unknown, and probably Unknowable to the mortal human mind. This idea came through data gathered in decades of interviews with contactees, and his own strange experiences that followed. His most famous book, The Mothman Prophecies, builds this thesis slowly, and the sheer volume of data makes it more convincing. If you are already open to Keel's ideas, The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings is great, and shows the connections between some manifestations of bigfoot, phantom submarines, poltergeists, UFOs, and more. The title is not very accurate in calling it a guide; it is not in encyclopedia format, and there are no pictures. The original title was Strange Creatures from Time and Space. If you want to delve into this subject with a novel-length book, I highly recommend starting with The Mothman Prophecies.

Firstly, I don't assume that anything in this book can be taken too seriously. Almost nothing here would stand up to any type of scientific examination. This is just a fun collection of stories. And, as such, it is one of the best rides of its genre. If you ever want to escape reality for a little while, pick up this book.

John Keel's Guide to Mysterious Being's is a must read for all fan's of this genre!

I found this book in the library, and it was so good that I coundn't read it at night. Some books are like that. And if you like the X-files, you're gonna love this book. It's right up that alley!

i don't think that's possible. unless john keel went back in time to write this book, oh, about 40 years before the movie came out.

john keel's book does take a bit of a scientific look at monsters, but it's a good and sometimes scary read [bedroom invaders? ouch].

all in all a fine book i have been happy to have purchased twice.