Customer Reviews

The Field Guide to Ghosts and Other Apparitions (Field Guides to the Unknown)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This thoughtful, landmark volume should be purchased by casual ghosthunters, by interested general readers, as well as by scholars interested in details on the history of this field of study. Evans' background in the area is superb, and Huyghe's critical scientific writing skills make for a remarkable guidebook. Highly recommended.

The authors did a great job of categorizing the different types of ghost: haunter, poltergeist, revenant, harbinger, and time-slip.

There's plenty of helpful illustrations as well. I highly recommend this book.

* Combines ghost stories with a little education
* These categories aren't used universally
* A fun, light book to read for a moderately 'good scare'

This book is nicely organized with a page for each ghost, plus a sketch of the apparition. Who'd have thought that there are so many categories of ghosts?

This book is ideal for a light read at night... if you want to fall asleep dreaming of spectres, that is!

A clever set of categories helps you understand what kind of ghost it is, before you read the summary of the haunting. With that information, the stories seem even more chilling and real.

If you're a casual or professional ghost hunter, you'll want to become familiar with these terms. This really is -- as the title suggests -- a field guide. Though the book's terminology isn't used universally, ghost hunters who travel (as I do) need to know regional expressions as well. This book is especially useful for that purpose.

Are you looking for haunted places to tour or investigate? Because this book covers international spirits, it's a helpful source of legends to use as a starting point.

(However, whenever you're starting with folklore, it's smart to conduct some historical and online research before investing resources in a serious investigation.)

For most ghost enthusiasts, this is a light, enjoyable read. It's ideal for those who love ghost stories and a fun 'good scare'. It's suitable for most teens, as well.

So you pick up this book and read on the back cover the exciting quote about Hemingway's ghost and you're ready to drop some cash, right? Guess what--there's zero information about the Hemingway haunting in this book! In addition, old Ataulfo of Madrid has less words wasted on him than an asthmatic's version of Handel's Halleluja Chorus. Instead, what's offered here is a rehash of old stories (and old theories about what ghosts could be) with insipid, comic book illustrations. Why this is called a "field guide" with its connotation of an exhaustive reference to every kind of manifestation of a particular phenomenon--be it birds, plants, or mushrooms--is yet another part of the mystery of why this book exists. If you're a serious researcher of this subject, then pass this book up and seek Hem's fetch elsewhere.

It's not The Old Feint and Switch as the previous reviewer implies. The stories for those back cover teasers appeared in the news after the first galleys were submited to the authors for corrections. We only had a chance to add one paragraph about them in the book. As to the accusation of using old material, Field Guides are not the appropriate place to introduce new material; they are generally reviews of the existing material and literature. Besides, at least one of the stories in the book has never appeared in print before. And as to the illustrations in the book...well, art, as ever, lies in the eye of the beholder.

Run-of-the-mill accounts made just about unendurable by the cheesiest illustrations imaginable, and blurbs that strive in vain for legitimacy with made-up classifications, e.g.: "Class: Ghost of the Present. Type: Crisis apparition. Variant: Grim reaper with scythe." "Class: Ghost of the Past. Type: Haunter. Variant: Spectral Torsos." Just plain lame.

This book tells you everything you need to know about ghosts.