Customer Reviews

Monsters of the Sea

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Actually, as a writer, Ellis leaves something to be desired. He can be a little repetitive and disorganized at times (but is that more a criticism of him or his editor?). However, the content of this book is incredibly interesting, and it is presented very well. Ellis maintains a very good degree of subjectivity, considering the strange matters that he is discussing in the book. The topics, ranging from the myth and history of mermaids (which we now know as manatees and dugongs) to the strange blobs that have washed up on several beaches in the past century, to the giant squid which Ellis would go on to write an entire book about, are fascinating. The degree of detail he goes into when describing both the mythology behind these monsters, and the science and natural history of the creatures we now believe formulated these myths is amazing.

One of the best works I've ever read about the ocean's most mysterious monsters and the real animals behind the myths. In an eloquent, well structured and entertaining compilation, Ellis introduces us to larger-than-life creatures that frightened both mariners of centuries past and audiences of theater and movies. Then he takes us on a voyage of discovery as he reviews the available facts and natural history to explain the equally amazing animals responsible for these fantastic accounts. Informative and thought provoking, this book grasps the interest of both the believer and the skeptic, and encourages us to instill in ourselves not only prudence and responsibility in scientific exploration, but also a sense of childlike wonder in the mysteries of the unknown.

I've been interested in marine-biology and cryptozoology for years but plan never to take that road in life... my interest is still fed though, by masterpieces like this... an amazing, fun, and non-stodgy piece of non-fiction.

"Monsters of the Sea" is a book that'll bring out the 11-year-old kid in anyone with a shred of curiosity. It's great fun.

Richard Ellis, a capable and lively popular science author, is always wrestling with how to frame his material. His book "Deep Atlantic," for example, took a long time coming together because he couldn't figure out how to narrow his subject down to a book's length. Even then it included some repetitive material, as a few reviewers noticed. I've read a handful of his other titles now, and this one and the excellent "Encyclopedia of the Sea" are the two where he really succeeded in figuring out how to structure things. This is an effortless read.

"Monsters" alternates between reviewing people's mythological, "monstrous" ideas about sea creatures and describing the animals as they actually are: you read all the Kraken stories, and then you learn about squid, and the giant squid in particular. That outline of the book works really well. First you hear the old sea yarns, and then those lead you into the marine biology. Both sides are written very engagingly.

And then there are the loose ends. There's a chapter in this book about "blobs and globsters" that I really figured I'd be bored by. Not at all. Those are the enormous things that washed up on beaches that nobody's really explained. Ellis can't write the second chapter about them -- there's no marine biology that's explained the things, not yet.

This book, like any good popular science, could lead you in a lot of different directions. If you're interested in Deep Sea life, Ellis's Deep Atlantic would be good -- or you could try William Broad's "The Universe Below" if you're more into the mechanics of submersibles and sunken ships. There are lots of books about sharks and whales of course. Ellis wrote one about the Great White shark that's supposed to be good. He also gathered lots of his giant squid material for a book on Architeuthis Dux.

I'd recommend starting with this one, though. It'll get your sense of wonder going.

This excellent book covers most of the well known variations of "sea monsters" (sea serpents, giant squids, sharks, leviathan, etc.) by first summarizing the popular myths and legends about each monster.

The author then adds up whatever hard scientific facts are available, which in some cases (i.e., the "leviathan" or whale) is a whole lot of material. In other cases (e.g., the giant squid), scientific evidence is harder to come by and is largely speculation.

If you have even a casual interest in sea monsters, you'll find this book worthwhile reading, although you might be disappointed by the unfortunate lack of factual and scientific evidence surrounding some of the more elusive creatures (which is no fault of the author).

I'd read Deep Atlantic before finding this book. In Atlantic, Richard Ellis wrote elegant, spare, relatively straight science. His illustrations complemented the text perfectly. Here he's having a rollicking good time, and with a subject that's great fun. I recommend this highly, and I recommend Ellis to anyone in whom adulthood has only enhanced the ability to feel childlike wonder.

Richard Ellis has written a fantastic book! It is thorougly researched and accurate, yet does not read like a textbook. The chapters are the perfect length - long enough to cover the subject in detail, but not so long that the reader loses interest. Reading this makes you realize how little we landbound humans know about what really goes on in the depths of the sea. Can we really say conclusively that there is no such thing as a sea serpent? Ellis presents every viewpoint - could have been a whale, could have been a squid...but maybe...who knows?

"A delightful and learned adventure in cryptozoology (the study of hidden life forms) including the Leviathan, the Sea Serpent, the Kraken, the Blob, and the Globster)." NEW YORK TIMES "ELLIS'S REVIEW OF THE SUBJECT IS MASTERFUL, CLEVERLY ILLUSTRATED, AND UP-TO-DATE." Scientific American

The chapters about sea serpents was the best and the one about blobs and globsters was pretty interesting, but that is about it as far as descriptions of sea monsters go. The rest is mostly about actual identifiable creatures like the whale, shark, octopus and squid. The book mostly goes into the history of how man first came across such creatures of the sea and their initial reaction and then study of the creatures. One thing I found annoying about the book was the constant reference to movies and how incorrect their portrayal of certain creatures like the giant squid were. Also the author goes on a rant about the whale and how almost god-like they have become and how they are even a better species than mankind, he seems to have a bit of a fetish for the whale and it really weirded me out. He also seems to want to blame books for the destruction of many sea creatures, like the shark or whale, but I really doubt many whalers read "Moby Dick". I really went into this book with great curiosity and excitement and the first couple chapters were great but the chapter on squids, whales, etc etc. got a little boring, I would of just picked up a book about whales if I wanted to learn about them. What I really wanted to hear more about was actual sea monsters, which this book seems to leave out. 5 stars for the detailed information about almost everything under the sea, but only 3 stars for information of unknown sea monsters.

It was a really great novel. His desciption of tentacles made me laugh. The St. Augustine monster that wased ashore he thinks is a 200 foot octopus. Other than that he debunked every other sea monster.