Customer Reviews

Mysteries Of Planet Earth:An Encyclopedia of the Inexplicable

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Dr. Karl P.N. Shuker needs no introduction to anyone who has searched the bookshelves for references to mysterious animals and enigmatic natural phenomena. Dr.Shuker's latest release, "Mysteries of Planet Earth", will surely please even the most seasoned Fortean reader being that it contains never before published accounts of cryptozoology and strange natural phenomena. Also included are completely new takes on a few of the run of the mill entries common in many entry level books on natural mysteries.As a wildlife artist interested in unusual and rare zoology, I was pleased to have learned of Karl Shuker's writings several years ago. In fact I met Dr. Shuker over the internet while inquiring about an out of print book of his entitled "Mystery Cats of the World". I soon began providing illustrations for Dr. Shuker's articles on mysterious animals and I am now extremely pleased to have some of my illustrations included in "Mysteries of Planet Earth".Carlton Books has produced an exquisite full color tome that any coffee table would be pleased to welcome as an offering to curious readers.The truly tempting element of this book is to simply flip through and read about what ever catches your interest. It is hard to keep from doing this especially if you are already familiar with subjects similar to those presented here.By far the best feature is that there are many wonderfully illustrated entries here that will not be found in any other book on these subject matters.If any scientific writer will carry the literary torch for cryptozoology and natural mysteries into this new century it is most certainly Dr. Karl Shuker - The captain of your journey to an island of inexplicabilia!

Karl Shuker, author of the superb "From Flying Toads to Snakes with Wings," once again succeeds in entertaining and informing. This, despite an absurd and annoying writing style (at least in this book). I suspect that Dr. Shuker is trying to be amusing and clever, but his style is only coy and distracting. Too much alliteration, too much emphasis on Latinate language, and a veritable obsession with the word "conversely." Memo to Dr. Shuker: You're the goods, so cut out the pompous nonsense.