Customer Reviews

The Natural History of Unicorns

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are the kind of person who likes a good guided tour of history, with several good digressions and a witty rather than stuffy tone, this is a great book for you. The author has a good sense of proportion, and he never demeans anyone for believing (or not believing) in unicorns, but instead gives us the reasons why people thought about things the way they did, and he has a fun time doing it.

The Looking-Glass unicorn offered this deal to Alice, and apparently Alice was imaginative enough to accept the offer -- as many people in many different ages have also done.

Chris Lavers has assembled a wonderfully well researched history of the unicorn as it appears in many of those cultures, including segments on various ideas on its real (or unreal) genesis. The other reviews here on Amazon provide an excellent idea of the strengths and weakness of this fine book.

For me, the most vivid memory of the unicorn was formed at the Cloisters, a part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The so-called Unicorn Tapestries are beautifully displayed there, and the Met has a wonderful page devoted to several aspects of the tapestries and the legend and the place of the unicorn in Christianity. (It was fascinating to read in Lavers that it appears to have arisen from a mistranslation of the word for "ox" in the Bible.)

The Met introduces the tapestries with these words (the link to the exhibit appears in the first Comment):

"As early as the seventeenth century, the Unicorn Tapestries were documented as having been displayed as a group. Surely they were collected and exhibited together because together they illustrate the pursuit of the elusive unicorn so completely and in such astonishing detail, despite the likelihood that the seven individual hangings may come from two or more sets of tapestries. While its sacred and secular symbolism may not be as familiar to us today, we are still enchanted by the unicorn and its lore."

Lavers brilliantly traces that lore, summarizing his findings in these words:

"If your unicorn shifts disconcertingly between a goat, a horse, a rhinoceros, a marine mammal from the North Atlantic, assorted Tibetan ungulates and a six-eyed ass whose ears will terrify, the work of this book is almost done."

I found this a wonderful history of a beast, one that I've seen in several of the iterations that Lavers describes.

Robert C. Ross 2010

The unicorn is generally accepted as a mythological creature. In "The Natural History of Unicorns", Chris Lavers ingeniously tracks the history of unicorns throughout time and across the globe, spanning a 2500 year time line, giving the reader an understanding of the unicorn's unique history.

Interestingly, the unicorn can be found all over the world. In fact, Lavers does a remarkable job indicating how prevalent the this animal is in history. He does an outstanding work by detailing the specific connection to Christendom. The symbolic nature of this creature and its allegorical significance in relation to Christ is also discussed. For instance, the unicorn is usually perceived to be a creature connected with purity and love. Furthermore, Lavers intricately conveys the miscellaneous animals that have contributed to the creation of the unicorn as we know it today. From a goat, to a rhinoceros, to a cow, to the one-horned white horse that we portray as a unicorn today is tracked and traced throughout history in a scholarly fashion.

A truly amazing work of research is presented by Lavers. The phenomenon of the appearance of the unicorn throughout history, from ancient writings in ancient civilizations and artwork through our present day culture and society is brilliantly offered by Lavers. "The Natural History of Unicorns" is a delightful, enjoyable and easily readable book.

The history of unicorn spottings spans some 2,500 years - and The Natural History of Unicorns shows how various real animals have all contributed to the myth and creation of this beast. Author Chris Lavers covers how unicorns became a part of myth and world culture, exploring the history and facts behind the legend in a powerful presentation perfect for any general lending library.

This is an intriguing nonfiction work searching beyond the varied mythical legends to the aptly titled THE NATURAL HISTORY OF UNICORNS. Chris Lavers escorts his audience to a world five hundred years before Jesus in which Greek physician Ctesias living in Persia describes the unicorn that has become the basis of mythos. Lavers follows up on the Ctesias' account with a deep look at similar horned species especially the Tibetan chiru. He takes the legend to Christ as the first Christians connected the "animal's" purity to Jesus but cites a biblical reference of a Jewish cow becoming a unicorn. .The author goes in great depth into medieval times and their tapestries and the nineteenth century romanticists who relished the purity of the unicorn. Even though the enlightenment scientists claimed there were never such a beast, the unicorn lives today in books and movies as a fantasy creature but Mr. Levers makes a strong case with a few sidebar cul de sac trips that the fabled beast has its roots in real animals. The author's energy will hook readers from the onset as fans will follow the discourse of Chris Laver's deep look into THE NATURAL HISTORY OF UNICORNS.

Harriet Klausner

Everything you wanted to know about Unicorns. Captivating from front to back if you love a walk through history in detective style. Easy reading though younger children might have some difficulty. Twenty or so photos ( black and white ) of good quality. I highly recommend this book.

This book was purchased as a gift, but I have asked the recipient about the book and he said it was great.

Like many, I've always been fascinated by unicorns. I even saw one as a child. Having read this book, I now understand how that unicorn (a goat, as it happens), was made. Actually, I understand much more than that.

I always assumed that unicorns were a Western European legend. Lavers quickly disabused me of that notion. The idea of unicorns has been bouncing around Europe, Asia, and Africa for a long time - longer than the historical record covers. Lavers does an excellent job tracing the unicorn back to its earliest appearance in legends, as far forward as the European search for it in Africa, and all the meanderings in-between.

The book is meticulously researched, with great insights. It contains the sort of information that I would never find on my own, short of devoting a lifetime of research.

I have only one criticism, but it's enough for me to withdraw a star. Lavers falls into the academic's trap of making his work sound more important through overcomplicated sentences and esoteric word choices. I'm used to reading research journals, and Lavers' writing seemed convoluted by comparison. It made reading the book more work, and less recreational, than it could have been.

To the subject of the unicorn, a tragically neglected son of Helicon, little scholarship has been devoted. So I received this book with glad hands and easy approbation. I was pleased by Lavers' broad compass, which sketches the unicorn's majesty in appropriate scope. But I was disappointed by his irredeemable anthropocentrism. He documents the unicorn only as important to humans! Not as a creature an sich.

This is especially apparent in his wholesale omission of the Unicorn/Pegacorn Civil war, which Medefind and Giles calculate to have occurred in 1060 BC (permit 200 years to either side of their estimation for uncertainty). This was a salient (perhaps THE salient) event in unicorn history, which shaped unicorn culture forevermore. And yet nothing. Not one dab, jot, or tittle.

All the same, due kudos to Lavers for putting at least a candle to the darkness. The great must not be the enemy of the good.