Customer Reviews

Stalking the Tricksters: Shapeshifters, Skinwalkers, Dark Adepts and 2012

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

 

 

First, I should mention that I loved Chris's first two books. Having said that, I find this book, like every Adventures Unlimited book I've read, to be nothing less than infuriating. Clunky phraseology & typos galore make this as difficult to get through as the New Agey web-site it seems to model itself after. Really guys, for $[...] bucks a book, you folk really need to hire some qualified editors and proofreaders. Also, there are far too many web-sites used a source material. In case you haven't noticed Chris, the Internet is filled to overflow with badly written, badly researched cowflop, spewed out by legions of half-baked shaman wanna-bes. I realize it's a neat little research short cut, but save the short cuts for your web-site. One more thing Chris, when middle aged guys like us use phrases like "back in the day" and "kickin' it" we just sound silly. Take a bit of advice(or "advise" as one of your photo captions states) and save the pseudo MTV generation hipster spunk for your e-mails. When dealing with this subject, folk find enough to laugh at without you providing easy targets.
I'm giving this 3 stars solely because there are some real gems hidden amongst all the dross, but seriously, Adventures Unlimited should either shape up and turn out product worth the price tag, or they should stop wasting all those trees.

Ok I felt I had to put this review out there, to make people who thought of buying this book think again. I know that isn't an expensive purchase, but I want to spare people who have enjoyed listening to Chris on various radio shows throughout the years ,the huge disappointment that this book is. Chris is no doubt a great communicator of stories and thoughts in spoken form, but in way of writing it's a whole other story. And it's really sad, cause since you've heard him talk so eagerly about "stalking the tricksters" you are left with the impression that this must be a real gem of a book. Well, unfortunately it isn't. Let me just list you the main problems.

First of all, what strikes you right away (besides the horrific cover art) is the extreme amount of typos starting on page 1. Sometimes there are up to 3 different ways of spelling the same words, which just makes it even more painful. Its fine that you can spell `wendigo' in several ways, but just stick to one instead of shifting between `windigo', windego' and `wendego' throughout your description. These problems do get resolved further on in the book though, but it really makes you think about how much time the editing process has been given, and thereby the level of professional work behind it. I know that in the end it should be the information that is important, and of course it is, but on top of everything else wrong with the book it's just a real mess to digest.

Secondly, there are huge amount of embarrassing sources in the book, and an even worse way of applying these. Many times when a web page source is used, a long passage of text is just directly copy pasted from the site. This just screams laziness and makes your toes crumble after a while...and it doesn't help that Chris consistently introduces these in the way of "as research on the esteemed webpage dogdoodle.com reveals:". And this is even when referencing a site such as Wikipedia. I mean, how can you refer to as well known, dubious (and largely frowned upon) a source as Wikipedia in the way of "according to the online site Wikipedia", and then just copy paste several lines of text from there? You wouldn't even be able to get away with that the first semester as an undergrad at college. Couldn't you at least just use the source that Wikipedia used for that particular article instead? Overall, I don't see why most of the information couldn't have been gathered from books instead of using websites. It all just makes it seem like some really bad high school assignment.

Thirdly, something that just sticks out like a sore eye and annoyed me to no end, was the whole "discussion" of religion, 2012 and the way-off feminist, political hippie-jargon loaded remarks suddenly appearing in the middle of nowhere during certain chapters. Most of the times the comments just make no valid points at all, and are written in the most superficial terms you can imagine. It makes absolutely no sense for the overall topic to put these topics in there, at least not in the way that he does. Also, I could have lived without the sporadic `humoristic' inputs that pops up here and there and as comments to the various pictures - that by the way are on almost every friggin' page of the book. Why most of these pictures are there I really got no idea, it all just adds to the overall image of a very immature book. What exactly is the point of having a picture of Dracula and then a text underneath saying something like "Vampires exist in various cultures throughout the world"? Makes you really wonder what Chris thinks of the age group this is intended for...

All these things are huge flaws for what Chris is trying to communicate, and the strength of his message/thesis of the role of the trickster in the paranormal is ultimately lost because of this. In the end the book doesn't really amount to much else besides being a poorly communicated, shabby reference book of various mythical creatures that have to more or less degree tricksterish elements, or something in common with a trickster figure. It takes you through a whole range of entities, most of which you could find just as good or even better descriptions of in basic books about the paranormal. It does not really leave you with anything new to think about either, since most of the time the trickster element is not even discussed properly and it becomes up to the reader to focus real hard on what the point of bringing in this or that mythical creature really is. I really can't imagine what people who haven't already heard Chris speak on this subject would get out of reading the book.

I'm just gonna end it there, but I could seriously go on and on. I have a very hard time believing that this book took all the hard work that is mentioned in the introduction, and if it did then that's even the more reason not to try and do something like it again. Chris O'Brien is no doubt an intelligent and interesting man to listen to, and sure there are points of light that also shine through the book. But he should seriously think twice about putting out material such as this in the future, cause it will, and should be, judged for what it is. In an area that is already very damaged by cultists and gullible people, it just makes it worse when a guy who actually otherwise is a solid character to have in the field, comes out with something like this.

Stick to doing fieldwork and giving radio appearances Chris. Sorry, but we are a lot who like what you're doing in that area, but everyone has to acknowledge their limits.

and even that is restricted to Mr. O'Brien's collaboration with the Dead Whisper/EVP Project and the Indiana Ghost Trackers (pp. 214-36), and to an account concerning 'little people' sighted somewhere in New Mexico and a mention of odd structures known as 'bee hives' in Baca Grande, Colorado (pp. 248-54). In the author's words, "my main motivation...is to expand our definition of the trickster into the realms most academics have not ventured. This is why I have included near-tricksters like devils, demons, jinni, ghosts, spirits and human hoaxers in this work (pp. 342-3);" in addition to vampires, werewolves, wendigos, various mythical figures, cattle mutilation, and sundry.

To my dismay, much of the material, cherry-picked largely from the Internet, is too general and superficial or irrelevant, if not downright tedious when presented in the fashion of thesaurus entries (see pp. 25-36, 83-91, 258-64), to be of great use for seasoned researchers, though for neophytes it may serve as an introduction to Forteana -- the book is dedicated to the memory of the venerable John Keel, who passed away in July this year: RIP. Another thing that bugs me is that the writer resorts quite often to direct quotations from his previous tomes -- altogether around 19 pages. Also, there's no dearth of erroneous grammar, typos: "EVP recording occured...in eastern Russian" (instead of 'Russia', p. 215), "and there was no one was there" (p. 224), "we went ahead to our hotel to checked into" (p. 231), "some of their presentation was fabricated" (p. 288), "there are about were about 90 people" (p. 306), "what Shalizi fails to mention that the Trickster" (p. 310), "to write a write a book" (p. 311), so forth; and misspellings like 'reptilianss' (p. 67), 'they clamed' (p. 241), 'thes amalgams' (p. 245), 'Terrence McKenna' (p. 255), 'Rosicrucionism', 'Freemasonory' (p. 288), 'Tibetian' (p. 294), etc.

Some corrections and/or suggestions:

+ "...Prét are the spirits of unlucky humans who experience untimely deaths. These entitites can supposedly animate dead bodies at night" (p. 86). To the best of my knowledge, the existential (or even an ontological realm on the 'wheel of existence' [Tibetan: srid-'khor] in Buddhist - Hindu Weltanschauung) reality the preta-s (Sanskrit) or 'hungry ghosts' inhabit is the manifestation (or karmic result) of addiction to 'earthly pleasures' gained from booze, grub, narcotics, and the like.
+ The moniker 'Dracula' attached to the name of the Valachian governor Vlad Tepes (= Impaler; 1430/31-76) is falsely interpreted as "son of the Devil" (p. 103). It should rather be "son of the Dragon" ('Draculea' in Romanian), as his father was a member of the knightly Order/Society of (the) Dragon(ry) (Ordo/Societas Draconum/Draconistratum in Latin or 'Sárkány[os] Rend/Társaság' in Hungarian) that had been founded (1408) by the then-King of Hungary (not much later Holy Roman Emperor, then King of Bohemia) Zsigmond (Sigismund) of Luxembourg after a victorious military campaign in Bosnia against the rising power of Ottoman Turks.
+ As for the alleged 14-inch humanoid mummy, found in the San Pedro Mountains of Wyoming, once being a 65-year-old specimen of the legendary little people: The mummy went missing after 1951; the features of the said pygmy can be described in scientific terms as those of a still born, anencephalic infant. That is "the 'absence of cerebrum and cerebellum with absence of the flat bones of the skull.' It occurs during the third or fourth week of pregnancy, when...the head end of the fetus' neural tube...fails to close and the brain, scalp, and spinal cord do not develop properly...His prominent eyes can also be explained because 'the optic globes may protrude due to inadequately-formed bony orbits.' The cause of anencephaly...may be due to a lack of folic acid, vitamin B9, in the mother's diet." (pp. 86-7 of chapter 5 titled 'One Little Indian' in Robert Damon Schneck's "The President's Vampire. Strange-but-True Tales of the United States of America," 2005)

Recommended reading: George P. Hansen's scholarly treatise, "The Trickster and the Paranormal," 2001.

Many books are written from the vantage point of the researcher, many are written from the vantage point of the experiencer. Rarely is an author lucky enough, gifted enough or experienced enough to be able to deliver the right combination of both.

In his fourth book, O'Brien pulls it off. Sometimes reading like an action adventure, sometimes reading like an academic endeavor, "Stalking the Tricksters" delivers on many levels. It is hard to put down once you begin meandering down its slippery road to conclusions that make sense but remain unsettling.

The latest trend in paranormal musings and postulations involves a unifying energy, a common thread that links all of the unknown and unexplained. O'Brien identifies the legendary "Trickster", and supposes that much of the mysterious unknown is the work of this playful, if not overly cantankerous and downright dangerous interdimensional energy.

It is interesting to see so many of today's mysteries together in one book and wearing such a colorful hat. Just as with his previous books about the mysterious San Luis Valley, you realize immediately that O'Brien has been there, done that, and you wish you could go too.

Thankfully, with this latest saga and statement, you can. One thing to keep in mind - after you have had some time to process the underlying potentials that this book presents, you might have a bit of a problem seeing your world the same way, ever again. But then, maybe I am just kidding. When you are Stalking the Trickster, you simply never really know...

This is a great read.

So many errors that it would probably give an English teacher,or librarian a cerebral hemorrhage,just by taking a glance at it.
Yet,I found it an entertaining read,with a large subject list to ponder over.
Whether Chris is right or wrong with the information he supplies in the book wasn't what made reading it fun for me.It was the questions and possibilities he raises about the subject matter that he delves into,that made it an interesting read (for me,anyway).I'm just fascinated by the variety of myths and beliefs that we humans hold dear,and that probably live more in our subconscious than in the real world of our physical existence.Thought provoking stuff.

"Stalking the Tricksters" by Christopher O'Brien is the best reference/resource book I have ever found. I was amazed at the amount of information about vampires, werewolves, shapeshifters, etc. contained in the book. Written with great obvious knowledge and wit, I would most definitely recommend this book to anyone curious about the subject matter. O'Brien has really done his research!

This is a book like no other in that Chris O'Brien attempts to tie the personal and the collective effects of our subconscious creations to a numinous volume of events. He looks behind the curtain to the experiencer as well as the experience. I wanted to read the book because I was looking for confirmation that I'm not alone in whatever sensitivity I may have for creating movement through life. So while I may view the Trickster as deeply personal, I am also fond of the idea that we collectively find ways of breaking our molds in order to advance our world view. There's no one like the Trickster to open our eyes to a quest for deeper meaning to every day existence.

The only real criticism I have is that there were simply too many Tricksters presented to study, even if the long list allows for the many, many cultures who have made their own studies of the wickedly, tricksterish imp. But I wasn't looking for confirmation in that area so much as confirmation that we have our own, right next to us, all the time. Chris O'Brien gives us permission to indulge, to try new thought on, to experiment with something that is part of our very nature, the creative process. Good on him for giving a nearly impossible subject his all. It was worth my time.

Anybody with any interest in Trickster stories should read Christopher O'Brien's latest book, Stalking the Tricksters. I've never been a big fan of criticism to point out flaws and typos. The heart of the matter to me has always been what's the story, what's the author getting at etc. Personally I think O'Brien has struck some important chords and opened up a new symphony of ideas and suggestions in the realm of the Trickster. He has taken a subject that is usually so extremely stereotyped or caught up in the past ideologies that the stories mostly seem like museum relics. I found Stalking the Trickster to open up new definitions of what a trickster is or could be. With a few tricks, some well placed typos and good humor Chris has managed to make the Trickster a relevant subject that could affect many areas of thought, discussion and for those few brave ones a call to action. This book has personally inspired me and I would greatly encourage everyone interested in expanding their minds about Tricksters to read the book, reread the book, read between the lines and then watch your world expand.
As a side note I hope I left enough typos and grammatical errors in this note to keep any critics chasing their own tail while the rest of us enjoy a round world. Great Job Chris! Keep digging up more great information so we can all benefit!

The tricksters still walk among us, but hide under many different names. "Stalking the Tricksters: Shapeshifters, Skinwalkers, Dark Adepts, and 2012" discusses many elements of the metaphysical throughout the twenty first century. Discussing these mysteries that go by a whole assortment of names, "Stalking the Tricksters" is a fine and informative read to those who believe there is more to the world around them than what the mundane eye will see.

good book....more of a reference guide than the read I thought it would be. Very informative.