Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, 2 Volume Set (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

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Big Foot, mermaids, and the Loch Ness Monster are familiar to most readers, but hundreds of other equally strange creatures have been logged in this work for the high-school level and up. Some of these creatures, or cryptids, are real, some extinct, some legendary, some hallucinatory.

The purpose of the work is to seriously study cryptids as distribution anomalies, unknown variations of known species, survivors thought to be extinct, mythical animals, paranormal creatures with animal-like characteristics, and hoaxes. More than 1,085 unknown animals are covered in field-guide format, some with pictures or drawings. Most articles include an etymology of the name, scientific name if available, variant names, physical description, behavior, habitat, significant sightings, present status, and possible explanations, such as misidentification of a known species or survival of an extinct species. The articles end with lists of chronologically arranged sources, many of them primary materials, and include both print and Internet resources. There are also entries for 40 major cryptid categories such as birds and sea monsters; these entries have useful cross-references to entries on specific creatures. Following the A-Z entries are lists of 431 species discovered or rediscovered since 1900 (such as the thylacine, a canid marsupial of Australia believed to be extinct since 1936 but seen by reliable witnesses up to the present time) and freshwater bodies in which unknown animals have been reported. A geographical index and a "Cryptid Index" close the set.

This reference work is more scientific and comprehensive than Cryptozoology A-Z (Fireside, 1999) and will be an asset to public, school, and academic libraries where patrons are interested in cryptozoology. It is useful as a biological guide, a folklore reference, and a study of paranormal creatures.

RBB
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Book Description

From Bigfoot and the badigui to the Central Asian wildman, Mysterious Creatures presents an extensive overview of every reported cryptid from around the world. Each entry traces the fascinating history of sightings and known habitats and includes details such as the significant encounters, present status, and possible identifications of these creatures.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 722 pages
• Publisher: ABC-CLIO (December 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1576072835
• ISBN-13: 979-1576072836
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.8 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #949,739 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An excellent-- though highly specialized-- reference, January 12, 2003

By	Lee Murphy (Reseda, CA United States) - See all my reviews

If you are a follower of cryptozoology and a serious researcher on that subject, then this is a book that will not disappoint. It is as close to a total compendium as something of this nature could be. It is literally a must have book that compliments the works of Roy Mackal, Bernard Heuvelmans, Loren Coleman, John Green, Karl Shuker, et al.

The drawbacks-- mainly the price. It is clearly prohibitive to many who might otherwise "clear the shelves" to have this book (or books since it is two volumes).

Hopefully the price will come down and this wonderful book will become more widely available to interested parties.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Phenomenal 2 Volume Set!, October 16, 2004

By	. (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Finally! A long overdue authoritative encyclopedia of cryptozoology! This set is awesome! There is so much information here that it'll take a veeery long time to digest it all.

I do have several suggestions though:
1) More photos and illustrations (especially photos and stills from film footage which are discussed, but not shown).
2) Dustjackets. The covers are gorgeous, but how long will they remain so without dustjackets? And at this price, you'd think the publisher could afford it. Which brings me to...
3) The price is outrageous. How can the publisher make any money by limiting it's buyers to libraries, rich people and fools like me? $60 sure, even $75, but $185? Jeez! And even though I paid WAY less than that for my set, it still almost killed by bank account.

Even so, I'm glad I bought it and wouldn't be without it.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A collection of animals reported to exist at some point, September 24, 2004

By	Harold McFarland (Florida) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This two-volume set is a basic layman's guide to the weird, wonderful world of unknown animals. These are animals whose existence has not been proven at this time. While the idea that there may be animals, including some very large ones, living in the world and we have no proof of their existence might be strange to some people it was during my lifetime that gorillas and rhinoceroses were removed from the category of fables.

For each entry the editors provide information on its physical description, behavior, distribution, possible explanations, significant sightings, and sources. This is a non-judgmental review of the reports from around the world presented in a typical encyclopedic style. Although it contains primarily creatures reported to exist but not proven it also includes some animals like the Dodo bird, which were known to exist and are believed extinct. But, because there have been occasional reported sightings in recent years these animals are included.

ABC-CLIO, Inc. published some of the best educational materials of this type on the market today. As always Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology is a high quality reference work written at a high-school level and so is accessible to everyone. Mysterious Creatures is a highly recommended read for anyone interested in this area and a recommended purchase for libraries.