Product Description

From Bigfoot and the bonobo to the Central Asian wildman and winged humanoid, this volume presents over 1000 A-to-Z entries on every reported cryptid - i.e. legendary animal unknown to science - from around the world. Each entry traces the history of sightings and known habitats, including details such as: popular name; distribution; etymology; significant encounters; scientific name; present status; physical description; possible identifications; behaviour; variant names; habitat; and sources and secondary entries. Cryptozoological categories include: hominid dwarfs, giants and Neanderthaloids; giant bats and insects; lake and sea monsters; relic elephants; semimythical beasts; and unknown bears, birds, cats, snakes and crocodilians.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1327070 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 3
• Binding: Hardcover
• 722 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellent reference volume that comes at a price.
This is a well presented and expansive encyclopedia of cryptids which comes in two volumes. Although it contains few illustrations this is made up for in the text with listings for over 1,000 unidentified animals.

The first volume covers A to M and includes an intoduction describing the topic of cryptozoology and an short but interesting section on the validity of eyewitness accounts.

The second covers from N to Z and an extended list of lake and river monsters. It also has a section describing the various animals which have been 'discovered' since 1900, many of which were considered extinct or imaginary.

Most entries contain details of distribution, habitat, behaviour, name variants, description, and synopses of major sightings. In most cases a list of possible explanations or identifications is given, which is a welcome feature.

One complaint is that some entries seem to be less detailed than others, with some of the more obscure animals recieving very brief mentions. Perhaps this is only to be expected in a work of this size and the various sources given go some way to aleviating this.

Based solely on quality, however, this is highly recommended. No other book I have encountered contains such a detailed collection of information on this subject.

The price is prohibitive, however, which will put off most people, as it almost did myself. If you can afford it though, then you are luckier than me. Damn the expense.