Cryptozoology: The History of Attempts to Discover and Study Legendary and Mythological Creatures

Cryptozoology deals with animals that are not accepted by science as actually existing. There are many reports about people seeing them but as far as hard evidence goes there is almost nothing available.

The book covers a number of cryptids (the animals that are not 'official') such as the Loch Ness Monster (a monster or a log?), various flying creatures (similar to some dinosaurs), Bigfoot, alien big cats and, my favorite title, the Bunny Man.

The book does not that some of the reports are straight out fakes and some fall into the mythic folklore variety such as the fur-bearing trout (a really funny story.)

The cryptids are not limited to the United States, either.

The problem, of course, is the lack of solid evidence which I don't think the book emphasizes enough. This is not to say that the cryptids are all fakes or misidentified things but that solid evidence is needed.

I think the book could have gone into just why people believe in these things and how the things that are believed in might have changed over time in relation to particular cultural changes.

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