Ever since I was a tiny BookGwen I have loved and been scared by the unusual. If I really probed and peeled back the layers of memory I could lay the blame for this at the feet of two things, The Dadster taking the toddler me to see JAWS (it was the 70s and he was bored at home) and Leonard Nimoy’s In Search Of… and maybe that friend of The Dadster who BELIEVED BELIEVED in all the stuff. The one who brought over books on aliens, Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. And wait…one more thing…the Time-Life book series Mysteries of the Unknown. 

So as an adult, <full disclosure with head hung in shame> yes, I watched Monster Quest, Mystery Quest, Is It Real? and read some of the books. But I never stomped around the woods or haunted the shores looking for things. First off: you don’t get this vampire pasty going outside. And second: outside is full of bugs and wind and nature… <shudders> And as I aged and learned more, I grew more skeptical.

Now when one of my top 5 favorite, I’ve listened to them so many times I can recite the episodes word for word podcasts interviews authors on their latest work, I drop everything, hop onto my local library’s online catalog and try to get that book if possible. Remember I am POOR and don’t have new book money. <end libraries are awesome plug>

Today’s book is one that Blacklight had to remove from his side of the bed this morning. I might have growled “MINE!” “GIMME!” and “NO TOUCH” as I snatched it away and stashed it on my nightstand. Books are so much better bed partners than husbands. Husbands want you to cook and clean and not leave books on their side of the bed…but back to the book. As commanded by my Monster Talk overlord Blake Smith, I mean, inspired by a recent episode of Monster Talk, I finally got my hands on a copy of  Daniel Loxton and Donald R. Prothero’s Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie and Other Famous Cryptids?

(A little side story about finally getting my hands on Abominable Science! My local library is broke and is barely hanging on. But two towns over in the same general library network is the rich library who has in the past actually ordered some of the books I recommended for purchase. Their copy is on order. And yes, I have been checking my account at least twice a day so see if Abominable Science! has come in yet. No dice. But another library in our general network had it, so on my day off yesterday I trekked to the wilds (yes wilds, there is a working farm next to this library) and snatched it up two minutes after the library opened!)

First off as a graphic/layout geek (I have stopped reading certain books because the font made me want to puke), Abominable Science! is a gorgeous book. Much time and care has gone into turning out a pleasing product with an easy on the eyes layout and some truly lovely pictures, many in color. And kudos to the cover designer for their pulp magazine inspired layout which makes Abominable Science! really stand out from the sea of books at your local book store. If I had the money, I would have bought the darn thing for the cover alone (says the gal who designed her wedding invitations to look like a pulp romance comic). And it’s heavy. The book itself isn’t over-sized, it’s your standard hardcover size (IE you don’t have to turn it sideways to fit on the shelf) but the paper stock is top notch (another aside: yes, I have judged books on their paper stock-it’s a side effect of the graphic/layout geek thing and having parents who used to work in the sidelines of the printing business). Even more kudos to the folks at  Columbia University Press for putting out such a terrific product at a decent price.

Once you get past the cover, inside is a true treasure. You may want to make sure all spouses are fast asleep, your children are distracted and the pets fed because you do not wanted to get pulled out of reading. Certain people who spend way too much playing Minecraft almost got barred from coming into the bedroom while other people were reading. Sounds extreme? It’s not. A book this good deserves your full attention.

Donald R. Prothero and Daniel Loxton take turns at the helm. Now sometimes this can spell disaster for a book. Other times? Having two authors is genius. Donald is the professor with careful examinations and a drier but still completely compelling way of presenting the facts and theories. It’s like attending an amazing lecture and getting a little bummed when the lecture ends but you know there’s still more lectures coming up. Daniel’s chapters don’t have the same professor feel but are just as compelling and his experiences in the wild as a child and an adult add a certain flavor. This experiment allows both authors to use their differing experiences/educations to really probe into their subjects. To put it in Blacklight terms, it’s like have Jamie and Doofus Guy Adam from Mythbusters break down an experiment. You end a chapter feeling like you understand a subject and what factors influenced how the world at large sees the cryptid. What you don’t feel? Talked down to, pandered to, jerked around or flat out lied to. Abominable Science! is the product of careful research not cut and paste and more cut and paste of things over and over again.

If you are looking for a book that doesn’t give a long hard look at the monsters with a skeptical eye, don’t buy this book. This is not the book for you. Come with me <leads the less skeptical reader over to the woo-woo section of Barnes & Noble and plops them down in a chair with Brad Steiger’s Real Monsters, Gruesome Critters, and Beasts from the Darkside> 

However if you ARE looking for a book that carefully researches each cryptid (the notes are over 50 pages long and fascinating reading in themselves) and cryptozoology,  and will not make you feel like you’ve wasted your time, money and brain cells (coughcoughbradsteigercoughcough) then Abominable Science! is the book to buy. And if you can’t buy it (oh how I know THAT feeling) request your local library buy it. It’s that good!