![]() |
If I'm entirely honest, I approached "A Natural History of Sea Serpents" by Adrian Shine with more than a little caution. It would be very easy for a book about sea serpents to veer off into folklore, fantasy or pseudoscience. It was therefore with huge pleasure that I found this to be an absolutely fascinating analysis of the subject. It is also authoritative, compelling and convincing. I'll leave you to make up your own mind about the author's conclusions, a process that will probably in part depend on your starting beliefs, but there can be no doubt that those conclusion have been based on an exhaustive and objective analysis of a very wide range of source material.
The book itself is beautifully produced. The well written and nicely organised text is supplemented by a large number of monochrome and colour drawings and photographs. What is particularly impressive is the way the images have been selected to illustrate particular points made in the text. Sometimes a book comes along which you just know is going to be a lasting source of reference about the subject it covers. This is one of those books and I'd highly recommend it to anyone with any interest in the subject.
You get a fuller idea of the approach and contents of the book from the publishers' description of it: "A Natural History of Sea Serpents, re-examines the cold-case enigma of sea serpents and monsters described by impeccable witnesses over three centuries. These reports have sometimes intrigued and puzzled the most eminent scientists of their times, yet often became the butt of popular derision. Naturalist Adrian Shine, best known for his fifty years examining Loch Ness as a 'sympathetic sceptic', reveals how the loch actually held the key to the greater mystery. He exonerates the integrity of most witnesses, often remarks upon the accuracy of their observations yet offers bold and radical interpretations of what they have seen.
"The book digs deep into the roots of the legend and shows how expectations 'evolved' from those 'serpents' to prehistoric 'monsters' during the nineteenth century. The book cites over a hundred reports and contains as many illustrations as evidence for its conclusions.His findings, stemming from knowledge of ships, the sea and the true monsters living there, cover the entire spectrum of reports, giving new insight, for example, into the famous HMS Daedalus episode of 1848, the description of a very unusual creature seen by two zoologists in 1904 and the serpent seen by hundreds off the coast of New England in 1817. Nothing daunted, he investigates reports of huge serpents seen battling whales and creatures which defy our understanding of vertebrate anatomy by bending both sideways and up and down, whilst under fire by the French Navy.
"This book will certainly generate debate within the cryptozoology movement, yet also challenges the theories of the preeminent sceptical writer on the subject, Dr. Robert France, who has proposed whales and other creatures entangled in pre-plastic era fishing gear as the cause of most sea serpent encounters. Nevertheless, the author shares this ethnobiological perspective and ends with a strong conservation message."
InformationPaperback: 256 pagesWhittles Publishing www.whittlespublishing.com 24 October 2024 Language: English ISBN-10: 1849955883 ISBN-13: 978-1849955881 Size: 17 x 24 x 2 cm Buy from Amazon (paid link) Visit Bookshop Main Page |