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librosylagrimas's review
informative
fast-paced
4.0
me encantó leer del origen de los monstruos y como se han tratado de buscar explicaciones para estos desde lo biológico, social y psicológico; en especial porque el autor nos permite ver rasgos importantes de cada cultura y hechos históricos que influyen en la construcción de estos seres. la conclusión me fastidio un poquito porque siento que es el mismo discurso vacío de siempre entonces sentí que sobraba, pero de resto fue algo que me dejo pensando mucho y eso me fascina.
happentobeshort's review
4.0
This was pretty damn fun, I must say. I went through phases of not liking it that much and then loving it, and then finally to just enjoying it, while reading. It seems that when you want to get to the exact 'conception' of some of these ancient monsters, the answer is almost always FOSSILS!! DINOSAURS!!!! TAR PITS!!!!!!! Which I guess makes a lot of sense if you think about it. At the end of the day, these creatures are not real so there really is no 'moment of conception' or anyway of proving how they really came about. It was pretty fun to read though. So uh, check it out if you love spooky creatures and stuff. From Chimeras to Golems and Vampires to Aliens.
https://hercommonplaceblog.wordpress.com/
https://hercommonplaceblog.wordpress.com/
librarolyn's review
2.0
This was a fun, fast read and I certainly learned some new things about the history of monsters - particularly about zombie-makers in Haiti. I had no idea zombie legends could have a pretty solid basis in history and science (Zora Neale Hurston did though, apparently). A lot of the science and theory behind it is probably guesswork anyone with a little understand of evolution and human psychology could propose, but it was still interesting. I don't think James Cameron's Avatar was as much as a revolution in human/monster reversal as Kaplan's conclusion claims it was, or that its so-called "resonance" with audience had anything to do with plot or themes, or anything other than fancy animation (booo Avatar!).
Ultimately, it felt a bit like a long, slightly repetitive college essay about the potential truths or reasons behind monstrous mythologies, but had enough tidbits and facts to keep me interested (if had been any longer than 200 pages though, I probably wouldn't have bothered). I did, though, appreciate the kind of threatening end to the book when he finally says outright what he's been hinting at all along and everyone knows and fears: we are the real monsters and we will surely destroy ourselves if we don't get it together.
Ultimately, it felt a bit like a long, slightly repetitive college essay about the potential truths or reasons behind monstrous mythologies, but had enough tidbits and facts to keep me interested (if had been any longer than 200 pages though, I probably wouldn't have bothered). I did, though, appreciate the kind of threatening end to the book when he finally says outright what he's been hinting at all along and everyone knows and fears: we are the real monsters and we will surely destroy ourselves if we don't get it together.
rumblethumps's review
3.0
For some reason I didn't like this one as much as I expected to! It has "science" in the title, but there wasn't really a whole lot of science behind most of the points that were made. Most of it can be summarized by how fossils and innate fears of dangerous animals explain how we created most monsters and why we're afraid of them, which is neat, but not quite as in-depth as I expected from the title and summary. Plus since most of the chapters revolved around that same point, it got pretty repetitive.
I guess I expected it to discuss more aspects of monsters than just their origin and why they're scary; like maybe the science behind what it would take for them to exist in the real world, or how society would be different if they were real. A couple chapters almost touched on it, like the dinosaur one, but never really discussed it in-depth.
It still brought up a few interesting points that I hadn't thought about though, and it didn't take very long to get through, so I didn't totally hate it! Still a neat, quick read that makes you think.
I guess I expected it to discuss more aspects of monsters than just their origin and why they're scary; like maybe the science behind what it would take for them to exist in the real world, or how society would be different if they were real. A couple chapters almost touched on it, like the dinosaur one, but never really discussed it in-depth.
It still brought up a few interesting points that I hadn't thought about though, and it didn't take very long to get through, so I didn't totally hate it! Still a neat, quick read that makes you think.
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