pearl35 's review for:

Abominable Science!: Origins of the Yeti, Nessie, and Other Famous Cryptids by Daniel Loxton, Donald R. Prothero

3.0

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I admit, I was pretty excited about the Time-Life MYSTERIES OF THE UNEXPLAINED until academia ruined it all. This is a fun book by a professional artist/avocational skeptic and an academic paleontologist, who approach cryptozoology the way Adrienne Mayor does in the books of hers I enjoyed about ancient people thinking mammoth bones meant cyclopes: what would lead people to think they'd discovered Yetis, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, Sea Serpents and the Congo Dinosaur? Was it misunderstanding fossils (aided by several 18th century con-men who constructed mega-monsters for enlightenment royal collections)? Is it the optical illusion of seeing objects on the water from a distance? Why do people want so badly to believe in these creatures? Amazingly, sightings spike when there is available media to broadcast it and tourist industry to benefit from it....