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agrippinaes 's review for:
Unexplained
by Richard MacLean Smith
I’ve wanted to read this for a while, because I’ve listened to the podcast for a few years. The set up of the book is simple; each chapter focuses on a different unexplained mystery or phenomena, giving a detailed description of events followed by a summary discussing how this relates to humanity on a wider scale. For those who have listened to the podcast, this will be a familiar structure. I found this worked well as a format, because it enabled me to dip in and out of the book as I wanted to.
It’s an interesting book. The choice of stories is good; some of them are probably very famous to those interested in this sort of subject, whilst others I had never heard of. Each one is treated with the same level of attention and detail by the author. The writing is mostly very strong; his style is very pretty, and, as in his podcast, there are some very haunting and beautifully written passages.
That said, I do think the writing is at its best when the ‘stories’ themselves are being recounted. The writing when this happens is very engaging and readable. The writing gets a little bit flowery and complicated when he tries to make connections to the wider world, and some of his arguments got a bit lost to me. It’s a bit elaborate, sometimes, and the interesting part of this book is the stories themselves – not necessarily what this means for humanity in general.
If you’ve listened to the podcast before, then this is probably a good addition to it. If you’re not familiar, then this is quite a decent overview of some very interesting ‘unexplained’ mysteries, told in a creepy, unsettling fashion, and is very atmospheric. I think my issue with it is just that – I don’t think anyone is reading this because they want to do a deep dive into the psychology behind paranormal experiences and the human condition, so sometimes, the focus on that can get a bit boring and dry. But I still think it’s worth a read.
Content Notes:
Warnings:.
It’s an interesting book. The choice of stories is good; some of them are probably very famous to those interested in this sort of subject, whilst others I had never heard of. Each one is treated with the same level of attention and detail by the author. The writing is mostly very strong; his style is very pretty, and, as in his podcast, there are some very haunting and beautifully written passages.
That said, I do think the writing is at its best when the ‘stories’ themselves are being recounted. The writing when this happens is very engaging and readable. The writing gets a little bit flowery and complicated when he tries to make connections to the wider world, and some of his arguments got a bit lost to me. It’s a bit elaborate, sometimes, and the interesting part of this book is the stories themselves – not necessarily what this means for humanity in general.
If you’ve listened to the podcast before, then this is probably a good addition to it. If you’re not familiar, then this is quite a decent overview of some very interesting ‘unexplained’ mysteries, told in a creepy, unsettling fashion, and is very atmospheric. I think my issue with it is just that – I don’t think anyone is reading this because they want to do a deep dive into the psychology behind paranormal experiences and the human condition, so sometimes, the focus on that can get a bit boring and dry. But I still think it’s worth a read.
Content Notes:
Warnings: