Reviews

Hunting Monsters: Cryptozoology and the Reality Behind the Myths by Darren Naish

jasonwalko's review

funny informative lighthearted medium-paced

4.0

I’ve been familiar with Darren Naish for a while and I’ve been a big fan of his work on certain paleontology and zoology related media. He’s a man who clearly knows his stuff and it definitely shows in this book.

I want to take some time to appreciate Darren Naish for a second. I think there’s a bit of reluctance among scientists to even engage with a topic like “cryptozoology” and I’m glad that he allows himself to work on a subject like this. As he points out several times in this beautifully researched book, cryptozoology is actually more of an intersection between folklore and anthropology rather than a genuine branch of zoology, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t scientific value in studying these “mystery animal reports.” Taking a look at the actual “evidence” and witness accounts for cryptids reveals really interesting things about human nature and cultural attitudes, which there is certainly scientific merit in doing so.

If you’re a hardcore cryptid believer though, this isn’t the book for you. Naish tears apart tons of purported evidence for all the cryptid superstars and pretty much reduces some already flimsy stuff into basically nothing. It’s still cool to see explanations behind all of the famous cryptid sightings though, and Naish encourages the reader implicitly to think critically about information you see and hear in your daily life. This book kind of reads like a long form version of a “crypto mega thread” that Naish sometimes posts on Twitter, which are always cool to see on my timeline. I enjoyed this a bit more in some ways because I found the book much easier to read than the mega threads.

One of my only criticisms of this is that Naish’s writing veers into being a little too academic at times and this kind of ends up reading like a long form essay. I get that it’s a serious scientific book but the writing is super dry. Also, some of the sections in here desperately called for more pictures. There are certain drawings and photos mentioned that don’t have a visual component to them in the book, in places that really should. Naish includes them in his Twitter mega threads, so it’s a little puzzling to me that he left out a lot of the visuals here. I found myself googling a lot of the pictures to see what he was talking about  and a lot of them are kind of obscure and hard to find. It would’ve been more convenient to just have them here in the book.

Now I’m off to watch Finding Bigfoot so I can learn both sides of the story. /s

nordiccowgirl's review

informative relaxing

4.0

kelamity_reads's review

informative mysterious medium-paced

3.0

I read this after hearing it referenced in a Common Descent podcast on Cryptozoology.

I've a sceptic's interest in cryptozoology and expected to enjoy this book, however, I found the author's style to be somewhat monotonous. Many of the chapters felt more like Wikipedia pages - dates, names, places, etc - without much insight.

It's also interesting to note that the author seems to only take into account sightings by European/White people and from post-colonial times. The chapter discussing the Yowie, for instance, totally failed to take Aboriginal history and sightings into account.

cm93's review

informative mysterious reflective medium-paced

3.75

katherinecherney's review

3.0

Knocked off a star for the terrible unit conversions, 40m snake, sounds fake, 24inch snake less so, these are not the same length. Otherwise a very fun read, especially if you look up pictures as you go.

nrmaharaj's review

4.0

4 stars if you're into this sort of thing. More like 3 stars as a work of popular science or cultural studies. Naish knows his stuff, but he writes like an academic, which is to say he expects the reader to do a lot of work in either unpacking statements dense with meaning, remembering the significance of names (based on the barest of character sketches), and generally continuing to turn pages in the absence of any narrative thrust.

I'm glad I read this book. If you're curious about the topic, you should read it too. But don't go out of your way.

mar's review

1.0

blown away by how the author managed to make such an interesting topic so mind-numbingly boring. an achievement, honestly

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death

Minor: Racism

A lot of detailed descriptions of animal carcasses

greenie_'s review

2.0

Disappointing. I'm on Darren's "side" on the cryptozoology issue already - I study biology and am a skeptic with regard to the monsters in the book - but it still comes across as condescending and patronizing. When I borrowed this book I was hoping for a genuinely curious dive into any of the following:
1) the hypothetical biology behind monsters
2) the real biology behind the known animals that get mistaken for monsters
3) or, the psychology or anthropology behind monster folk tales
But instead, it rather read as a list of debunkings. Maybe I was just expecting too much. The writing style was quite boring as well.
Also, as a religious person (albeit not a young earth creationist) I don't appreciate the mean spirited way he portrays us.

abomine's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

I decided to give this a read after hearing it referenced so often in TREY the Explainer's cryptid videos, and it certainly didn't disappoint. Believers won't find much vindication in this book, but if you're a skeptic looking for an analysis of cryptozoology not as a real science, but as a modern extension of the mythology, folklore, and tall tales of yesteryear, definitely give Darren Naish's Hunting Monsters a read.

citrustree's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.0

A book debunking most of the famous cryptids found in cryptozoology. Some may take Naish as close minded, but his understanding of what makes people like cryptids is something to behold. A definite read for someone into paleontology and cryptids alike, though believers beware.