Shuker is a consummate scientist, but also a little bit of a nut. Whereas mainstream science is concerned with exploring and finding new animals in a blind, happenstance manner, Shuker starts with the position that folklore and cultural tales about “monsters” are based in fact and these creatures can be found in the wild. He stops himself from going too far off the deep end by trying to explain away a lot of the features of these animals as simple adaptions of known specimens, postulating that the Mongolian Death Worm is really a poisonous snake or that Sea Serpents are really just undiscovered giant eels. The book is entertaining and a great many will learn a lot about zoology and animal behavior, but ultimately it lends credence to the idea that dragons and monsters are real, which diminishes any real power it could have. ( )

http://thesplinteredmind.blogspot.com... ( )