The Rough Guide to Unexplained Phenomena 2 by Michell, John, Rickard, Bob, Rough Guides [Rough Guides,2007] (Paperback) 2nd Edition

by Bob Rickard

The Rough Guide to Unexplained Phenomena 2 by Michell, John, Rickard, Bob, Rough Guides. Published by Rough Guides,2007, Paperback 2nd Edition

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Science, Paranormal, Reference

Unknown Binding

First published October 23, 2000

About the author

same as Robert J. Rickard

Reviews

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is kind of a kick -- it's a huge compendium of just about every weird phenomenon you can think of: crop circles, poltergeists, rains of frogs and other animals, bleeding statues... Of course, nothing is as in-depth as one would like, which is occasionally frustrating, but my main quibbles concern the design of the book. For one thing, many of the black and white illustrations are actually reproduced in purple ink, which causes less contrast and makes them harder to see/understand. Additionally, a lot of the illustrations are blurry. I know to expect photos of Bigfoot or UFOs to be blurry, but even some of the reproductions of engravings and drawings seem blurred and are not as clear as they should be. Also, oftentimes there are photographs or drawings with captions, but the actual text does not go into more detail about these photos or the stories mentioned in the captions. For example, in the section on spontaneous human combustion, there is what would appear to be a rather good photograph (of course, it could be a fake) of a mostly-incinerated woman, supposedly a victim of SHC. Yet the text does not mention her case, although it describes several other similar incidents. It's the kind of shoddy scholarship that calls into question the validity of everything in the book. Also, there are no footnotes or endnotes and no bibliography, so it is difficult if not impossible to learn whether the stories cited are actual events or simply made up whole cloth. So, in any event, it's a good bathroom book, but don't take anything too seriously.

[TrumanCoyote · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun compendium of things goofy. I would've preferred it if the authors had let their own theories intrude a bit less into the proceedings. Also, I couldn't help but feel that things were a bit selective and the wording leading at times; then too, although traditional scientists are frequently bozos, being "scientific" is somehow an exalted state.

Still, can't dislike anything with a sentence like: "We have another idea, equally preposterous and therefore no less worthy of consideration--" And the occasional drolleries of the text did not go unnoticed by this-here perennial wiseacre. :)

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a bit of fun. Not the best such book, but my eldest daughter found it interesting when looking at Nessie info after reading a school book based on the story. We then looked at other mythical creatures and it proved useful as a quick reference. If you want detail, you'll need to look elsewhere - more of an overview really.

[Dominic Wade · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mainly dipped into this book and have not read the whole thing. Some of the things are extremely bizarre and interesting, while others are rather disturbing.