The Monster Book: Creatures, Beasts and Fiends of Nature

by Nick Redfern

Monsters have been spotted everywhere, not just hiding under a child’s bed, lurking in the closet, or springing forth from folkloric tales. For many people, monsters are nothing more than myth, folklore, and legend combined. For others―and particularly those who have encountered monstrous forms surfacing and emerging from shadowy caves, from the dark waters of ancient lakes, and from the vast jungles and forests of our worlds―monsters are all too terrifyingly real . Werewolves, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, the Chupacabra, Mothman, the Abominable Snowman, and sea serpents may represent the most famous monsters, but they are not alone. In fact, quite the monsters can be found all across the planet. Exploring the history, folklore, pop culture, and the world of the supernatural, The Monster Creatures, Beasts, and Fiends of Nature is a comprehensive resource of the monster menagerie that exists on planet earth. This fascinating look at monsters has 120 photographs, drawings, and illustrations to bring the nearly 200 entries to life, including The Mongolian Death Worm; The Beast of Bray Road; The Owlman of England; The Yeren of China; Mokele Mbembe; Living Pterosaurs; The Flatwoods Monster; The Labynkyr Devil; Alien Big Cats; Lizard Man; Lake Worth Monster; The Beast of Gevaudan; Megalania, the Monstrous Monitor; South American Sasquatch; Nessie’s lesser known cousin; The Jersey Devil; Sea Serpents; Orang Pendek; and Phantom Black Dogs. Stories of these creatures are told around flickering campfires on chilly nights in the woods, before tucking excited kids into bed, on prime-time television documentaries, and on late-night radio talk shows. Tales of terrifying creatures that the world of science assures us don’t exist. But try telling that to the witnesses. This richly researched reference overflows with fascinating information to make readers think about―and reconsider―their next visit to the woods. This fascinating read also includes a helpful bibliography and an extensive index, adding to its usefulness.

Genres: Monsters, Nonfiction, Paranormal

432 pages, Paperback

First published September 13, 2016

About the author

Nick Redfern is a British best-selling author, Ufologist and Cryptozoologist who has been an active advocate of official disclosure, and has worked to uncover thousands of pages of previously-classified Royal Air Force, Air Ministry and Ministry of Defence files on UFOs dating from the Second World War from the Public Record Office.

He has has appeared on a variety of television programmes in the UK and works on the lecture circuit, both in the UK and overseas, and has appeared in internationally syndicated shows discussing the UFO phenomenon. He is also a regular on the History Channel programs Monster Quest and UFO Hunters as well as National Geographic Channels's Paranormal and the SyFY channel's Proof Positive.

Redfern now lives in Texas and is currently working as a full-time author and journalist specializing in a wide range of unsolved mysteries, including Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, UFO sightings, government conspiracies, alien abductions and paranormal phenomena, and also works as a feature writer and contributing editor for Phenomena magazine and writes regularly for other magazines and websites.

In 2007 Universal Studios bought the rights to Redfern's book: "Three Men Seeking Monsters: Six Weeks in Pursuit of Werewolves, Lake Monster, Giant Cats, Ghostly Devil Dogs and Ape-Men" in the hopes of making a movie from it.

Reviews

[Steven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dude says a lot w/out saying anything.
Gives tons of unnecessary information and takes forever to get to folklore & witness accounts. Also a lot of repetition; especially the Lake Monsters portion (72 pages of identical stories!). Felt like an undergrad tryna sound smart (and reach a word count lol)

Desperately needed a *good* editor.

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing too memorable or enjoyable.

[Eric Copeland · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I thought this book was entertaining and informative, I couldn't give it a higher rating because of the author's writing style (I assume it was all the author, because if there WAS an editor, neither that person nor the author has ever been introduced to either Strunk OR White).

The research and compilation that went into this volume was obviously exhaustive, but for the reader the experience is exhausting. This book could easily have been trimmed by a third or even half if only someone had told the author that he needed to be more concise. Seriously, a lot of the entries read as if they were written by a fifth-grader who needed to reach a certain word count and kept coming up short, so he pads every phrase, every sentence, with meaningless words.

Here are a few ACTUAL examples: "Dating back to the 1800s, specifically the mid-1860s..." (Then just SAY the mid-1860s -- there's no need to set the stage there.) "She supposedly lived until the 1880s, when she passed away." (Yes, that's usually how that works.) "He was suddenly, and out of the blue, dive-bombed by an immense creature." (Wait, suddenly AND out of the blue? That's EXTRA surprise-y!) "He could only site and stare, in a combination of fear and awe, as he tried to take in and comprehend the thing that stood before him." (A red pen could have made that sentence half as long.) "And thus was quickly born a vampire legend. Very quickly." (No comment needed there. At all.) And then there were the livestock that were "found with their skulls crushed and their limbs torn off in violent, bloody fashion." I guess, as opposed to the gentle, bloodless fashion that sometimes occurs.

Here's a favorite one: "Sometimes a monster is described as being so incredibly strange that one can do very little other than relate the facts -- chiefly because the available facts are so strange and near-unfathomable, in terms of what they might represent." Does this guy write Kamala Harris's speeches?

Add to that the fact that Mr. Redfern uses hackneyed phrases over and over and over. Every loud sound (and some silence) is described as "ear-splitting." When a creature appears, it seems like "all hell breaks loose" far more than it should. And I literally lost count of how many times "to be sure" was added as an extraneous phrase.

If you enjoy reading about cryptids ranging from the well-known ones like Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, Mothman, and the Chupacabra, all the way down to Filipino man-eating plants, huge phantom hounds in the English countryside, octopi dwelling in Oklahoma's lakes, and even some creatures that made a single appearance and never returned, you'll find it all here. Just be aware that you'll also find a lot of meaningless words and phrases that are superfluous, unnecessary, and often redundant and repetitive.

[Stephen Dedman · Rating 2 out of 5]

An uncritical catalogue of hearsay accounts of supposed monster sightings. Take with a large container of salt and/or a copy of Abominable Science.