A Cryptozoologist's Library

 

I’m doing a project I call “A Cryptozoologist’s Library” (ACL).  The idea was to pull all my book reviews over the last 30 years and collect and publish those I think taught me the most about cryptozoology, It has, of course, gotten more complicated, but I should say what I’m NOT trying to do is establish a best-books canon.  Doing that right could take a couple of years.  Getting something people can use in 2020 means they’re getting the view of someone who’s been reading the topic for 45 years.  My intent is to put out a low-cost e-book anyone interested in cryptozoology can afford.

Why just books? Books are important in any field, but they have a special importance in cryptozoology. Magazines, newspapers, letters, etc. are ephemeral, and despite the huge efforts made by people like Loren Coleman, much is lost to us. Books have survived. They’ve been written and carried all over the world.  One other proven means of sharing information is scientific journals, but cryptozoological work is rarely submitted and very rarely passes muster, while cryptozoological journals have struggled.  So books are the backbone of cryptozoology’s body of shared knowledge. Many of the books in ACL are available as e-books, but I’m a traditionalist, and every book here is available (new or used) as a physical book I’ve had in my possession.

My focus is physical, scientific cryptozoology. I don’t discount parapsychological phenomena out of hand, but this is my project and to me, “If it’s not zoology, it’s not cryptozoology.”  If cryptozoology is ever going to prove the existence of mystery animals in a way that gets them (the animals) proper protection and adds to human knowledge, it has to be by scientific methods and results.  

Having said that, what is cryptozoology?  

Having read many definitions, this is mine.

Cryptozoology is a scientific endeavor that uses the methods of zoology (investigation, archival research, talking to indigenous/local people about animals, etc.) to search for new and presumed-extinct animals, but broadens the aperture to consider cases where the evidence has not been strong enough, or the circumstances (habitat, etc.) favorable enough, to draw significant attention from most zoologists.

The draft of ACL has already climbed past 220 entries.  To keep it from getting out of hand, I’ve set a limit of 200, and I think it will look like this: 130 books about, or mainly about, cryptozoology, 35 books from my related science reading (paleontology, zoology, etc.), 20-25 novels, and 10 slots for oddities. I include novels because they, too, have special importance in cryptozoology. Not only can good novels get people thinking about the unknown creatures of the world, they provide a means for scientifically-minded authors to work out the details of how, say, Ogopogo might eat, reproduce, stay hidden, etc.  (That rules out the horror novelists who go straight to the teeth and claws, however fun they may be.)

The numbers mean some books already reviewed will be deleted. I have orders out for only about four more that might be added.  Thanks to everyone for the recommendations of all sorts.  I’m mentioning this project publicly so I have to follow through: I’m bad about that.  There may also be a book sale when I’m done, as I’ve read a lot more books than I can shelve.  

As I said, it’s not a canonical list (that would be a huge project that would require some level of return, while the ACL book is planned to be affordable).  

Despite starting this as a low-input endeavor to suggest books I’ve found valuable; it’s grown a little more complex.  To wit:

1.                  I have to decide where to draw a draw a fuzzy line about how much paranormal content rules out a book that provides worthwhile information on physical cryptozoology.  For example, Healey and Cropper’s Out of the Shadows: Mystery Animals of Australia has one chapter on apparitions, but the rest is good: it definitely qualifies.   

2.                  Where do some books go? A book on the Tasmanian tiger would normally fall in Science, but as cryptozoologists still seek it, I put a couple that seemed to fit in the cryptozoology section.

3.                  The Science section is the only one where I thought, “I should have one book on A and at least one on B.”  Since there are 30-35 slots, I’ve focused on books that seem useful to cryptozoological pursuits, meaning vertebrates get most of the space (the cephalopods being an exception).   Books won’t make anyone a field expert, and I’m not one myself, so the focus here is on foundational science vs. how to build a sasquatch trap or take witness statements.  Examples making the cut so far include: A New Human, by Morwood and van Oosterzee; Evolution, by Carl Zimmer; The Lost Species, by Christopher Kemp; and World Ocean Census, by Crist, et. al.)  

So, I’m progressing.  I’m pondering looking for someone who already understands e-books to work with: it will take a little longer if I actually have to learn a business, I should have learned a decade ago.

Onwards!