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"Things"
- GenresMonstersNonfiction
188 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1967
52 people want to read
About the author
Ivan T. Sanderson
111 books38 followersScottish biologist, mostly known for his writings on cryptozoology and the paranormal.
Sanderson published three classics of nature writing: Animal Treasure, a report of an expedition to the jungles of then-British West Africa; Caribbean Treasure, an account of an expedition to Trinidad, Haiti, and Surinam, begun in late 1936 and ending in late 1938; and Living Treasure, an account of an expedition to Jamaica, British Honduras (now Belize) and the Yucatan.
Sanderson published three classics of nature writing: Animal Treasure, a report of an expedition to the jungles of then-British West Africa; Caribbean Treasure, an account of an expedition to Trinidad, Haiti, and Surinam, begun in late 1936 and ending in late 1938; and Living Treasure, an account of an expedition to Jamaica, British Honduras (now Belize) and the Yucatan.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 14, 2016
another recent bedtime read from my credulous youth.
Essentially, this is a collection of short pieces that Sanderson wrote for FATE magazine. In that sense, it makes for a more enjoyable read than the recent experience of re-reading Invisible Residents, because the pieces are pithy and succinct (or as succinct as Sanderson's tortuous prose style will allow) and varied, covering a variety of topics: Globsters, Lake Monsters, Sea Monsters, various geological anomalies, various forms of sasquatch/wild men, and assorted oddities.
Sanderson is an odd writer - he is more on the rationalist science side of things than any paranormal/space brothers/new-agey (or for that matter, paperback hack) side, but he seems to be committed to envisioning himself as continuing the work of Charles Fort (as many writers in this area did). But Sanderson also seems to want to uphold Fort's cranky and obstreperous tone when writing on topics that science has ignored or "damned", and the problem with that is that Fort could get away with his huffy tone because he was of his time and part of a general "common sense"/Mencken-like zeitgeist of quasi-journalists who liked rattling the pompous proclamations of scientists, puncturing windbags with the needle of humor. Sanderson, meanwhile, is of the space age and not as funny and, honestly, strives too much to make the odd ideas he's investigating comport within scientific strictures with little actual support (he "theorizes" as if all data, most of it anectodal, were scientific, from which suppositions can be made).
So I enjoyed reading his chapter on the Wudéwásá (British "Wild Men" figures who appear in various medieval folios) but cock an eyebrow when he goes off onto his theory that the depiction of their human-like (and not ape-like) feet *might* suggest that they were symbolic representations of encounters with the last Neanderthals. His chapter on lake monsters, oddly, led me to wonder if the supposedly oft-spotted creature might be the last remnants of some huge, mega-fauna slug or snail, and not the unknown mammal he was arguing for. The chapters on the Maricoxi (a supposed stonge-age tribe of ape-like men living in the Matto Grosso) and the Toonijuk (a tribe of despised hairy men that supposedly lived in the arctic wastes of Greenland) were fun reads, as was his succinct examination of the oft-reported phenomena of submarine "light wheels". But, to say it again, Sanderson has a strange style that almost seems constantly struggling with itself as you read, often spinning off into tangents, overstating claims with hyperbolic language or just dead-ending itself.
Still, as a kid, this was a fun read and it was interesting to look at again.
Essentially, this is a collection of short pieces that Sanderson wrote for FATE magazine. In that sense, it makes for a more enjoyable read than the recent experience of re-reading Invisible Residents, because the pieces are pithy and succinct (or as succinct as Sanderson's tortuous prose style will allow) and varied, covering a variety of topics: Globsters, Lake Monsters, Sea Monsters, various geological anomalies, various forms of sasquatch/wild men, and assorted oddities.
Sanderson is an odd writer - he is more on the rationalist science side of things than any paranormal/space brothers/new-agey (or for that matter, paperback hack) side, but he seems to be committed to envisioning himself as continuing the work of Charles Fort (as many writers in this area did). But Sanderson also seems to want to uphold Fort's cranky and obstreperous tone when writing on topics that science has ignored or "damned", and the problem with that is that Fort could get away with his huffy tone because he was of his time and part of a general "common sense"/Mencken-like zeitgeist of quasi-journalists who liked rattling the pompous proclamations of scientists, puncturing windbags with the needle of humor. Sanderson, meanwhile, is of the space age and not as funny and, honestly, strives too much to make the odd ideas he's investigating comport within scientific strictures with little actual support (he "theorizes" as if all data, most of it anectodal, were scientific, from which suppositions can be made).
So I enjoyed reading his chapter on the Wudéwásá (British "Wild Men" figures who appear in various medieval folios) but cock an eyebrow when he goes off onto his theory that the depiction of their human-like (and not ape-like) feet *might* suggest that they were symbolic representations of encounters with the last Neanderthals. His chapter on lake monsters, oddly, led me to wonder if the supposedly oft-spotted creature might be the last remnants of some huge, mega-fauna slug or snail, and not the unknown mammal he was arguing for. The chapters on the Maricoxi (a supposed stonge-age tribe of ape-like men living in the Matto Grosso) and the Toonijuk (a tribe of despised hairy men that supposedly lived in the arctic wastes of Greenland) were fun reads, as was his succinct examination of the oft-reported phenomena of submarine "light wheels". But, to say it again, Sanderson has a strange style that almost seems constantly struggling with itself as you read, often spinning off into tangents, overstating claims with hyperbolic language or just dead-ending itself.
Still, as a kid, this was a fun read and it was interesting to look at again.
March 13, 2020
Well it was worth the 10 cents I paid for it in the used bookstore.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews