Ever since humankiind first ventured out onto the oceans, sailors came back with stories of sea monsters. For two hundred years, scientists have been attempting to classify these 'creatures' within an acceptable zoological frame of reference. The most important of these was produced by Professor Bernard Heuvelmans half a century ago. Michael Woodley, takes a look at Heuvelmans' classification model, re-examines it in the light of new discoveries in palaeontology and ichthyology over the past fifty years, and reaches some astounding conclusions.
A short, thoroughly amusing follow-up to Bernard Heuvelmans' crypto classic IN THE WAKE OF THE SEA SERPENTS. Author Woodley examine Heuvelmans' proposed classification of large, unknown sea creatures, tweaking them where new data has emerged and addressing other findings from the last few decades. Whether one views this as serious biology or an exercise in wishful fantasy, the effort is impressive and -- like Heuvelmans' work -- constructive of a cohesive system that might explain the long record of sightings and encounters with mysteries deep and vast.
Far more amusing and imaginative than skepticism can ever be.
This is a lazy book with poor scholarship. It's worth about as much as a pint at the pub with the guy speculating loosely. He even stoops so low as to cite wikipedia directly and appears to even copy quotes from it verbatim. Woodley is clueless.