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Vampirology: The Science of Horror's Most Famous Fiend
Our fascination with the vampire myth has scarcely diminished since Bram Stoker’s publication of the classic Dracula tale in 1897, but how much of the lore is based in fact and can science explain the origins of horror’s most famous fiend? Vampirology charts the murky waters of the vampire myth – from stories found in many cultures across the globe to our sympathetic pop-culture renditions today – to investigate how a scientific interpretation may shed light on the fears and phenomena of the vampire myth.
290 pages, Paperback
Published June 8, 2021
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195 people want to read
About the author
Kathryn Harkup
14 books97 followersKathryn Harkup is a chemist and author. Kathryn completed a PhD then a postdoc at the University of York before realising that talking, writing and demonstrating science appealed far more than spending hours slaving over a hot fume-hood. Kathryn went on to run outreach in engineering, computing, physics and maths at the University of Surrey, which involved writing talks on science and engineering topics that would appeal to bored teenagers, and she is now a science communicator delivering talks and workshops on the quirky side of science.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 19, 2021
This is the second non-fiction book featuring vampires that I've read in recent days. The other, The Modern Myths by Philip Ball, didn't claim to be a science book, concentrating as it did on the nature of myth - but in Vampirology, Kathryn Harkup seeks to put vampires squarely into the remit of popular science. It's even (somewhat oddly, perhaps) published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
To an extent, what Harkup is doing here is the well-established format of a 'science of' book - the subtitle is indeed 'the science of horror's most famous fiend.' Harkup has already given us Making the Monster taking a similar approach to Frankenstein, which worked well. Although the natural topics of such books tend to be science fiction - and Frankenstein is arguably proto-science fiction - we've seen a number of titles successfully straying into fantasy, from the Science of Discworld books to Science of Middle Earth.
Here, we get a reasonable summary of what the vampire legend has entailed throughout history - with some pretty unpleasant attempts to dispose of 'real' supposed vampire corpses - plus a bit on the better known literary and screen vampires (though thankfully the Twilight gang don't get much of a mention) - particularly giving focus to Polidori's Ruthven and, of course, Dracula. But the majority of the book picks up on aspects of science and medicine/disease (particularly the medical side) that have some sort of parallel with the fictional abilities of vampires.
This means we get plenty on being undead - so the nature of death and conditions that can appear like death but aren't - on the function of blood (in general and as a supposed restorative), on sunlight and conditions that make people light sensitive (though they don't usually disperse in a cloud of ash), and includes pretty far-fetched attempts to deal with the potential science of supernatural capabilities, such as walking down walls or mind control. Although I love vampires in fiction, I found the medical and disease-related aspects outside both my interest and comfort zone. You could either regard some of the linkages as ingenious or far-fetched - so, for example, in a chapter on disease, the idea of modelling the spread of vampires is tied to Snow's cholera mapping. Other chapters are driven primarily by vampire lore when dealing the evolution of vampires, vampiroids (essentially vampire wannabes), prevention and slaying (where I was disappointed not to have more on the science of Buffy).
As a book, perhaps surprisingly in a topic based on fiction, there's a bit of tendency to pile on facts with relatively little storytelling, which can feel a little heavy. This wasn't helped by a structure that felt like a series of articles that had been pulled together - a number of key points were introduced several times as if they hadn't mentioned before. For example, the Murnau film Nosferatu was introduced in some detail three separate times.
Harkup has done a really good job of coming up with science that could be linked to vampires, often producing fascinating factoids along the way - but I did finish the book wondering if this was really a topic that required a 'science of' title.
To an extent, what Harkup is doing here is the well-established format of a 'science of' book - the subtitle is indeed 'the science of horror's most famous fiend.' Harkup has already given us Making the Monster taking a similar approach to Frankenstein, which worked well. Although the natural topics of such books tend to be science fiction - and Frankenstein is arguably proto-science fiction - we've seen a number of titles successfully straying into fantasy, from the Science of Discworld books to Science of Middle Earth.
Here, we get a reasonable summary of what the vampire legend has entailed throughout history - with some pretty unpleasant attempts to dispose of 'real' supposed vampire corpses - plus a bit on the better known literary and screen vampires (though thankfully the Twilight gang don't get much of a mention) - particularly giving focus to Polidori's Ruthven and, of course, Dracula. But the majority of the book picks up on aspects of science and medicine/disease (particularly the medical side) that have some sort of parallel with the fictional abilities of vampires.
This means we get plenty on being undead - so the nature of death and conditions that can appear like death but aren't - on the function of blood (in general and as a supposed restorative), on sunlight and conditions that make people light sensitive (though they don't usually disperse in a cloud of ash), and includes pretty far-fetched attempts to deal with the potential science of supernatural capabilities, such as walking down walls or mind control. Although I love vampires in fiction, I found the medical and disease-related aspects outside both my interest and comfort zone. You could either regard some of the linkages as ingenious or far-fetched - so, for example, in a chapter on disease, the idea of modelling the spread of vampires is tied to Snow's cholera mapping. Other chapters are driven primarily by vampire lore when dealing the evolution of vampires, vampiroids (essentially vampire wannabes), prevention and slaying (where I was disappointed not to have more on the science of Buffy).
As a book, perhaps surprisingly in a topic based on fiction, there's a bit of tendency to pile on facts with relatively little storytelling, which can feel a little heavy. This wasn't helped by a structure that felt like a series of articles that had been pulled together - a number of key points were introduced several times as if they hadn't mentioned before. For example, the Murnau film Nosferatu was introduced in some detail three separate times.
Harkup has done a really good job of coming up with science that could be linked to vampires, often producing fascinating factoids along the way - but I did finish the book wondering if this was really a topic that required a 'science of' title.
June 23, 2021
A fangtastic work of popular science, Vampirology asks whether vampires could exist given our scientific understanding today. See my full review at https://inquisitivebiologist.com/2021...
June 2, 2023
As a follower of the author on Twitter, I knew this book was in the making and I was on tenterhooks until the book was in my hands!
And I was not disappointed - I had information and entertainment!
A little personal note: I am from Romania, and on my father's side, Transylvanian. Which did not prevent me from being shocked/embarrased by the introduction of the matter: it is the case of a deceased man being treated like a vampire, in 21st century Romania. Well, some beliefs die hard, no matter the access to science.
I enjoyed reading about all that our imaginations and emotions built and wove together because the processes our body goes through after death was not well understood scientifically.
Or what preceded or lead to it, such as diseases (with some of the symptoms that inspired the vampire behavior and aspect paraphernalia - light sensitivity, pale skin, dietary habits) or lifestyle (the part with the arsenic eaters of the Austrian mountains was quite bittersweet)
And the extra touches people would come up with: body transformations, odors, dealing with unfinished business...
In some way, a vampire seems to be the aggregate of what scares us, of what we ignore, of what fascinates about the unknown and about what happens to us after death. Because just body decomposition, unless you are a scientist or forensic expert, is just a little bit too bland.
And ultimately, vampires maybe just serve to suck out the blandness from death and give it a touch of eternity, glamour and pep. Which is why we offer them our blood - our undying fascination and interest.
And I was not disappointed - I had information and entertainment!
A little personal note: I am from Romania, and on my father's side, Transylvanian. Which did not prevent me from being shocked/embarrased by the introduction of the matter: it is the case of a deceased man being treated like a vampire, in 21st century Romania. Well, some beliefs die hard, no matter the access to science.
I enjoyed reading about all that our imaginations and emotions built and wove together because the processes our body goes through after death was not well understood scientifically.
Or what preceded or lead to it, such as diseases (with some of the symptoms that inspired the vampire behavior and aspect paraphernalia - light sensitivity, pale skin, dietary habits) or lifestyle (the part with the arsenic eaters of the Austrian mountains was quite bittersweet)
And the extra touches people would come up with: body transformations, odors, dealing with unfinished business...
In some way, a vampire seems to be the aggregate of what scares us, of what we ignore, of what fascinates about the unknown and about what happens to us after death. Because just body decomposition, unless you are a scientist or forensic expert, is just a little bit too bland.
And ultimately, vampires maybe just serve to suck out the blandness from death and give it a touch of eternity, glamour and pep. Which is why we offer them our blood - our undying fascination and interest.
June 16, 2021
Really interesting and great fun!
April 29, 2022
Another excellent read by an author who has yet to disappoint. Informative and delightfully ironic.
July 17, 2024
3.5
An interesting in depth look into the possible origins and influence of Vampires.
I really liked the beginning but go bored in the middle.
An interesting in depth look into the possible origins and influence of Vampires.
I really liked the beginning but go bored in the middle.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews