Freeman Bigfoot Files is Paul Freeman’s youngest son compiling photos and audio of his father’s bigfoot research through the 80’s and 90’s. It is an honest attempt to do his father’s work justice and I commend his efforts.
If you’ve listened to Michael Freeman on one of the many podcasts he’s frequented in promotion of this book, the only new material presented here are the photos, audio logs, and enhanced footage. The writing is rather scant and the book is heavily padded with personal photographs, newspaper clippings, a couple of documents and hair sample analyses, and cumbersome QR codes that appear sometimes five times on a page.
A huge downside to this book is the lack of editing in the writing. The author’s chapters feature this oversight most prominently with typos throughout and numerous paragraphs and photo captions in need of basic grammar etiquette. I can’t blame the author for the lack of a proper editor to catch his mistakes and correct them because even the back cover has awful grammar and writing. Also omits Bob Gimlin from the “Patterson footage” comparison.
Speaking of the covers, the physical quality of the book leaves a lot to be desired for a $70 price tag. The print quality is so weird and the edges leave a shiny streak if even the slightest hint of wear. What looks like embossed lettering isn’t and it really should be. When opening the front cover, the glue cracked and exposed itself on the title page. The pages themselves are of a good quality, though some of the photos, the dark tracks especially, would’ve benefited from glossy inserts.
The accompanying “chapters” by fellow researchers, Dr. Jeff Meldrum, Cliff Barackman, Dar Glasgow Addington, and Thom Powell were actually my favorites because they gave a hint of scientific insight to Freeman’s research. Addington’s field journal style was what Freeman’s encounter chapters needed because the author’s input was brief and could’ve been expanded on greatly since there’s apparently hundreds of hours of audio and film. It obviously takes another writer to put a constructive narrative to Freeman’s work.
Maybe my expectations were too high due to the podcasts proclaiming this to be the final stamp solidifying Freeman’s legendary status, but it’s more of a photo album than a book.