A Monstrous Commotion

A Monstrous Commotion
Author: Gareth Williams
Publisher: Orion
Total Pages: 551
Release: 2015-11-12
Genre: History
ISBN: 1409158756

The Loch Ness Monster: a creature that should have died out with the dinosaurs, or a legend built on hoaxes and wishful thinking? Sir Peter Scott, internationally renowned naturalist and president of the World Wildlife Fund, was convinced that the Monster existed. So were senior scientists at London's Natural History Museum and Chicago University; they lost their jobs because they refused to renounce their belief in the creature. For decades, the scientific establishment was determined to quash attempts to investigate Loch Ness - until Nature, the world's greatest research journal, published an article by Peter Scott featuring underwater photographs of the Monster. Drawing extensively on new material, Gareth Williams takes a wholly original look at what really happened in Loch Ness. A Monstrous Commotion tells the story as never before: a gripping saga populated by colourful characters who do extraordinary things in pursuit of one of evolution's wildest cards. Meticulously researched and dazzlingly written, this book will appeal to anyone fascinated by nature and its mysteries - and to everyone who enjoys a beautifully crafted detective story with a strong cast of heroes and villains, plenty of twists and an unexpected ending.

River Monsters

River Monsters
Author: Jeremy Wade
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Total Pages: 302
Release: 2011-04-05
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 0306819805

I'm Jeremy Wade, biologist and fishing detective. For twenty-five years, I've explored our planet's remotest rivers and lakes, hunting for monster-sized fish. It's become something of an obsession for me. . . . Called "the greatest angling explorer of his generation" (Independent on Sunday), Jeremy Wade, host of Animal Planet's wildly popular TV series River Monsters, takes viewers where no wildlife program has gone before, revealing the creatures that lurk in the murky depths of our planet's inland waterways. Now, Wade goes truly beneath the surface, disclosing full details of how he tracks down and catches each species while also recounting the off-camera highlights of his extraordinary life. From his arrest as a suspected spy in Southeast Asia to a plane crash in the Amazon, every page of River Monsters is packed with adventure. Each chapter unfolds an enthralling detective story, where fishermen's tales of underwater man-eaters and aquatic killers are subjected to scientific scrutiny. Follow Wade step-by-step as, armed with just a fishing line, he closes in on his prey and separates fact from fiction. From the heart of the Congo, where he wrestles with supernatural goliath tigerfish, to the depths of the Amazon, where the most feared creature is one that could fit in your palm, the results are fish of staggering proportions and terrifying demeanor. Wade also reveals monsters from upcoming episodes, including deadly electric eels, a giant described as a cross between a shark and a chainsaw, and a snake-like beast that truly is the stuff of legend. In the tradition of the most gripping adventure writing, River Monsters shows that there's more to this world than what's visible on the surface. As Wade says, with a fishing line anything is possible--sometimes it can even reveal the future, or at least one possible version of it. In similar fashion, Wade's writings are much more than exhilarating stories: they reveal a vision of the world more awe-inspiring than any individual myth made flesh. Ultimately, River Monsters explores the real mysteries that still exist, capturing the story of one man's obsession -- and his relentless pursuit of the truth.

The Water Horses of Loch Ness

The Water Horses of Loch Ness
Author: Roland Watson
Publisher:
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2011-08-16
Genre: Lake animals
ISBN: 9781461178194

Back in the 1930s the Loch Ness Monster exploded onto the scene and sent tourists and journalists northwards in their droves to catch a glimpse of this new sensation. But before the Loch Ness Monster there was the Loch Ness Water Horse. Before Nessie there was An Niseag - a devilish creature of notoriety feared and talked about in hushed tones by local people and whom none would dare cross paths with.Today people deny that any such creature ever existed or was known about before the media circus of the thirties began. But the literature of the time says "No" to this and this book sets out to prove the telling of a centuries old story. In this new book, the landscape of the ancient and supernatural Highlands is surveyed and its most feared inhabitant of all - The Water Horse - is unveiled as well as the various haunts in which it lay in wait for its victims. The investigation then begins to home in on the "Each Uisge" of Loch Ness and discovers that its reputation preceded it then as it does now in the realm of lake monsters.Old and forgotten stories of the Kelpie of Loch Ness are found and analysed as well as surprising parallels to how people reacted to the Water Horse then as they do now in disbelief, imagery and both modern and ancient folklore.Finally, the old Highlanders' belief in the supernatural origin of this beast is explored and that thread of belief is traced right through to the modern age with those who continue to think that there is more to the Loch Ness Water Horse than just flesh and blood.

The Loch Ness Mystery Reloaded

The Loch Ness Mystery Reloaded
Author: Ronald Binns
Publisher:
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2017
Genre: Loch Ness monster
ISBN: 9781999735906

On the fiftieth anniversary of the local newspaper report which made the Loch Ness Monster world famous, Ronald Binns published his classic but controversial book The Loch Ness Mystery Solved. Over three decades later it remains both influential and a source of fierce debate. In this new book Binns takes a fresh look at Nessie in the light of later evidence and recent analysis of the classic photographs and film. He considers the relationship between the Loch Ness Monster and the water kelpie tradition of Scottish folklore. He also scrutinises the role played by central figures in the Loch Ness story such as Rupert Gould, Tim Dinsdale and Ted Holiday. Ronald Binns is a former member of the Loch Ness Phenomena Investigation Bureau. He has made numerous visits to the loch in search both of the Monster and a greater understanding of this enduring phenomenon.

Monstrous Kinds

Monstrous Kinds
Author: Elizabeth Bearden
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 285
Release: 2019-01-04
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 0472131125

Monstrous Kinds is the first book to explore textual representations of disability in the global Renaissance. Elizabeth B. Bearden contends that monstrosity, as a precursor to modern concepts of disability, has much to teach about our tendency to inscribe disability with meaning. Understanding how early modern writers approached disability not only provides more accurate genealogies of disability, but also helps nuance current aesthetic and theoretical disability formulations. The book analyzes the cultural valences of early modern disability across a broad national and chronological span, attending to the specific bodily, spatial, and aesthetic systems that contributed to early modern literary representations of disability. The cross section of texts (including conduct books and treatises, travel writing and wonder books) is comparative, putting canonical European authors such as Castiglione into dialogue with transatlantic and Anglo-Ottoman literary exchange. Bearden questions grand narratives that convey a progression of disability from supernatural marvel to medical specimen, suggesting that, instead, these categories coexist and intersect.

Monsters in the Closet

Monsters in the Closet
Author: Harry M. Benshoff
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Total Pages: 340
Release: 1997-11-15
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9780719044731

Monster in the Closet is a history of the horrors film that explores the genre's relationship to the social and cultural history of homosexuality in America. Drawing on a wide variety of films and primary source materials including censorship files, critical reviews, promotional materials, fanzines, men's magazines, and popular news weeklies, the book examines the historical figure of the movie monster in relation to various medical, psychological, religious and social models of homosexuality. While recent work within gay and lesbian studies has explored how the genetic tropes of the horror film intersect with popular culture's understanding of queerness, this is the first book to examine how the concept of the monster queer has evolved from era to era. From the gay and lesbian sensibilities encoded into the form and content of the classical Hollywood horror film, to recent films which play upon AIDS-related fears. Monster in the Closet examines how the horror film started and continues, to demonize (or quite literally "monsterize") queer sexuality, and what the pleasures and "costs" of such representations might be both for individual spectators and culture at large.

Freezing Order

Freezing Order
Author: Bill Browder
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2022-04-12
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1982153288

At once a financial caper, an international adventure, and a passionate plea for justice, Freezing Order is a stirring morality tale about how one man can take on one of the most dangerous and ruthless villains in the world.

Loch Ness Monster

Loch Ness Monster
Author: Elgin Cook
Publisher: CreateSpace
Total Pages: 64
Release: 2015-07-20
Genre:
ISBN: 9781515164159

You're about to discover the crazy details about the Loch Ness Monster. With the easy access of the internet, people all over the world have been interested in knowing whether or not Nessie exists. While I don't claim to know the answer to that, this book serves as an informative guide that provides confirmed information and is unbiased. There are so many random stories on the internet with no basis and they serve to misguide the masses. With this book, you'll get a clear understanding of how these myths were created. This book goes into the origin and history of the Loch Ness Monster, the extremely mind-boggling stories that have been presented, as well as which stories have been debunked.

The Adversary

The Adversary
Author: Erin M. Evans
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Total Pages: 503
Release: 2013-12-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0786964375

Farideh is plunged into a maelstrom of devilish politics and magical intrigue that will have far-reaching implications for the Forgotten Realms As the chaos of the Sundering rages around her, young warlock Farideh faces a more personal turmoil wrought by a deal she made with a devil years ago. Hoping to protect her twin sister, she leaves everything she holds dear to assist a wizard in a scheme that pits the devils of the Nine Hells against the gods above. But when Farideh casts the spell to enter the wizard’s remote mountaintop fortress, she picks up a stowaway—a Harper agent named Dahl who isn’t so inclined to follow devilish demands. Dahl attempts to escape but merely runs into a village of odd people, lurking behind an impenetrable wall. Forced to gaze into the villagers’ souls, Farideh points out the ones who seem different, only to watch as the wizard’s guard carts them off to fates unknown. Are these villagers or prisoners? Are they blessed or doomed by the gods? As the wizard’s guessing game proves more and more diabolical, Farideh resolves to unravel his secrets—even if it means she’ll lose her own soul to the Nine Hells. The Adversary is the third book in The Sundering and the third book in the Brimstone Angels series.

Gulls Simplified

Gulls Simplified
Author: Pete Dunne
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2018-11-13
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0691156948

A simpler and more user-friendly visual approach to gull identification This unique photographic field guide to North America’s gulls provides a comparative approach to identification that concentrates on the size, structure, and basic plumage features of gulls—gone are the often-confusing array of plumage details found in traditional guides. Featuring hundreds of color photos throughout, Gulls Simplified illustrates the variations of gull plumages for a variety of ages, giving readers strong visual reference points for each species. Extensive captions accompany the photos, which include comparative photo arrays, digitized photo arrays for each age group, and numerous images of each species—a wealth of visual information at your fingertips. This one-of-a-kind guide includes detailed species accounts and a distribution map for each gull. An essential field companion for North American birders, Gulls Simplified reduces the confusion commonly associated with gull identification, offering a more user-friendly way of observing these marvelous birds. Provides a simpler approach to gull identification Features a wealth of color photos for easy comparison among species Includes detailed captions that explain identification criteria and aging, with direct visual reinforcement above the captions Combines plumage details with a focus on size, body shape, and structural features for easy identification in the field Highlights important field marks and physical features for each gull