Mythical Monsters

By Charles Gould

The core of the book is about dragons: Western, Chinese, and Japanese, although it also covers the Sea-serpent, the Unicorn, and the Chinese Phoenix. Gould hypothesized that the dragon was based on an unknown, very rare animal, a huge reptile with wings, which became extinct in historical times. He also concluded that persistent sea-serpent sightings were also due to an undiscovered surviving prehistoric marine animal. He drew on the then-emerging body of fossil evidence for prehistoric megafauna, from flying lizards to whale-sized aquatic dinosaurs.
In context the proposal was not all that outrageous. Darwin had 25 years earlier proposed that humans are part of a huge web of biological relationships over vast realms of time and space. Gould leads off with a discussion of some other 'earth mysteries:' the world-wide flood myth, cultural diffusion, Atlantis, and extensive cryptozoology.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 12, 2013
• ISBN: 9781300096252

Reviews for Mythical Monsters

[tanifa-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Book begins with the idea that tales of mythical monsters must have a basis in truth, because those non-english heathens can't possibly have more imagination than an englishman.The book goes downhill from there.