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A review by ravensandlace
The United States of Cryptids: A Tour of American Myths and Monsters by J.W. Ocker
4.0
Title: The United States of Cryptids
Author: J.W Ocker
Genre: Cryptozoology
Format: ebook
Series: NA
Star Rating: 4 stars
So I’m not sure how many people know this about me but I love cryptozoology. I fully believe in Bigfoot, Mothman, etc. I used to watch this one show where people would go out and hunt for whatever creature that attacked someone. I’m pretty sure it was about finding Bigfoot. It was amazing but also scared me half to death. Then, years later, I watched Buzzfeed Unsolved Supernatural and I’ve been fully hooked on cryptozoology ever since.
So what exactly is a cryptid? For those who may not know, a cryptid is a creature or species whose existence is scientifically unproven. They can also be animals that once existed but don’t anymore such as the American lion. They can also be animals that thrive in places they shouldn't like alligators in the Manhattan sewers. The last two were a surprise to me. I always assumed that cryptids were things like the Mothman. I didn’t realize they also could be actual animals.
What I liked about this book was how organized it was. It was separated by regions: Northeast, South, Midwest, and West. Each cryptid had the following info: type, location, earliest sighting, and size. Sometimes there was a notable characteristic included, depending on the cryptid. I wish there were more pictures, like one for each cryptid. The descriptions were great but I felt like if we had pictures, we would have more of a sense of what each of these creatures looked like.
I could tell there was a lot of research put into this book. Each cryptid has at least a couple of pages. There was also a healthy mix of ancient cryptids and recent ones. The author tried to make sure to include cryptids that aren’t widely known like Bigfoot. I appreciated that quite a bit. There was also a section dedicated to the history of cryptozoology and how it came to be. It was also mentioned how far cryptozoology has come.
Overall, this was a fantastic book. I certainly need a physical copy so I can reference this book from time to time. This is an excellent starter book if you are interested in learning more about cryptozoology. The book was easy to read and was easy to understand. It read more like a novel, which I appreciated. Sometimes nonfiction books can be heavy and get bogged down with a ton of details but not this book.