The Impossible Zoo: An Encyclopedia of Fabulous Beasts and Mythical Monsters - Paperback

by Leo Ruickbie (Author)

'Leo Ruickbie's impeccably-written The Impossible Zoo is a menagerie like no other, as its exotic inhabitants are fabulous in every sense of the word. So for anyone who has ever wished that dragons and unicorns were real, for anyone who believes that they are, and for anyone who peruses bestiaries with unbridled joy, this magical, mystical, and truly memorable book is definitely for you - and for me!'

Dr Karl Shuker, author of A Manifestation of Monsters

HERE BE DRAGONS!

Here you will find the things that once made the woods wild and the nights to be feared; that made ancient map-makers write, 'Here be Dragons'.

The Impossible Zoo is a biology of the supernatural - a study of the life of things that never lived. This world of mermaids and unicorns, now confined to fantasy, but once believed to exist, is a world of the imagination that still affects us today.

Wonderfully illustrated throughout, it also provides sources as a guide to further study and exploration.
'For anyone who has ever wished that dragons and unicorns were real, this magical, mystical and truly memorable book is definitely for you - and for me!'
Dr Karl Shuker, author of A Manifestation of Monsters

'Ruickbie's level of scholarship is impressive and he presents his conclusions with great literary skill in readable and attractive prose. The results are truly fascinating. Very highly recommended.'
Revd Lionel Fanthorpe, FRSA, author and President of the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena

Back Jacket

HERE BE DRAGONS!

. . . and nature breeds,
Perverse, all monstrous, all prodigious things,
Abominable, inutterable, and worse
Than fables yet have feign'd, or fear conceiv'd,
Gorgons, and Hydras, and Chimeras dire.

John Milton, Paradise Lost, Bk II, 1667

The Impossible Zoo is filled with those creatures that natural science has ruled out, yet still find their role in history and the social sciences. Here you will find the things that once made the woods wild and the nights to be feared; that made ancient map-makers write, 'Here be Dragons'.

It is a biology of the supernatural - a study of the life of things that never lived. This world of mermaids and unicorns, now confined to fantasy, but once believed to exist, is a world of the imagination that still affects us today.

Wonderfully illustrated throughout, it also provides sources as a guide to further study and exploration. To provide the most valuable reference work possible, Dr Ruickbie has drawn from the original sources and authoritative scholarship, referenced throughout, to create a world of context that takes us from Roman naturalists to Medieval travellers to Victorian explorers, and beyond, making a much richer and more useful book.

Leo Ruickbie's impeccably-written TheImpossible Zoo is a menagerie like no other, as its exotic inhabitants are fabulous in every sense of the word. So for anyone who has ever wished that dragons and unicorns were real, for anyone who believes that they are, and for anyone who peruses bestiaries with unbridled joy, this magical, mystical, and truly memorable book is definitely for you -- and for me!
Dr Karl Shuker, author of A Manifestation of Monsters

Author Biography

Described as 'a young Van Helsing' in The Ghost Club Journal, Dr Leo Ruickbie has been investigating, writing about and experiencing the bizarre side of life - from vampire epidemics (there really was one) to sightings of angels - for most of his professional career. He has a PhD from King's College, London, on modern witchcraft and magic, and is the author of Witchcraft Out of the Shadows, Faustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance Magician, A Brief Guide to the Supernatural, and A Brief Guide to Ghost Hunting, as well as being published in Fortean Times, Paranormal magazine, academic journals and the national press. He is also the co-editor of Little Horrors: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Anomalous Children and the Construction of Monstrosity with Dr Simon Bacon, and The Material Culture of Magic with Dr Antje Bosselmann-Ruickbie. His work has been mentioned in the media from The Guardian to Radio Jamaica, and his expertise has been sought by film companies and the likes of the International Society for Human Rights. He is an Associate of King's College, London, and a member of Societas Magica, the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism, the Society for Psychical Research and the Parapsychological Association. He is a committee member of the Gesellschaft fÃ1/4r Anomalistik (Society for Anomalistics) and is the editor of the Paranormal Review, the magazine of the Society for Psychical Research. As a Scotsman, the impossible zoo has always been a living folk memory: he has stood on the banks of Loch Ness and stared into those sullen waters.
Visit him online at www.witchology.com