Naturalist Adrian Shine has spent 50 years trying to crack the mystery of the Loch Ness Monster.
As a sympathetic sceptic, Shine has unfolded in a new book how the loch actually held the key to the greater mystery.
The expert, a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and curator of the exhibition at the Loch Ness Centre in Drumnadrochit, exonerates the integrity of most witnesses, often remarks upon the accuracy of their observations and offers bold and radical interpretations of what they have seen.
A Natural History of Sea Serpents digs deep into the roots of the legend and shows how expectations ‘evolved’ from those ‘serpents’ to prehistoric ‘monsters’ during the nineteenth century.
The book also cites over 100 reports of the creatures across the world and contains as many illustrations by Maralyn Shine as evidence for its conclusions.
Using his knowledge of ships, the sea and the true monsters living there, Shine cover the entire spectrum of reports, giving new insight, for example, into the famous HMS Daedalus episode of 1848, the description of a very unusual creature seen by two zoologists in 1904 and the serpent seen by hundreds off the coast of New England in 1817.
He also investigates reports of huge serpents seen battling whales and creatures, something which defies understanding of vertebrate anatomy, by bending both sideways and up and down, while under fire by the French Navy.
The book is a fascinating piece of work and will be of particular interest to people keen on natural history, the workings of the marine environment and monsters.
It will certainly generate debate within the cryptozoology movement yet also challenges the theories of the preeminent sceptical writer on the subject, Dr. Robert France, who has proposed whales and other creatures entangled in pre-plastic era fishing gear, as the cause of most sea serpent encounters.
Shine shares his take on the ethnobiological perspective and ends with a strong conservation message.
And the mystery of Nessie continues…
Published: 24th October 2024
ISBN 978-184995-588-1
UK Price: £18.99
Format: 240 x 170mm, Paperback
Pages: 256 pages with around 110 photos and 40 drawings and sketches
A Natural History of Sea Serpents
By Adrian Shine
Published by: Whittles Publishing
A Natural History of Sea Serpents is available to buy on the Whittles Publishing website and from Blackwell’s and WH Smith as well as on Amazon.
Author Bio:
Rebecca Hay is an experienced travel writer and member of The British Guild of Travel Writers. Follow her adventures with her family on Twitter and Instagram @emojiadventurer and on Facebook via EmojiAdventurers2.
Book cover courtesy of Whittles Publishing / Loch Ness Monster image by Alana Jordan from Pixabay
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