In the "What I Read Over Christmas Holiday" column, I give you Bigfoot Exposed (subtitled, An Anthropologist Examines America's Enduring Legend). My copy of this 2004 publication by University of Florida professor David J. Daegling* was a gift from the author, who happens to be married to my wife's first cousin. Thanks again, Dave!
With the disclosure of familial association on the table, I'd like to recommend this book to anyone---skeptic or advocate---with an interest in the never-boring topic of Bigfoot. Darren's foray into Bigoot research is especially appreciated in light of Daegling's work, which among other things, addresses a longtime complaint among Bigfoot hunters that accredited scientists are unwilling to examine their evidence. Clearly Daegling and Naish and (I had no idea) a number of other credentialed researchers have indeed been willing to step into this particular and peculiar forest.
What my cousin finds there may surprise you; his book will almost certainly educate and entertain you, as it did me. I won't reveal his conclusions, but will say that Daegling manages to dispel at least one enduring myth: that a Ph.D. can't write a page turner.
*See Archaeology (online) for brief interview with Daegling.
3 comments:
I always thought that Bigfoot was nothing more than an amusing hoax, but after reading that piece by Darren Naish ... well, if I'm not quite a believer, suffice to say I'm less of a disbeliever.
Peter
Iron Rails & Iron Weights
"Bigfoot hunters that accredited scientists are unwilling to examine their evidence."
For starters, the late Grover Krantz, a physical anthropologist at Washington State U., wrote Big Footprints, a very pro-Bigfoot book.
And Robert Michael Pyle's Crossing the Dark Divide is receptive to the idea of Bigfoot too. Pyle even served as an adviser to one of the Bigfoot-search groups.
Hi Chas!
Krantz's work and that of others gets a pretty thorough treatment in Daegling's book. It was all new to me, but fascinating stuff.
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