Justin's Reviews > Chasing American Monsters: Over 250 Creatures, Cryptids & Hairy Beasts

An interesting encyclopedia of American cryptids, but a bit misleading--it claims to feature "over 250 creatures, cryptids, & hairy beasts," but if you discount the duplicate entries (simply labeled as "Bigfoot, Thunderbirds, Living Dinosaurs, etc." for different states), there's probably only around 150 distinct entries here. Which still isn't bad.

Chasing American Monsters is written in an approachable, conversational style, which helps it, I think. A bit of tongue-in-cheek levity helps make the fourth time you're reading about pterosaur sightings a little more palatable. There's a good amount of detail for most of the creatures: not too wordy as to drag, but not scarce enough to seem like Offutt is skimping. Plus, he provides sources for every account, which is always nice to see in a book like this.

What isn't so nice to see is the logical fallacy that he uses to wrap things up. Basically, in an attempt to hedge his bets, Offutt states that, while he's never personally seen a monster, it's unreasonable to think that the thousands of people who claim to could all be wrong. It's a textbook appeal to incredulity, and it sours the experience here, a bit.

Still, Chasing American Monsters was a fun read, overall. If you're curious to see a decent (though by no means comprehensive) list of what monsters populate your state's folklore, or you're looking for some obscure trivia to whip out at an opportune time, there's a lot to like here. Just take it with a grain of salt.