The Mythical Creatures Bible: The Definitive Guide to Legendary Beings (Mind Body Spirit Bibles, 14)

Pretty cool little book. It has a good bit of information about each creature or deity in it. I wasn't sure what to expect but it has pictures for most of the creatures and decent descriptions and background information. I'm not a scholar on these things so I can't say how much of it his historically accurate across world cultures, but it's enjoyable to read and has a large variety of beings. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in mythical creatures.

I did not realize there were so many mythical creature. This book covers most of the world so some of the creatures I have never heard of but fun to learn. A tidbit I came across in the book was Pliny the Elder, a military commander, naturalist, philosopher, etc, apparently saw some of these creatures and wrote about them. Reading about what he saw and described made me think he was also an excellent storyteller. This made me purchase the Pliny the Elder book to research old Pliny some more. Interesting book and good drawings of the creatures.

I got this book because most recently i've been into writing and i wanted a book i could refer to, this book was perfect. It has so many different creatures, and i love the pictures and examples of the creatures. Its a small book but I have no problem reading or understanding the words. It did come just a little bit damaged but its nothing to bad. In short, a good book for quick information on mythical creatures, with a wide index, and many creatures i didn't even know existed!

Pros: -Covers a large range of mythical beasts -The book goes into great detail about the "major" species. The "dragon" entries are fantastic. Describes Chinese dragons, in particular, in great detail. Also, the "vampire" entries are also very well done. -Great book for anyone who is unfamiliar with mythical creatures. There will definitely be species that you have never heard of before. -Wide breadth of species covered -Full-page illustrations for some creatures -High-quality, thick cardstock used for pages. Slight gloss. Durable. -Very nicely covers the mythical beasts of Asia and Europe -Goes into some very obscure creatures, such as Australian monsters -Even includes beasts from the West, such as the Jackalope. -Includes both humanoid and animal-like beasts. Cons: -The artwork is, indeed, a bit disappointing. The book contains colorful images that often fill the pages, but the sci-fi-esque artwork, the somewhat poor computer graphics, and the somewhat-off anatomy was displeasing. This was my biggest problem with the book. -Native American and South American beings are marginalized and placed at the end of the book. I'm just putting this information out there for those of you who are particularly interested in figures such as Anasazi the Spider and the numerous spirit animals and shapeshifters of North and South America. -If you are the kind of person who enjoys learning about mythical creatures from Wikipedia, and you've gone through as many of these articles as I have, you may be disappointed in the scope of this book. However, you will DEFINITELY learn something new, even about the species that you thought that you knew so well. -It is a large small book, meaning that it is much smaller than, say, an encyclopedia, but great quality pages mean heavy pages. Although this was a wonderful book, I can't help being disappointed as I found myself knowing most of the creatures presented in the book (and lacking interest in the too-weird species). I read extensively on mythology, and I think Wikipedia is the best thing that ever happened to the Internet community, so this is probably why I didn't find the information in this book to be as novel as I thought it would be. Definitely worth buying, though. I believe the original price of the books is approximately $14.42, and I got it for a few dollars less. High-quality printing, durable, and illustrated, definitely a nice addition to my bookshelf. I would recommend this book to readers and writers. I personally would like to drop the rating maybe half a star, but I realize that this book is actually GREAT for anyone who is unfamiliar with mythical creatures. My biggest problem with the book has definitely been the artwork. It's far to sci-fi-esque, not quite fantasy-esque as it should be.

Interesting.creatures around the world. Such a good read

I'm delighted to find far more information in this book than I expected. I like the geographical sections near the end, such as Hindu gods (speaking as a 3-year Hindi student, this is a resource more rare than you'd think), and unexpected but valuable categories such as sexual predators and insects. The illustrations are wonderful, and would make even a great coffee table book. The only issue I have is the size - the book is too dense to be this small, and thus doesn't sit well in your hands for long periods. The spine also ensures you'll never be able to lay it flat and open on a table, which can be a hassle as well.

Perfect coffee table book, and great quality. it was smaller than expected.. but thats on me I didnt pay enough attention to detail. Was still a great gift, filled with tons of interesting information I certainly wasnt familiar with. Would definitely reccomend.

I'm picky about my crypto books getting to loose or cheesy. Thankfully this avoids that. This is pretty good & an easy travel item. Entertained me on my plane ride. Learned of a few new ones too.

This is not a fantasy book, it's an actual bestiary of many legends, myths, and a somewhat scientific/historic look at the subject. The book starts out by listing the categories that each creature belongs to and actually explains the difference between each kind of fantasy creature. I never knew about cryptozoology (creatures like big foot or loch ness monster that have enough eyewitnesses but no definitive proof to say it's real) before reading this book. So it's very informative if you don't know very much on the subject. It doesn't go into a lot of detail on all the creatures in it, but it gives you enough brief factual information to start researching a particular creature if you may be interested in. It has about a 1 picture per 2 monsters ratio. The pictures are beautifully illustrated. The books physical quality and durability are a little above average. The cover is the typical lightly laminated thin cardboard. The inner pages are like a plastic-y paper mix (could be the ink they used), feels durable and don't stick together. The binding is about average. As others have mentioned, it would have been nice if this book was a few inches taller, wider with more pictures. But considering the price and all that you already get. I felt it still deserved 5 stars!

My Son has always been a fan of mythical creatures and adores this book. Great stuff.

Zu erst einmal - das Teil ist unerwartet klein und doch großartig! ;D Doch Stück für Stück... Das Buch hier hat ein Softcover und umfast 400 Seiten, über alle möglichen bekannten und unbekannteren Kreaturen verschiedenster Mythologien und zieht gerne Verknüpfungen, wenn sich diese ähneln. So handelt der Abschnitt über Vampire nicht nur von Graf Dracula, sondern auch von anderen vermeintlichen Blutsaugern, wie dem Jiang Shi. - Leider tut es das alles auf Englisch und man sollte der Sprache schon mächtig sein, wenn man dieses Werk hier lesen möchte. - Das Buch unterteilt sich in vier Kapitel, nebst einer kompakten Einführung: Fabelwesen, Kreaturen der Schattenwelt, Naturgeister und heilige Kreaturen, wo bspw. auf verschiedene Personen und Monster der Götterwelten eingegangen wird. Jedes genannte Wesen wird meistens kurz, aber zufriedenstellend, umrissen und ich kann mich nicht an eine Doppelseite ohne mindestens ein zugehöriges Bild erinnern - was nicht heißt, dass jede Kreatur ein Bild bekommt, aber doch einige, sodass man sich buchstäblich ein besseres Bild von ihnen machen kann. Man sollte keine Detailinformationen oder überbordende Aufarbeitungen der Mythen zu bestimmten Kreaturen erwarten, aber es reicht, um genug Interesse zu wecken, dass ich bei einigen doch nochmal googlen wollte, ob es nicht doch mehr Informationen zu denen gibt. Sehr schön werden Ähnlichkeiten skiziert, also welche Kreaturen sich ähneln und worin sie sich unterscheiden. Experte der Mythologien wird man nicht, aber man wird einiges lernen - auch wenn man dadurch manche Filme und Serien nicht mehr so ernst nehmen kann (künstlerische Freiheit und so...). :) Das ganze Design schreit jetzt nicht gerade "Premium!!!", aber ist doch ganz nett anzusehen... es steht halt der Inhalt im Vordergrund! ...würde es wohl trotzdem nicht auf Blickhöhe platzieren. xD Für rund 12,50€ habe ich nichts bereut und bin sehr zufrieden mit diesem Werk, weshalb ich gerne die fünf Sterne vergebe! (Wer nicht auf mythische Kreaturen steht, sollte das Buch natürlich nicht kaufen, aber wird wohl auch diese Rezension nicht lesen. ;D ) ↓↓War ich hilfreich?

Very informative book!

Awesome Read…!