'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

Ruickbie's truly outstanding writing has three major sources: his impressive level of scholarship; his determination to seek out strange and mysterious phenomena and pursue them relentlessly, objectively and scientifically; and his great literary skill in presenting his conclusions in readable and attractive prose.
In The Impossible Zoo these three factors are clearly present. He is concerned here with what he, himself, describes and defines as parazoology - clearly distinct from cryptozoology. The latter focuses on hidden animal forms: Ruickbie's parazoology focuses on creatures that are beyond the range of normal zoology. He explains parazoology with great lucidity as the biology of the supernatural, the study of the lives of things that never existed - a study that takes in, for example, mermaids and unicorns.
His parazoological specimens were once believed to exist, and they exist now in the world of imagination - a world that can still have profound effects on contemporary life. Ruickbie's great achievement is to round up these strange beasts and confine them in his Impossible Zoo. The results of his work are truly fascinating and his detailed analysis and descriptions of his multitudinous parazoological specimens are enthralling.
I give The Impossible Zoo a very high recommendation indeed.

Vorwort
An illustrated encyclopedia of fabulous beasts, mythical monsters and cryptozoological mysteries

Autorentext

Dr LEO RUICKBIE, PhD (Lond), MA, BA (Hons), Associate of King's College, is a professional writer, editor, social scientist and historian, specialising in controversial areas of human belief and experience.
His PhD is from King's College, London, for his thesis on contemporary witchcraft and magic use, building on research on the theory of re-enchantment that won him an MA with distinction from Lancaster University. He is the author of several books - Witchcraft Out of the Shadows (2004 and 2011), Faustus: The Life and Times of a Renaissance Magician (2009), A Brief Guide to the Supernatural (2012), A Brief Guide to Ghost Hunting (2013) and The Impossible Zoo (2016) - as well as numerous publications in scholarly journals, magazines, such as Fortean Times, and newspapers, including the Daily Express. He is also the co-editor with Dr Simon Bacon of Little Horrors: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Anomalous Children and the Construction of Monstrosity (2016), and with Dr Antje Bosselmann-Ruickbie of The Material Culture of Magic (forthcoming).
As well as writing, he is the editor of the Paranormal Review, the magazine of the Society for Psychical Research, established in 1882 for the scientific study of what we now call the 'paranormal', and has worked on several editorial projects for the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum (Romano-German Central Museum) in Mainz, Germany. In addition, he is an elected member of the Royal Historical Society, a council member of the Society for Psychical Research, a committee member of the Gesellschaft für Anomalistik (Society for Anomalistics), as well as a member of the Parapsychological Association and the Royal Anthropological Institute.
He has appeared several times on the Travel Channel series Mysteries at the Castle and his work has been mentioned in the media from the Guardian to Radio Jamaica. Not only has his expertise been sought by film companies, museums and charities, but he is also cited in the current student book for A-Level Sociology in the UK. He can be found on the web at www.ruickbie.com.

Klappentext

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 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

Zusammenfassung
An illustrated encyclopedia of fabulous beasts, mythical monsters and cryptozoological mysteries