BIGFOOT: The Yeti and Sasquatch in Myth and Reality

by John Napier ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 30, 1973

Napier, a British anthropologist whose specialty is primate biology, has excellent credentials to sort out fact from fiction or folklore from ""fakelore"" in the ongoing quest for Bigfoot, the Abominable Snowman whose other aliases include Yeti and Sasquatch -- purported to dwell in the Himalayas and in the more remote regions of Canada and the U.S. Unlike most scientists Napier refuses to dismiss the hairy monster out of hand and here he undertakes a painstaking examination of the ""hard"" and ""soft"" evidence -- footprints and various alleged sightings and personal encounters. His methodology is almost Sherlockian (he too believes that ""when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth"") and he analyzes various ""descriptions"" of Bigfoot functionally: if he were eight feet tall, where would his center of gravity lie? would it be anatomically possible for him to walk upright? etc. As to the tracks (abundant in northern California) most seem to belong to bears or langurs though one 1951 photograph of a 13"" x 8"" footprint by British mountaineer Eric Shipton still defies all explanation. Napier's account is sometimes wry but always fair and open-minded as he sifts hoax from probability, and the mythological elements (which occur the world over) from the biological data. A judicious and absorbing review of Bigfoot's peregrinations between the terrestial hinterland and Goblin Universe.

Pub Date: March 30, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1973

Categories: NONFICTION