 | |
| Author | Willy Ley |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Olga Ley |
| Publisher | Random House |
Publication date | 1959 |
| ISBN | 0-517-62545-8 |
| LC Class | 59-8356 |
Exotic Zoology is a 1959cryptozoological book[1] byWilly Ley, a science writer and space advocate. The illustrator of the book isOlga Ley.[2]
Ley had written a number of books containing scientific oddities;Exotic Zoology collects the cryptozoological matter from those books.[3] Throughout the book he shows examples of organisms that were rumored to exist, or were thought to be impossible, that were shown to be real; and others that were accepted as fact, that were discovered to have never existed: "He speculates about dragons and sea serpents, wingless birds and Abominable Snowmen."[4] The book, in its description of (fictional) peoples and creatures, has been compared toJohn Mandeville'sTravels.[5] Some of the claims have been criticized or ridiculed, for instance the statement thatgiant squids had left scars on whales of two feet in diameter.[6][7]
Exotic Zoology was not reviewed in many academic journals. An exception was a review in theScience journal, in 1959.[8]
