13 h 50 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if dragons and sea serpents begin not in invention, but in memories of real animals?
In Mythical Monsters, Charles Gould gives old tales a serious hearing. The British naturalist gathers travellers' reports, Greek and Roman writings, and legends from China and Europe. He sets their strange creatures beside discoveries in rocks and seas, asking whether people remember animals that science has yet to explain.
Dragons, sea serpents and one-horned beasts stand at the heart of his argument. Gould points to the giant squid as a reason not to dismiss every sailor's story. His case invites curiosity, but also caution: later science does not confirm most of his hopes about the creatures behind these legends.
What you’ll discover
- Old tales reconsidered Look again at reports Gould believes deserve attention rather than laughter.
- Dragons across distant lands Explore the long bodies, scales and sometimes wings of dragons from China and Europe.
- Sea serpents under scrutiny Follow Gould as he weighs accounts from sailors and fishermen against his knowledge of nature.
- Nature beyond expectation Discover why the giant squid gives Gould grounds to question easy dismissals of strange creatures.
- A Victorian scientific imagination Encounter a naturalist's bold reasoning while keeping the limits of his conclusions in view.
Who will love it
Readers who love fossils, folklore and old travelers' tales, and who enjoy following a curious mind as it sets legends beside natural history. Fans of sea serpents, dragons and unicorns will find plenty to explore.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Fossil giants make dragons seem plausible
- Species vanish faster than we notice
- Humans are far older than recorded history
- A real flood may have erased the past
- Myths crossed oceans between the worlds
- Western accounts link dragons and giant serpents
- Chinese records describe the dragon closely
- Sea serpent sightings point to real animals
- Unicorns and phoenixes may be lost animals
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Mostri mitologici
by Charles Gould · 1886
A Victorian naturalist argues that dragons, sea serpents and unicorns may be memories of real animals.
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In short
Could dragons, sea serpents, unicorns and the Chinese phoenix have been real animals? Charles Gould, a geologist and naturalist who wrote in the late nineteenth century, thinks the answer may well be yes.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Fossil giants make dragons seem plausible
Gould starts with reptiles that science already knows. Flying reptiles called pterodactyls are his first prize. One English chalk species spanned more than sixteen feet, and fossils found by Professor Marsh in Kansas reached nearly twenty-five feet. With long necks and pointed heads, they match the popular picture of a winged dragon.
The giants of land and sea follow. The plesiosaur had a slender swanlike neck that, held above the water, would look like the front of a serpent. Marsh described swimming lizards called Mosasaurs, some at least sixty feet long.
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What is Mythical Monsters about?
It is a Victorian study of dragons, sea serpents, unicorns and the Chinese phoenix. Charles Gould gathers fossils, old texts and eyewitness reports to ask whether these legends may preserve memories of real animals that lived beside early people.
What does Gould think the dragon really was?
He pictures a long land lizard with a snake-like body and tail, perhaps with skin flaps and spiked armor, living in the highlands of Central Asia. He thinks the creature disappeared around the time of a great flood.
What is the Shan Hai King and why does it matter here?
It is an ancient Chinese work on mountains, rivers and strange creatures. Gould treats it as a valuable early record, citing its winged dragon, singing snakes and elephant-swallowing Pa snake as clues to animals the early Chinese knew.
The author
Charles Gould
1834–1893 · British geologist
Charles Gould (1834–1893) was a British geologist who lived and worked in Tasmania. He served as Tasmania’s first government geological surveyor from 1859 to 1869, carrying out surveys of the island. He also wrote Mythical Monsters, which was published in 1886. He died in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1893.
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