Reviews
The Book of Unexplained Mysteries: On the Trail of the Secret and the Strange by William Pearson
claudia_is_reading's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Well, as the author says, what's wrong with a good mystery? I love them, and even more when I'm not handed nifty-crafted explanations :P
This was very entertaining and with some unexpected mysteries. There are, of course, the classic ones: UFOs, BigFoot, Nessy, the Marie Celeste. But then, in a rather unanticipatedly way, you find yourself reading about Quantum Physics, serial killers and the Shugborough Code. I liked that a lot :D
Disregarding the degree of any previous knowledge, all of them are nicely presented and even from the more commonplace ones I came out with one or two details I didn't know before.
Way better than most of this type of book usually are :P
This was very entertaining and with some unexpected mysteries. There are, of course, the classic ones: UFOs, BigFoot, Nessy, the Marie Celeste. But then, in a rather unanticipatedly way, you find yourself reading about Quantum Physics, serial killers and the Shugborough Code. I liked that a lot :D
Disregarding the degree of any previous knowledge, all of them are nicely presented and even from the more commonplace ones I came out with one or two details I didn't know before.
Way better than most of this type of book usually are :P
erinwillis's review
adventurous
informative
mysterious
3.0
I bought this book probably over a year-and-a-half ago, only reading it when visiting my grandma's house. And finally, after one/two chapters every time, I've reached the end.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I appreciate the wide range of mysteries, from those I know well, such as 'Stonehenge', to those that were completely new to me, like 'The Nasca Lines'. I also appreciated the pages in the middle of the book, which had a number of pictures to refer to regarding some mysteries. Otherwise, I felt encouraged to research images and videos mentioned myself, which I enjoyed.
I felt that some mysteries were unbalanced in terms of how much was written for them, although I understand that some have more context to share, or more resources available about them. Extra insights from the author, or questions to make us readers think over the mystery, are always appreciated though. For example, the last mystery is 'Fenn's Treasure'. Although the poem and Fenn's notes were interesting enough, I would have loved to know more about those who actually embarked on journeys to find the treasure. This was something I decided to research myself.
That being said, I would occasionally dwell on a mysteries for days until my next read. Naturally, some were more interesting to me than others, but that's to be expected with such variety. I have basically no interest in sciencey things, and most of it went over my head, but that was a small minority of the mysteries and not enough to influence my review.
Bottom line: Now I want to be a 1930s archaeologist and break codes.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. I appreciate the wide range of mysteries, from those I know well, such as 'Stonehenge', to those that were completely new to me, like 'The Nasca Lines'. I also appreciated the pages in the middle of the book, which had a number of pictures to refer to regarding some mysteries. Otherwise, I felt encouraged to research images and videos mentioned myself, which I enjoyed.
I felt that some mysteries were unbalanced in terms of how much was written for them, although I understand that some have more context to share, or more resources available about them. Extra insights from the author, or questions to make us readers think over the mystery, are always appreciated though. For example, the last mystery is 'Fenn's Treasure'. Although the poem and Fenn's notes were interesting enough, I would have loved to know more about those who actually embarked on journeys to find the treasure. This was something I decided to research myself.
That being said, I would occasionally dwell on a mysteries for days until my next read. Naturally, some were more interesting to me than others, but that's to be expected with such variety. I have basically no interest in sciencey things, and most of it went over my head, but that was a small minority of the mysteries and not enough to influence my review.
Bottom line: Now I want to be a 1930s archaeologist and break codes.
More...