The MonsterTalk Library
I’m late to getting around to this, but I’m compiling a list of all the books we talked about in the various episodes of the show. This list should grow as I continue refreshing our content.
| Title | Ep. | Author | eBook | Notes/Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anatomy of a Beast | 2 | Michael McLeod | N | A skeptical overview of the field of "Bigfootery." |
| Lake Monster Mysteries | 4 | Joe Nickell & Ben Radford | Y | Analysis of famous lake monsters, with good explanation of Joe's "otter" hypothesis |
| The Crato Fossil Beds of Brazil (Window into an Ancient World) | 5 | Dr. Dave Martill | Y | Paleontology textbook co-written by guest Dr. Dave Martill |
| The Beast of Bray Road | 6 | Linda Godfrey | Y | Journalist turned monster-writer Godfrey collects a variety of stories about alleged dogman activity |
| Pesudoscience: A Critical Encyclopedia | 6 | Brian Regal | N | An overview of an astonishing collection of weird ideas with details of each. |
| Darwin's Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated | 7 | Steve Jones | N | |
| Introducing Genetics | 7 | Steve Jones | Y | |
| Coral: A Pessimist in Paradise | 7 | Steve Jones | N | |
| Death from the Skies! | 8 | Phil Plait | Y | All the ways the universe is trying to kill us. |
| Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science (DVD) | 11 | Jeff Meldrum | N/A | Slick Documentary claiming there is scientific evidence for Bigfoot |
| Sasquatch: Legend Meets Science (Book) | 11 | Jeff Meldrum | Y | Companion book to Slick Documentary, also claims there is scientific evidence for Bigfoot. |
| Skeptics Guide to the Universe | 13 | Steve Novella | Y | A big look at lots of skeptical topics by the combined hosts of the SGU Podcast. |
| Scientific Paranormal Investigation | 15 | Ben Radford | Y | Anthology of essays on how to scientifically investigate paranormal cases |
| Real or Fake: Studies in Authentication | 18 | Joe Nickell | Y | |
| Adventures in Paranormal Investigation | 18 | Joe Nickell | Y | |
| Real Life X-Files: Investigating the Paranormal | 18 | Joe Nickell | Y | |
| The H. P. Lovecraft Collection | 19 | H. P. Lovecraft | Y | |
| Abominable Science | 22 | Dan Loxton & Don Prothero | Y | Key monsters and concepts of cryptozoology fall apart under the harsh light of scientific scrutiny. |
| Going Mutant: The Bat Boy Exposed! | 25 | Neil McGinnes | Y | Comic fictional "bio" of Bat Boy |
| On Monsters | 26 | Stephen Asma | Y | A foundational text of Monster Studies |
| Monsters: The Bestiary of Devils, Demons, Vampires, Werewolves, and Other Magical Creatures | 28 | Christopher Dell | N | |
| Ninja Attack: True Tales of Assassins, Samurai and Outlaws | 30 | Matt Alt & Hiroko Yoda | Y | The true story of Ninja |
| Tracking the Man-Beasts | 34 | Joe Nickell | N | Collection of skeptical investigator Joe Nickell's work on humanoid cryptids |
| The Zombie Autopsies | 35 | Steven Schlozman | Y | Novel considers how would medical people REALLY respond to zombie outbreak? |
| Searching for Sasquatch: Crackpots, Eggheads and Cryptozoology | 36 | Brian Regal | Y | A deep dive into the birth of cryptozoology and the fascinating figures who founded it. |
| The Morning of the Magicians | 38 | Jacques Bergier & Louis Pauwels | Y | Before "Chariots of the Gods" these two French authors explored the ideas of ancient astronauts and that maybe H.P. Lovecraft was not a fiction writer. A wacky but highly influential work. |
| Chariots of the Gods | 38 | Erich von Daniken | Y | The wildly popular nonsense book that kicked off the "Ancient Astronauts" (and eventually "Ancient Aliens") craze of the late 20th century. |
| In a Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting | 39, 72 | Ray Garton | Y | Garton admits he was pushed into writing a fictional account "as true" by a variety of pressures, including Ed Warren. |
| The Haunting in Connecticut | 39 | Lionsgate | N/A | Movie based on Ray Garton's fictionalized book. |
| Dinner with a Cannibal | 40 | Carole A. Travis-Henikoff | Y | A interesting (if disturbing) look at cannibalism around the world. |
| Monsters of the Gevaudan | 41, 81 | Jay M. Smith | Y | Deep dive into the real cultural history of the legendary beast of Gevaudan. |
| Paranormality: Wy we see what isn't there. | 44 | Richard Wiseman | Y | Look into the psychology behind paranormal claims. A wonderful overview of how our minds can trick us. |
| Legends of the Fire Spirits | 45 | Robert Lebling | Y | A deep look at the history of the Djinn in Islamic culture. |
| Squatching (DVD) | 46 | Scott Herriott | N/A | Director & Comedian examines Bigfoot culture and his own possible experience. |
| Defense Against the Dark | 47 | Emily Carlin | Y | A witch writes a book about fighting off evil with magic. |
| Monsters in America | 48 | Scott Poole | Y | An overview of monsters in American culture from colonial times to the present. |
| Shock! The Black Dog of Bungay | 50 | David Waldron | Y | A historic look at the spectral black dog of Bungay. |
| Nocturnal | 52 | Scott Sigler | Y | Skeptic novelist Scott Sigler writes a horror thriller with a scientifically grounded monster. Or is that under-grounded? |
| The Hunter | 52 | Daniel Nettheim (director) | NA | Thriller film about possible extant Thylacines |
| Promethean Ambitions | 53 | William R. Newman | Y | A look at alchemy from 1200 to 1700 and its relationship to modern science. |
| The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry | 54 | Jon Ronson | Y | A twisty turny tale of psychopathy and the adjacent world of the madness industry. |
| Mermaid: The Body Found (and sequel) | 57 | Discovery Communications | NA | Fake documentaries claiming mermaids are real. These caused confusion and delay. Sir Topham Hat would not be amused. |
| The Feejee Mermaid and Other Essays in Natural and Unnatural History | 57 | Jan Bondeson | N | Essays on hoaxes and myths of the animal kingdom. |
| Yokai Attack | 58 | Matt Alt & Hiroko Yoda | Y | A fascinating look at the Japanese folklore of Yokai |
| Incredible Arthropods (Coloring Book) | 64 | The Bug Chicks | N | A coloring book that explores the world of insects |
| The Untold Story of Champ | 65 | Robert Bartholomew | Y | A historical look at America's "Nessie" including the question of whether it is real. |
| Gef! The Strange Tale of an Extra-Special Talking Mongoose | 67 | Christopher Josiffe | Y | The most exhaustive research on Gef in print. |
| The Secret History of the Jersey Devil | 71 | Brian Regal & Frank Esposito | Y | The bizarre true history of the American folk-monster known as the Jersey Devil |
| Usborne book of UFOs | 226 | Ted Wilding-White | N | A colorful and influential childrens book on UFOs from the 1970s. |
| The Making of Bigfoot: The Inside Story (formerly The Making of the Beast) | 2, 12 | Greg Long | N | Full of many details, but I've become quite skeptical of the claims by Philip Morris. |
| Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries | 10, 38 | Ken Feder | N | More sceintific value in the cover of this book than a season of History Channel nonsense. |
| Tracking the Chupacabra | 9, 31 | Ben Radford | Y | Was case-zero of the Chupacabra inspired by a movie? |
| The Haunting in Connecticut | 72 | Ray Garton | NA | Film version of heavily fictionalized Warren investigation |
| The Science of Ghosts: Searching for Spirits of the Dead | 72 | Joe Nickell | Y | Joe Nickell collected case files on ghost cases. |
| Robert Price author's page (various) | Robert M. Price | Y | Various religious scholarship books by Bob Price | |
| Cryptozoologicon: Volume 1 | 73 | Darren Naish | Y | Always sceptical, but always willing to indulge in speculative fun, Cryptozoologicon aims to provide a new way to approach cryptozoology: as fictional biology. |
| God Bless America | 75 | Karen Stollznow | y | A look at the sometimes strange practices hidden in plain site in American religious practice. |
| Haunting America | 75 | Karen Stollznow | y | Karen researches many famous ghost cases. |
| The Serpent and the Rainbow | 75 | Wade Davis | y | A biologist investigates the possible pharmacological roots of Zombie belief. |
| In Pursuit of Satan: The Police and the Occult | 75 | Robert D. Hicks | y | A deep dive into the role of law enforcement in investigating and sometimes perpetuating the Satanic Panic and cult crime beliefs in the US. |
| The 10 Million Dollar Bigfoot Bounty | 76 | SpikeTV | NA | Science meets bigfoot culture in this cash-driven SpikeTV series about how to search for Bigfoot. |
| Plesiosaur Peril | 79 | Daniel Loxton | n | Children's book illustrating science and adventure for the little Mesozoic Marine Reptile lover in your life. |
| Ankylosaur Attack | 79 | Daniel Loxton | y | Children's book illustrating science and adventure for the little Dinosaur lover in your life. |
| Pteorsaur Trouble | 79 | Daniel Loxton | y | Children's book illustrating science and adventure for the little Pterosaur lover in your life. |
| Evolution | 79 | Daniel Loxton | n | Young readers will learn how a British naturalist named Charles Darwin studied nature and developed his now-famous concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest. |
| Abominable Science | 79 | Daniel Loxton | y | |
| The Wolfman | 80 | Kurt Siodmak | NA | Lawrence Talbot gets a nasty wolf bite with surprising consequences. |
| The Werewolf in Legend and Lore | 80 | Montague Summers | Y | Occult scholar Monty Summers takes a deep dive into all sorts of Werwolf lore. Helps to know Greek and Latin. |
| The Book of Werewolves | 80 | Sabine Baring Gould | Y | Wonderful Victorian era werewolf scholarship. |
| Strange Creatures from Space and Time | 80 | John Keel | Y | An ultraterrestrial look at various monsters, and probably the source of the legend that La Bete was killed with a silver bullet. |
| The Beast of Gévaudan | 80 | Abbi Pierre Pourcher | N | Detailed religious tinged look at the hunt for La Bete. |
| The Werewolf Book | 80 | Brad Steiger | Y | Steiger spares no ink in discussing various legends and alleged werewolf cases from history. |
| The Curse of the Werewolf: Fantasy, Horror and the Beast Within | 80 | Bourgault du Coudray Changal | N | An academic approach with very approachable writing style, this is a modern look at the footprint of werewolves in our culture. |
Remember, we use Amazon affiliate links. You’re certainly not obligated to buy through Amazon, but if you use these links a tiny portion of the sale will financially benefit the show. (Realistically this has – so far – been very insubstantial. But I’m hoping to reinvest the earnings here for more show research material and every little bit helps.
No content found