Peter Stanford: The Science of Monsters by Matt Kaplan: review

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/9945570/The-Science-of-Monsters-by-Matt-Kaplan-review.html

The Science of Monsters by Matt Kaplan: review

Why do we believe in griffins and ghouls? A scientific history explains the hold they have on the human mind, says Peter Stanford.

"So the rise of science should have pensioned off such beasts, and to some extent that is the case, as Kaplan demonstrates. However, it hasn’t quite dispensed with our propensity to want to believe such tales. Faced, for example, with the horror of Myra Hindley’s crimes, many retreated even in our secular, scientific times into labelling her as the devil incarnate. And even though we may now be able to send cameras down to the floor of the deepest oceans, we still can’t quite banish the notion that there may still be something lurking there.
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And the age-old association of man and monster which allows buried human insecurity to be projected onto mythical creatures has, he suggests, found a whole new dimension in the cinematic cult of alien invaders from outer space. Alienated humans express their disconnection with the rest of society by believing in aliens.

This may be a step too far into psychobabble for some readers, but Kaplan is worth indulging since he always has the good grace not to labour such points, simply to raise the possibility. And it is that lightness of touch – dare I say it, not always the hallmark of science journalists – that makes The Science of Monsters such a guilty pleasure."