Breverton's Phantasmagoria: A Compendium Of Monsters, Myths And Legends Hardcover – September 1, 2011

Love this book cover to cover it’s a lovely book to display and the content is well written and researched and very cohesive. Excited to research these topics further. Very cool:) their other books are equally wonderful

This book is very good and scary

I was not sure what to expect from this book. But it was highly interesting. From all sort if animals to building here on our planet. I recommend this book for the who wants to understand our past!

I have not finished this book. However I noticed an inconsistency when they mention el cucuy. The books says that it is el coco, I grew up with cucuy and no one says coco. I grew up in a predominantly Hispanic area. So went back and looked up Sawney Bean the head of the cannibal clan and the book says it is fact that they existed but historians have never been able to prove that story factually, though many ask if it isn’t true, why would people have attested to something so grim. However the art work is wonderful and even with the inconsistencies I am enjoying this book. Just know it isn’t an academic book at all and is for entertainment. I know that sounds dumb, an academic book about monsters. But there are real studies of lore and history that one can find with this books as a jumping off point.

I brought this as a reference book. So far I really like it.

It's about time a book like this was made. It's a nice little hard cover book packed with obscure information, stories, and theories. It covers Monsters, Myths, and Legends from every culture you can think of and every time period. I find this sort of stuff interesting as someone who loves to write fiction. It's over 384 pages long, it has a few illustrations in black and white nothing too fancy but also nothing that one would consider childish. A lot of the illustrations seem to be scans from other time periods so they are probably legit.This book will make for great bathroom reading or as a little something to entertain yourself with if you have some time to kill. It's broken up into little sections so you can jump around any page on whatever chapter you are and start reading about something else right away. It looks great on a shelf and is a fine addition to any old school adventurer library. 5 stars. Highly recommend.

Great encyclopedia type book if you a history buff and interested in strange myths, people, places, folklore, mysticism, fiction and non-fiction. Great for research or just open and read.I was thrilled with it as soon as I unpacked it. FiveStars

I was happy to buy this book on the strength of its remarkable introduction. While it is charming and entertainingias a whole, it strains credulity to present real historical figures in the same encyclopedia as cryptids. I'd say a quoting medieval bestiaries for fictional creatures is fine, but when they're cited as sources for bees and ostriches, it diminishes the trust I have for all other entries, even those covering verifiable facts.Take and enjoy this book as a fun work of fiction, and don't look too much into the unsubstantiated assertion that data Vinci's <i>The Last Supper</i> predicts the end of the world (and on November 1, 4006, no less). Oh, also? Beware the author who cites more of their own books than those of others. Just, a little red flag for reliability there.

Libro molto bello ed interessante. C'è molto di più che creature leggendarie e mitiche, tratta anche personaggi famosi, distindesi, come Einstein, considerati in qualche modo magici. Si trovano anche luoghi, strumenti, armi e tesori magici.

Interesante libro en inglés sobre diversos mitos y criaturas legendarias, ordenadas alfabéticamente. Tapa dura e ilustraciones en blanco y negro similares a las pinturas del medievo

First things first... wer Englisch nicht beherrscht und keine Lust hat, ab und an mal ein Wort nachzuschauen, der sollte die Finger von dem Buch lassen. Die Texte sind zwar gut verständlich geschrieben, aber ist halt auch kein Grundschul-Englisch mehr. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯So... nun zum Produkt![Optik]Was soll ich sagen - schaut es euch doch selbst an! (Bilder bzw. "Blick ins Buch")Es ist wirklich hübsch gestaltet - sowohl im Inneren, als auch von Außen.Dabei wirkt der Einband sehr stabil, wenn auch die Kanten recht schnell mal ne Beule drin haben, aber Bücher sind ja zum lesen da und nicht zum werfen oder runterfallen lassen. (Hätte ich das mal vorher gewusst...) ;D[Inhalt]Der Inhalt besteht aus kreuz und quer strukturierten Infotexten zu alles Möglichem, was die typische Folklore hergibt.Dabei kann es schon mal gut passieren, dass zwischen Texten zu "Anmerkungen von Herodotus zum Land der Skythen" und "Basil dem Bulgarentöter" ein kleiner Abschnitt zur Banshee kommt... nein ernsthaft, Struktur ist quasi nicht vorhanden.Warum finde ich das aber überhaupt nicht schlimm?Ganz einfach! Weil das Buch keine großen Geschichten erzählen will, sondern eher alles mögliche Fantastische anreißen und kurz erklären. Und durch die "kunterbunte" Themenmischung wird einem nie langweilig, da jeder Abschnitt buchstäblich was Neues bereit hält.Ab und an wird dies durch "vollständigere" Abschnitte unterbrochen, die z.B. auf die griechische Götterwelt Bezug nehmen oder auch auf Megalithen oooder halt die sieben Weltwunder.Das Dingen hier ist halt kein Lehrbuch, aber dafür umso unterhaltsamer und meiner Meinung nach angenehm viel bebildert.[Fazit]Für 12€ möchte ich das Buch hier jedem empfehlen, der Bock auf Mythen, Folklore und Fantasy hat.Ebenso wird sich jeder über die Inhalte freuen, der gerne zu jedem Mist spannende Anmerkungen fallen lassen will oder einfach Spaß am Klugscheißen hat. ;)Wer sich in der Tiefe mit spezifischen Themengebieten beschäftigen will, der sollte sich nach einem anderen Werk umsehen.Ich mag das Buch sehr gerne und auch nach dem Lesen wird es seinen Teil zur Optik meines Bücherschranks beitragen können.Von mir gibt es daher die wohlverdienten fünf Sterne!

I got this on a whim, after seeing it as a recommended product (after purchasing 'The Science of Monsters' by Matt Kaplan), and I definitely don't regret it! I got a used copy, an old library book apparently, but there's no damage apart from a bit of a cracked spine and the obvious library paraphernalia (barcodes, stamped checkout sheaf etc). No graffiti, the pages are clean, there's no tearing or graffiti.I love myths, legends, bizarre history, supernatural creatures and fantastical tales, so this book was perfect for me! It's split nicely into sections: 1) Mysterious, Magical and Weird People, 2) Mythical Monsters, Ghosts and Things That Go Bump in the Night, 3) Magical Places of Legend and Reality, 4) Flying Monsters, Mysteries, Odd Happenings, Strange Sightings and Legends, 5) Mysteries of the Deep, 6) Strange Artifacts, Buildings, Maps and Writings, 7) Tales of Secret Treasure, and 8) The Reality of Legends and Myths.I had trouble deciding where to start first! I found the book to be well written, nicely formatted (each new mysterious, magical or weird person - for example - was arranged alphabetically through the chapter, so it was easy to go back and re-read things about certain people), and informative. None of the sections go into great detail (you'd need a much bigger book than this one!), but the have enough of the details to inform the reader, and intrigue them into finding out more! It's a good reference book for the bizarre, and it's one I'll be reading more than once!The writing style is quite casual, which I like, not dry like it could have been. There's a great mix of fact (or should that be 'fact') and funny, which has me laughing aloud quite often (Pope Joan for example - tragic what happened to her, but the bit about the sedia stercoraria seats was hilarious to imagine).It's a good reference book, which summarises the long complicated tales (such as the Greek gods, or Hercules's tasks) into short informative sections, and contains enough information to get the basic idea without overwhelming the reader. I think it'd be a good book for writers to own, as quite a lot of the bits I read set my imagination going!All in all, a fantastic book which I love, and will enjoy reading again. Well worth the price, great quality, and well-written. Not much more than you could ask for!

I got this for the gimmick, but, God damn!This book has tons of cool stuff that within one flip of the pages did more than I was expecting it to do when it came to helping me with inspiration for writing.I'll admit my only dip into Monster legends is a pervy monster girl compendium, but this has so much cool stuff to read about and learn. A hell of a lot of cool stuff all inside a sweet hardback book.Best part of 2020 for me. :)