Free (ADE-DRM PDF) Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend [Academic Cryptozoology]

[ATDrake]

Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend by Joshua Blu Buhs, who has a PhD in the history and sociology of science according to the dedicated Wikipedia page for this book, is Exactly What It Says In The Title about the popular cryptozoological favourite, from a skeptical but open-minded academic who's willing to examine the evidence supplied by those who want to believe that the truth is out there, as well as writing about the history of such perceptions, free courtesy of the University of Chicago Press.

This is their featured Free Book of the Month selection for July, and is really quite nifty, and covers the history of Bigfoot-type creature sightings and appearances chronologically, including sasquatches and yeti, and the rise of popularity and ensuing alteration of depictions in pop culture, while examining the purported evidence of the various accounts, with appropriate sourcing and analysis. Fox Mulder and Dana Scully would both be proud.

Currently free throughout the month of July directly @ the university's dedicated promo page (ADE-DRM PDF available worldwide in return for your valid email address), and you can read more about the book on its regular catalogue page.

If you happen to be interested, there's also an interview with the author, done by the University of Chicago Press, available at this link.

And this has been the (late!) selected 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.

Because not only is it always nice to receive quality non-fiction freebies, it turns out my province has a surprising amount of university press-printed scholarship to contribute in this area which adds a nice touch of local interest for me, in addition to the built-in edutainment, and I'm feeling nostalgic for The X-Files now.

Enjoy! (And Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians who are celebrating today. )

Description
Last August, two men in rural Georgia announced that they had killed Bigfoot. The claim drew instant, feverish attention, leading to more than 1,000 news stories worldwide—despite the fact that nearly everyone knew it was a hoax. Though Bigfoot may not exist, there’s no denying Bigfoot mania.

With Bigfoot, Joshua Blu Buhs traces the wild and wooly story of America’s favorite homegrown monster. He begins with nineteenth-century accounts of wildmen roaming the forests of America, treks to the Himalayas to reckon with the Abominable Snowman, then takes us to northern California in 1958, when reports of a hairy hominid loping through remote woodlands marked Bigfoot’s emergence as a modern marvel. Buhs delves deeply into the trove of lore and misinformation that has sprung up around Bigfoot in the ensuing half century. We meet charlatans, pseudo-scientists, and dedicated hunters of the beast—and with Buhs as our guide, the focus is always less on evaluating their claims than on understanding why Bigfoot has inspired all this drama and devotion in the first place. What does our fascination with this monster say about our modern relationship to wilderness, individuality, class, consumerism, and the media?

Writing with a scientist’s skepticism but an enthusiast’s deep engagement, Buhs invests the story of Bigfoot with the detail and power of a novel, offering the definitive take on this elusive beast.

[ATDrake]

Just a reminder that this is probably the last day to pick up the freebie if you haven't already.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

<snip>
Because not only is it always nice to receive quality non-fiction freebies, it turns out my province has a surprising amount of university press-printed scholarship to contribute in this area which adds a nice touch of local interest for me, in addition to the built-in edutainment, and I'm feeling nostalgic for The X-Files now.

Enjoy! (And Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canadians who are celebrating today. )
<snip>

I've noticed that the Canadian universities do seem to have proportionately more open access stuff than the American universities, at least (to the American universities, tsk, tsk). I had just noticed the other day that the University of Saskatchewan seemed to be a great source for OA stuff.

Happy Canada Day to you, too. Although I'm not quite sure what that is. ha