They rave for food with unceasing frenzy, being always ahungered and never abating the gluttony of their terrible maw.' Pliny the Elder Monsters are human creations. They are the product of our imaginations, recurring and reforming across time and space. They represent our greatest fears: of the unknown, the dark, the natural world, even ourselves.
 
These fears are embodied in the monster's fearsome appearance and transgressive behaviours ' excess size, claws, tentacles, bloodlust, violation of territories' It is not surprising, then, that sea monsters are often present in the mythology of seafaring and coastal cultures across the world, and to sailors they express the profound horror of the unknown dangers of the ocean.
 
There is also the question of whether they are actually fictional: after all, the kraken turned out to be the very real giant squid, and in Moby Dick Melville constantly refers to whales as monsters of the sea'This beautiful and absorbing book is a deep dive into the world of the sea monster from the 3rd century BCE to the modern day, told through writings from ancient myths and early scientific natural histories, to iconic literature and modern scientific reports.
 
As stories are passed from generation to generation, they are analogues for dangerous weather events, foreign invaders, enemy nations, physical phenomena and even real animals; they transmitted information about where it is and isn't safe to sail, how the world was created and other historical events. Some cultures might express their maritime or naval dominance through triumphant stories of battle with serpents, or explore fears of the dangers of seafaring through stories of ships swallowed whole.
 
This fascinating exploration of the sea monster in all its tentacular forms brings together excerpts from Pliny the Elder's The Natural History, Homer's The Odyssey, Filipino, Polynesian and Aboriginal Australian myths, Beowulf, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Moby Dick and many other writings by authors such as Tennyson, Browning, Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne, HG Wells' And through these accounts we get a unique perspective on the histories of societies and cultures around the world, taking in significant events like the Age of Sail, the Enlightenment, Darwinian evolution, and the rise and fall of whaling.
 
The excerpts are introduced with lively descriptions of around 500 words and beautifully illustrated with original portraits, illustrations and scientific diagrams, making this a gorgeous book that's sure to draw you in and drag you down'