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Reconciling Culture, History, and Science in the Discovery Process. The North American sasquatch has most commonly been perceived as a cultural phenomenon, often in the form of an incorporeal being such as a myth, super-natural experience, or hallucination. If considered a corporeal being, the sasquatch is widely dismissed as a misidentified bear or human hoaxer. This book reviews some of the reasons why this perception has persisted, and why most attempts to attract the attention of scientific colleagues and scientifically minded readers to a less commonly considered alternative—the sasquatch as an extant mammal—have failed. This book also summarizes the attempts of one scientist to explain why he, along with a handful of scientific colleagues and numerous field investi-gators, holds and advocates a view of the North American sasquatch which challenges prevailing knowledge. —from the author’s preface |
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Reconciling Culture, History, and Science in the Discovery Process. Published by Beachcomber Books and available from the publisher. Orders may be placed by mail or e-mail.
Advance praise for The Discovery of the Sasquatch: Reconciling Culture, History, and Science in the Discovery Process from members of the scientific community: "The Discovery of the Sasquatch offers important insights, not only about a potentially uncataloged species but also about the humans who have thus far declined to investigate it. Bindernagel’s scholarship unlocks a door to discovery that was carelessly shut long ago, but now stands wide open, waiting for us to walk through."
"...one of the most brilliant pieces of work I have ever read. What a fabulous reminder of what science is and how science should be examining this issue... simply brilliant."
"John Bindernagel has given us a closely argued, cogent, convincing explanation why the evidence has not brought widespread acknowledgment that sasquatches are extant. In doing so he underscores how impressive that evidence actually is. This ingenious, insightful approach has increased drastically my personal estimate of the probability that sasquatchis an extant North American ape… But the book’s value goes beyond the topic of sasquatch. Bindernagel illustrates the need to compare hypotheses, a salutary lesson. Most of us have or spare little time to look in depth at every interesting and controversial subject, so it’s easy to succumb to a lazy skepticism that accepts hoaxing, say, as an adequate explanation. But lazy skepticism is just laziness, not skepticism, and Bindernagel demonstrates just how farfetched the hoaxing hypothesis is in this instance….People who like to think will love this book."
"A very engaging read, especially the combination of detailed compelling descriptions of recent encounters with something very strange and apparently inexplicable, and the rules we use for constructing knowledge using the scientific method….[The] book suggests we have a need to think again about the historical encounters with unexpected beings in the bush.
I very much appreciate [the author’s] presentation of the challenges [for science] at many different levels – including social and collegial. These are very important reminders of the social realities behind how science is conducted and, significantly, how it is presented."
"For a work of epistemology, the presentation is lively and engaging; I read it all with pleasure in two days and found my appreciation of the Sasquatch phenomenon clarified and broadened….. [T]he level of the discussion makes it a valuable case study in the history of science, and I recommend it to all who might appreciate a serious discussion of the subject."
"This engrossing book explores two questions: (i) What is the evidence
for a rare, large, secretive species of primate (or "great ape") living in
North America at present. (ii) Why do so many people who know of it
disbelieve in it, ascribing reported sightings as tales by hoaxers or people
who think they must have been hoaxed or deluded. Probably many believers
claim to be skeptics for fear of ridicule. Dr Bindernagel presents opinions
on these matters from a wide range of biologists, paleontologists,
psychologists, sociologists, and others. A really good read, and an eye-opener for mindless believers and mindless disbelievers alike."
Journalist, author, and long-term investigator, John Green, adds: "More than 50 years ago I encountered compelling evidence that huge bipeds with humanlike feet exist in North America, and, as such evidence continued to accumulate, I have spent a half century attempting, with little success, to persuade scientists in relevant disciplines to cease relying on ‘it can’t be’ beliefs and to subject the matter to serious study.
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the SASQUATCH A wildlife biologist looks at the continent's most misunderstood large mammal In 1998 I published North America's Great Ape: the Sasquatch to summarize the evidence on which my sasquatch research was based. It had become clear to me that most people did not realize just how much information we already had regarding the anatomy, behavior and ecology of this controversial wildlife species. In the introductory chapters of the book I briefly addressed some of the problems of belief and knowledge regarding the idea of the sasquatch as a real animal. I felt such a discussion was necessary to understand the widespread resistance to accepting the sasquatch as extant (or real). I continued on to challenge two commonly held ideas that sasquatch sightings can be accounted for by (1) hoaxes, or (2) misidentified bears. My main goal in the book was to provide readers with a more complete picture of sasquatch appearance, anatomy, food habits, and ecology based on existing, but not readily available, reports. Most of the book is devoted to bringing readers up to date on what is "known," or at least reported, for the sasquatch regarding its appearance, anatomical details, gait, sign, food habits, and behavior. The last few chapters develop the hypothesis, first suggested by the appearance and anatomy reported for the animal, that the sasquatch is a great ape, similar in many ways to the great apes of Africa (chimpanzees and gorillas) and Asia (orangutans). |
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A wildlife biologist looks at the continent's most misunderstood large mammal Published by Beachcomber Books and available from the publisher. Orders may be placed by mail, e-mail, or by phone. The price is US$ 45.00 plus US$6.00 shipping within continental North America. Please contact Beachcomber Books for shipping rates to other locations. Payment can be made by money order, or through PayPal (click on button below). "In the past thirty years numerous books have been published about reported observations of giant, hairy bipeds in the forests of North America, but none by a scientist qualified to assess whether what the witnesses described added up to a believable animal. John Bindernagel, with a Ph.D. in wildlife biology and extensive field experience in more than one part of the world, has now supplied that need. North America's Great Ape: the Sasquatch could prove to be the most important book yet written on this fascinating subject." |
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