Monstrous: The Lore, Gore, and Science Behind Your Favorite Monsters
THE MONSTROUS START WITH YOUR FAVORITE Can electricity bring me back to life I hate science Science makes my size impossible DRACULA PAGE 23 Learn how science can make me immortal Science is making my arm fall off Find out how decompose KING KONG PAGE 56 FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER PAGE 9 ZOMBIES PAGE 43 INTRODUCTION THE MAGIC OF SCIENCE PAGE 4 THE SCIENCE OF THE MONSTROUS PAGE 6 THE MONSTERS A GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE PAGE 138
Why is my nuclear breath so dangerous Is my monstrous shape a medical condition Science has the answers GODZILLA PAGE 121 Am I a monster or myth I hide from scientists Cexcept in this book BIGFOOT PAGE 103 WEREWOLVES PAGE 69 THE KRAKEN PAGE 85 WHEN SCIENCE IS WRONG PAGE 140 SOURCE NOTES PAGE 141 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY PAGE 142 GLOSSARY PAGE 146 INDEX PAGE 148
INTRODUCTION The magic of science In the fifth century English ruler Vortigern was attempting to build a great fortress in Wales But every time the foundation stones were laid the ground shook and the fortress collapsed When Vortigern consulted his wise advisors they told him the fortress would never stand because the land was cursed The only way to break the curse was to soak the foundation with the blood of a fatherless boy They found such a boy in a nearby village and the boy was brought before the king Upon learning that he was about to be human fertilizer the boy insisted the real problem was not a curse on the land but instead two dragons one red and one white He said the dragons were trapped under the earth and their fighting caused the ground to shake Vortigern didn’t need blood He just needed to release the dragons 4
So the king ordered the earth dug up and he found the dragons in hollow stones and released them Thereafter the fortress stood strong The king fired his advisors and made the boy his right-hand man This boy grew up to become the great wizard Merlin Was Merlin really a powerful wizard Probably not But perhaps he did know something about science Wales is known for having pockets of the gas hydrogen sulfide trapped underground Hydrogen sulfide has a pretty horrible rotten-egg smell and Merlin might have smelled it wafting through the air Sometimes hydrogen sulfide mixes with the odorless gas methane and when these gases get trapped in rocks boom Explosions happen Merlin was clever He knew he wasn’t going to convince King Vortigern that his fears were not real so instead he used science to save himself You too can use science to conquer monsters and blame it on wizardry The monstrous have no magic The real magic is science 5
