When my son was younger, he began an interest in cryptozoology by watching the cable TV show "Finding Bigfoot." The show was both entertaining and absurd, as they never actually found a Sasquatch despite the title. I created my own conspiracy theory that the cast were actually people who just really loved backwoods camping and scammed Animal Planet to pay for all their equipment.

Of course, there are lots of people who believe Bigfoot is real and the Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization exists to support their attempts to find evidence to prove the existence of this species. Author John O'Connor spends time with this people on Squatching expeditions and notes that they are generally good and companionable people despite their unorthodox beliefs. In fact, O'Connor does a good job of making sure that his book does not tease or exploit the Bigfoot believers.

Instead O'Connor focuses on various issues that contribute to the belief in Bigfoot. He relates the history of the Bigfoot phenomenon and how it relates to other benign obsessions like UFOs and more dangerous conspiracy theories that have gained currency with the supporters of Donald Trump and Qanon. Psychological studies that show the flaws of crime witness reports and memory shed some light on why people may believe they've spotted a Bigfoot. O'Connor researches legends of Native Americans regarding Bigfoot-like creatures, but also notes that the Bigfoot phenomenon reflects the fears that white Americans have of nature. The ideas of leaving civilization behind for the wilderness and solitude are reflected upon by the likes of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Thomas Merton. O'Connor also tells the parallel story of the birding community of how some people who look for the ivory-billed woodpecker, believed to be extinct since the 1940s, are met with ridicule but persist in their search.

I like how O'Connor approaches the topic from so many different angles. I also like that O'Connor makes his dislike for IPAs and the Yankees known, and just how he integrates his personality into the book. We may never find Bigfoot, but you can find out a lot about humanity and the enduring popularity of myth by reading this book. ( )

The topic was a little bit interesting to me, but the author's unrelenting swerves into political talk was such a huge turnoff that I quit reading halfway through. I happen to agree with his continual comments on a certain politician, but why would I want to expose myself to all this vituperation in a book supposedly about Bigfoot? UGH ( )