This is a mammoth book, a large sized 750 plus page encyclopaedia - containing hundreds of entries of paranormal, quasi-religious and just plain bizarre. It's an X-Files Reality dip-in book but without the accompanying paranoia.

Also, and unlike many of the books of the unexplained, this is entirely without bias or agenda. There is no attempt to persuade nor dissuade going on here. Instead the book presents a list of the mystical, the otherwolrdly and the pseudo-scientific - from faith healers to psychic surgeons, ancient religions to fortune tellers, and mythical creatures to little green men.

This is immense, and it is not the kind of book you are going to sit down and just read straight through. That's not the point of it. It is though a book for the curious, for looking up elements of supernatural films and TC episodes, or for just opening at random to see what you might find. Trying the latter I read of haunted houses, lithomancy, dryads, megaliths and creationism - short sections all but a good introduction.

Books like this walk a fine line and can easily be criticised. On the one hand you can say the sections are too short, lacking depth and example - on the other you can undoubtedly find countless examples of happenings, beliefs, myths and rumours that you might feel should be included but are not. These criticisms would be unfair.

After all, mankind as a recorded civilisation has existed for thousands of years. In that time we have held many different beliefs, and experienced many odd unexplained events, so to satisfy everyone you would end up with a book no one could ever lift, or one that would need to be split into as many separate volumes as the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

What we have here though is still very substantial - and highly informative. It is also beautiful as an object. This has very high production values and includes a great many wonderful illustrations. I simply cannot recommend this highly enough.

Synopsis
The new Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained is a fascinating and illuminating book, and an essential reference for anyone with a serious interest in unexplained phenomena. Written in consultation with leading figures in the relevant areas of study, it contains carefully researched, in-depth and balanced entries on topics ranging from alien abductions to the zodiac.