Press & Reviews

Press & Reviews

"a brilliant compendium of bizarre occurrences."

Richard Morrison, The Times, 2 April 2008

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"It is a catalogue of the inexplicable, an A-Z of mystery... It is a pleasure to immerse oneself in a book which, on almost every page, throws up something of peculiar interest."

Jon Barnes, Times Literary Supplement, 21 March 2008

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"The compilers of the dictionary have adopted a gentle, judicious, sometimes jaunty tone... The entries... represent the full range of positions from the hostile sceptic to the credulous believer. They have tried to operate without bias, avoid empty speculation and run to earth misconceptions, and they have cross-referenced liberally and cleverly."

Hilary Mantel, London Review of Books, 24 January 2008

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"sceptical, witty, intelligent and ravenous for mystery."

Gary Dexter, The Daily Telegraph, 29 November 2007

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"A great one-stop shop for Forteans... [the editors] should be congratulated for attempting to create a one-volume reference work that casts its net across such vast, stormy seas of the improbable and imponderable and spreads out the variegated catch in an ordered manner. The 1,250 entries ... are admirably balanced and succinct."

David Sutton, Fortean Times, 18 October 2007

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"… an ideal gift for anyone interested in crop circles, Scientology or even the Black Dog of Bungay."

Mark Sanderson, Literary Life, www.telegraph.co.uk 4 October 2007

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“Absolutely everyone who has an interest in the paranormal should have a copy of this fascinating and enlightening book on their bookshelf!”

Jacky Newcomb, paranormal experiences expert and The Sunday Times bestselling author of An Angel Saved My Life

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Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained featured in the ‘Top 10 Mind, Body, Spirit’ range selected by Stephen Gawtry, editor of The Watkins Review, in Publishing News 31 August 2007.

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“A Fortean at the Fringe – Part II
Gordon Rutter continues his round-up of the weirder side of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

A quick diversion to one of the other Festivals happening in Edinburgh at this time of year, the Book Festival, and the launch of the Chambers Dictionary of the Unexplained. In all fairness, I think I should mention that I was one of the contributors to this book, along with people such as Bob Rickard, Peter Lamont and Karl Shuker. The event was to take the form of a quiz, chaired by Mark Billingham, with a number of celebrities on the panel including Val McDermid, Jon Ronson and Muriel Gray. Essentially a Call My Bluff-type event, the panellists were not familiar with the topics at hand and, having been given no advance warning of the questions, had to think on their feet to come up with witty replies. It was, overall, both interesting and amusing, but having been to a similar event a couple of years ago with science fiction authors, I felt the format worked so much better with panellists who were knowledgable on the topics they were asked about. Still, as long as it generates sales for Chambers and the well-produced and excellent-looking Dictionary of the Unexplained, it can’t be all bad.”

Gordon Rutter
www.forteantimes.com/features/commentary/616/a_fortean_at_the_fringe_part_ii.html