Public Radio International

Wisconsin Public Radio

THE BESTIARY

Program 07-09-02-A

Listen!

Once upon a time people believed the world was populated with terrible monsters and fabulous mythical beasts. They thought if they just searched long enough and hard enough, they'd find them. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, the mythical beasts of folktale and legend, and the modern researchers who are still hunting for them. Tales of sea serpents, lake monsters, and abominable snowmen.

SEGMENT 1:

Laurel Kendall is one of the curators of "Mythic Creatures," a blockbuster exhibition at the American Natural History Museum. She walks through the exhibition with Anne Strainchamps and we hear visitor reaction to the dragons and their ilk. Also, Loren Coleman considers himself a conservative crypto-zoologist. He tells Jim Fleming what that means, and why he's still looking for the next Lake Monster or Bigfoot or Thunderbird.

SEGMENT 2:

Jonathan Baillie is the lead scientist at the Zoological Society of London and directs its new EDGE of Existence Program. He tells Steve Paulson about his conservation campaign to save Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered animals like a species of echidna from Papua in the South Pacific. Also, Tim Friend is the author of "The Third Domain." It's a book about Archaea - a kind of microbe that doesn't fit into any of the traditional categories of life and only exists in wildly inhospitable environments.

SEGMENT 3:

Nicholas Christopher collected myths and legends for years to write his novel, "The Bestiary." He talks with Anne Strainchamps about his book and reads excerpts from it. It's a bestiary of magical beats. And, we hear a produced reading of Mario Milosevic's poem "When I Was" from his collection "Animal Life."

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 07-09-02-A.

................................................................

Books:

Loren Coleman, Jerome Clark, Cryptozoology from A-Z (Simon & Schuster)
Nicholas Christopher, The Bestiary: a novel (Dial Press)

Websites:

• Mario Milosevic:
  http://www.conditionalreality.blogspot.com/
• Robert Rich:
  http://www.robertrich.com/rrbestiary.html
  

Music:

• “Abominable Snowman in the Market,” by Jonathan Richman. On “23 Great Recordings by Jonathan Richman.” (Castle Communications)
• “The Unicorn,” by the Irish Rovers, on “A Child’s Celebration of the World.” (Music for Little People)
• “The Veldt” by Combustible Edison, on “I, Swinger.” (SubPop)
• “The Whale (Mopy Dick),” by Flanders and Swann, on “The Bestiary of Flanders and Swan.” (EMI)
• “Breakfast at Denny’s” by Combustible Edison, on “I, Swinger.”
• Several tracks from Robert Rich’s CD, “Bestiary.” (see link)
• “Beezus, Beeten, Breep,” by David Rothenberg on “Why Birds Sing.” (Terra Nova)
  

Distribution dates: week of 09/02/2007 - hour 1

Listen!

................................................................

Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

Wisconsin Public Radio is a service of the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension.

Page design and management by Jim Fleming at Wisconsin Public Radio and Sarah Fleming.

© 2007 WHA Radio and the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System. All rights reserved.