This felt more like a travel memoir with Bigfoot facts and I enjoyed it immensely. I could have used more Bigfoot lore but overall I liked it.

I was very excited for this book for a variety of reasons. I find the idea of cryptids very interesting, the very idea that creatures could exist in our modern society and that we not know about them very intriguing. I thought this book would be about the history of how the legend of bigfoot came to be, maybe the various indigenous roots around the world that hold similar stories where it came from. In fact, this book held very little history. I would dare to say that this book held more conversation about Donald Trump than it did about Bigfoot. It also went off on random tangents about different topics, like woodpeckers, for various lengths of chapters, which just seemed very random and unrelated to me. Mostly, this book was about the communities and the author's experiences with the communities that he experienced. Which, there is nothing wrong with writing a book about that. But please, don't title a book "The Secret History" if you're not going to include any history in it. Also shut UP about Trump!

I thought this book took an interesting journalistic look at cryptozoology and the search for Bigfoot and the ties with conspiracy theory culture. I wasn't expecting such a focus on 2020 Trumpisms and the pandemic. It felt like it took up more of the story than I would have personally liked.

Thank you Netgalley for providing a digital ARC.

I loved the narrator and everything about this book. It was a learning experience and I've been telling my friends about it. I can't wait to see what they think!

The bait and switch in this book is horrendous

It’s called The Secret History of Bigfoot, both the title and description suggest an interesting look into cryptozoology and the social phenomenon around Bigfoot…
What you actually get is a 300 page dumpster fire that gyrates of the author complaining about being in the woods (I’m not sure where he thought a Bigfoot research story would take him) and going on semi-political tirades against Trump. The worst part of that is they aren’t even good tirades just meaningless rambling, that seems like he wanted to publish in a political space and the publishers said no so he just added them here..

When he actually did some interviews with other people on the subject there were some interesting parts, but he also seemed to be pursuing interviews in such a disingenuous way that left me feeling bad for these people. Honestly the most interesting parts of this book came from when the author was directly quoting other people.

The book is only a little bit about Bigfoot in general and definitely doesn’t reveal secrets or historical lore, I’m honestly left wonder how this even got published. The narrator Matt Godfrey was the only thing that even made this not end up in the DNF pile.

Thanks to Netgalley and Tantor Audio for my audio review copy

Thanks to Netgalley and Tantor Audio for the audioARC of this. I am catching up on some books I am behind on reviewing, so I also grabbed the ebook from my library and read from both formats.

This was mostly interesting to me, surprisingly, in the way that the author discussed issues of racism, appropriation, and class within the bigfoot hunting community. I went in thinking, woo cryptid book, and came out with deep thoughts about who exactly is looking for bigfoot. It seemed like the author quoted others A LOT, which is fine, I suppose, but started to distract me from his own story.

This book was not quite what I imagined. If you look up the author, a book titled "Field Notes on the North American Sasquatch: Why We Believe in the Unbelievable" also pops up - I don't know if this was the working title of the book but it certainly is a better fit for the material. This book was the author's field notes on his adventures in sasquatch country, not a history of bigfoot. If I had known the framework, I wouldn't have judged this book as history. I did enjoy the book and the information but I had to change my expectations. There are a lot of musings on America, information on environmental impacts and climate change, interesting animals and plants, politics, kooky characters, etc. It's fairly long and I took a few breaks from listening. This book does drop in several political jabs and makes no attempt to hide what the author thinks about extremists. Again, I guess it's fine if this is all just the author's musings and whatnot, but it doesn't really add anything to a bigfoot history. Matt Godfrey does a great job narrating. Thank you NetGalley and Tantor Audio for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this eARC. I have an interest in all things cryptid, with Bigfoot/skunk ape/Sasquatch as a particular favorite.

Matt Godfrey was a great narrator for the book and its content. His voice has a lot of personality, and his delivery was successful in embodying the tone of the writing.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but some parts felt a little too political with certain uses of appositives seeming unnecessary.

I think this would be a great introductory book for people who might have a passing curiosity of Bigfoot.

This did not read at all like I was expecting. Based on the title and blurb, I was expecting an in-depth look at the history of Bigfoot sightings, but instead this was filled with too many references to current politics and the type of person that would typically hunt for Bigfoot.

There were some interesting bits, mostly when actual sightings were discussed. But too much of the book focused on other things for this to actually be a history of Bigfoot. Having the audio was the only reason I was able to get through this book. Unfortunately, this one didn’t work for me.

Thank you to NetGalley, Tantor Audio, and John O’Connor for an advanced listening copy of The Secret History of Bigfoot in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I had pretty high hopes for this exposé into the secret life of Bigfoot, but I found my hopes were dashed like so many other Squatchers waiting for a sighting.

Author, John O’Connor does a decent job detailing the popular history of Bigfoot, and its sightings across North America, along with a good insight into the vast array of followers. Where this book veers off the beaten Sasquatch track is in its many rants and digs on Donald Trump. I am not a Trump follower, but I did find every mention which there were an excessive amount really veered away from the book at hand and we’re very distracting. I also felt that this book meanders through different experiences and histories and cultural representations, but never truly captures the essence of the fanaticism and culture of Bigfoot.

I had the opportunity to experience this book through the audiobook narrated by Matt Godfrey and found a disconnect between the narration, and the story at points. Matt Godfrey’s is technically sound, but along with this personal retelling, there were moments where his voice did not really capture, or make sense of what the author was saying.

Thanks to Tantor Audio for my audio review copy. Opinions are my own.

Meh. This book wasn't what I thought it was going to be. It was a whole lot of info about the author's trips and journeys and not a lot of actual info about Bigfoot.

I don't know if I believe in Bigfoot. I'm definitely NOT a hardcore believer. I'm open to the possibility. And I thought this book would shine some light -- one way or the other -- on whether or not being open to the possibility was worthwhile. It didn't, really. I'm no more convinced that Bigfoot is or is not real than I was before I read it.

It seemed more like a rich guy's story about traipsing around the world and finding out nothing of substance. The only reason I'm giving it three stars is because some of the stories (other people's stories) included here were pretty interesting.

Overall, this was a very 'meh' book.

whoa! Who knew there was so much to know about Bigfoot. This was a blast to listen to and very informative.

Giving this three stars, but if we could do halves, I would do a 2.5. Overall, this was an interesting read, with a decent amount of information on not only Bigfoot, but other wildlife as well.
What took away from the overall star rating? Seriously authors, we read books like this to dive into fun topics, and learn a bit about what we may not know. We don't want your social commentary running through it. There seems to be a very huge contempt here from the author, and while I am an independent voter, his disdain and over spewing really turned me off on this book. I had to take it in chunks, as I just wanted to hear more about Bigfoot, and not so much the social commentary that he felt was so needed in this book (it wasn't, and the book would have been better off for it).

Really enjoyed the bits about Bigfoot that he managed to find time to discuss.

Let's get one thing out of the way: John O’Connor is not a Trump fan. He will remind you of this throughout The Secret History of Bigfoot. If this will be problematic to a reader, then I really cannot recommend what is otherwise a decent read. In his defense, John O’Connor is very respectful to Trump fans. This is good, because it turns out that they make up a large percentage of Bigfoot enthusiasts (is that the correct word?). John O’Connor will explain to you why this is the case, by the way. He'll explain many things over the course of the book, from Bigfoot to ivory billed woodpeckers to philosophy. Again, very thoughtful, he nonetheless projects the attitude of skepticism to the point where he actually gets science wrong. FYI, John, crystals vibrating with energy frequencies isn't New Age; it isn't woo-woo. We wouldn't have analog radios and quartz wristwatches if they didn't! The book can come across as random at times, but you can trace each string back to his central theme. I really liked it. It could've been better; I could've found it amazing. The Secret History of Bigfoot just always seemed to be missing a little something that stopped it from reaching five stars. Kind of like searching for Bigfoots, so much yet not quite...

I would like to thank Tantor Audio for allowing me to experience this NetGalley audiobook. Matt Godfrey's voice perfectly fit the subject matter. His casting: five stars.

I went into this book with high hopes but as soon as they brought politics into it, I knew it wasn't for me. I still want to thank Netgalley and Tantor Audio for letting me listen to this and give my review.

I love cryptids and Bigfoot isn't exactly my favorite but I enjoyed this. It was a bit different from what I was expecting but I liked that. Learning about when Bigfoot sightings started and how the nations love for this particular cryptid grew was really fascinating to me. I also liked that this book didn't lean one way or the other on weather Bigfoot exist. You just get the history and the facts and its up to the reader to decide how they felt. Overall this was a really interesting read.

I seem to be encountering an issue with NetGalley, preventing me from accessing the audiobook, although the exact nature of the error remains unclear. Unfortunately, I'm uncertain about the root cause of this problem. It's a perplexing situation as I'm unable to pinpoint the specific reason behind my inability to access the audiobook through the platform. Despite attempting to troubleshoot, the issue persists, leaving me in a state of uncertainty. I would appreciate any guidance or assistance in resolving this matter, as I am eager to gain access to the audiobook and explore its content. Any insights or suggestions would be immensely helpful in overcoming this obstacle and enjoying the anticipated literary experience.

Going into this book I didn't really believe in Bigfoot and after listening to the audiobook I still don't. The one thing I didn't expect from this book was how thoughtful and informative it was going to be. The book is worth a read even just for that amount of information. Pleasantly surprised.

The book was a compilation of the various events the author encounters in this journey of the Bigfoot research. From the curb that set him on this path to all the tales he heard from different people and the ones he witnessed, gets enlisted.

What's notable throughout the book is that across the world we have stories of the same creatures with different words describing them in our legends. The overall book had a great pace constantly enticing you with different versions and incidents, and most of it was really well constructed. A single issue I encountered was when the stories shifted to other topics which felt to me that somewhere in the second half the book was off track for a while and then it reclaimed the topic back towards the end.

Thank you @netgalley @tantoraudio @centerforhighenergymetaphysics for the Digital ARC

Genre: #nonfiction #research #myths #legends
Rating: 3/5 star

I don’t know exactly what I was expecting from this book but it just didn’t deliver for me. As a resident of the PNW with a husband whose nickname is Sasquatch it’s fair to say I’ll pick up just about any Bigfoot book I come across. I was excited by this title and even the first half of the book but it quickly went off the rails for me. The conversations the “Bigfooters” were interesting to me in getting into the mindset of those who actively seek out sightings of this popular cryptid. What detracted for me where the long side stories about topics that felt completely unrelated, such as the story about the bird the wetlands and swamps of the South. I also felt that the snarky comments about recent U.S. politics while funny at first got old and added nothing to book overall. The narrator did a fantastic job and kept me reading when the through line wondered.
Thank you NetGalley and Tantor Audio for access to this title in exchange for an honest review.