I don’t know the real name of the reviewer “stevie” on Amazon, but I am very grateful for his revised review of the second edition of my book Live Pterosaurs in America. He recently changed his four-star rating to five-star.
Before quoting from his lengthy review, I quote from the introduction in the third edition of LPA, for it reveals an important part of my motivation (added comments, not in the book, are in brackets [ ] ).
If this book does nothing more than comfort the eyewitnesses of strange creatures [comforting them to know that they are not alone and insane], I would be grateful; but there’s much more. We need to understand why we believe what we believe. . . . while writing this book, I mentioned my work to a second-grader; she said, “Who will buy your book? Crazy people?” I think better of you. And I think, because of what she and many others have told me, that we must understand indoctrination, for it influences our beliefs; the extent of that influence discomforts me.
If money were my primary motivation for writing books, I would have given up being an author years ago. Giving someone joy and purpose, even in just a short reading session—that motivates me to keep writing. The following excerpts from “stevie’s” review give an example of what helps me to keep writing, even when some critics accuse me of spreading lies (I will leave that unpleasant subject alone for now). Thank you to all my readers who recognize the truth in what they read.
This is an updated review of the book and I am changing my rating to 5 stars. This book has been on my shelf for almost a year now. I pick it up every now and then and a part of me becomes more impressed by the book every time. . . .
Whitcomb painstakingly reviews every account for credibility and reason. This man is not a crank. He tries to weed out would be hoaxes and miss-identification. This is not a guy looking to create evidence to confirm his own beliefs. On top of this, I have great respect for a guy who follows his dreams so passionately. He has traveled to Papua New Guinea to search for the creature there and this book is somewhat of a sequel if you will. After Whitcomb traveled to New Guinea, he started to collect more stories from North America concerning the pterosaur like creature . . .
. . . This is well written and very hard to put down.
Thank you for those words. They will help me to continue to get up at 3:00 on cold winter mornings. I thank God that I am not alone in this society that frowns at living pterosaurs.