UNREAL

Galleries of improbable flora and fauna offer readers opportunities to separate real from fake.

To the sure delight of budding naturalists, dozens of oddball wonders take star turns here, from the fictive likes of the hoop snake and the chupacabra to the verifiably real platypus and Venus flytrap, the zombie-ant fungus, and certain Mexican snakes that hang from cave ceilings to snare passing bats. A section headed “Hoaxes and Jokesters" spotlights "stories of deception," such as the Piltdown Man (bones supposedly belonging to a previously undiscovered hominid species) and photographs of the Cottingley Fairies (produced by two young girls who only owned up to the hoax decades later). But though Simpson opens with valid guidelines for telling actual facts from the “alternative” sort, such as carefully checking sources, she goes on to ignore her own precepts by labeling each organism she profiles “real” or “unreal” on the next page without evaluating, or even citing, her own sources for the judgment. The author does point to the hazard of unconscious bias and pairs the Loch Ness monster with Bigfoot in order to make the important point that “science isn’t about ‘proof,’ it’s about evidence.” In Judge’s animated illustrations, a light-skinned young curator sorts beady-eyed, suspiciously lively-looking specimens and portraits into thematically linked exhibits.

Better if it practiced what it preaches, but a stimulating excursion along the borders of credulity.