In the Valleys of the Noble Beyond

March 11, 2019
In this fascinating nature narrative, freelance writer Zada searches for evidence of Bigfoot in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. Unable to shake his youthful “obsession” with the Sasquatch, Zada traveled to the remote Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia to find the creatures for himself. While exploring the landscape, he interviewed locals about Bigfoot and immersed himself with members of several First Nations tribes. Zada relates his adventures, including his encounters with bears (“growling, gnashing her teeth, and frothing at the mouth... she charged at full speed”), along with his observations into the collective unconscious of humans and how brains construct reality (“our brains are exquisitely skilled at building their models... but far less skilled at changing them”). He came to understand the threats to this wilderness—in the form of logging, and oil and gas pipeline projects—and realized that, in Sasquatch, “We are chasing after an aspect of our own nature that is vanishing with the disappearance of our earth’s nature.” He presents evidence both supporting and debunking the existence of the mythical creature, but rests on the theory that Sasquatch’s presence is best considered “philosophical.” Zada’s fun, well-written travelogue will interest environmentalists and armchair adventurers alike.

June 1, 2019
Bigfoot lives--maybe, as this X-Files-worthy tale reveals. Toronto-based journalist Zada, who has written for the Globe & Mail, the CBC, the Toronto Star, and other publications, goes a touch out on a limb to ponder sights seen but not proven: namely, spottings of the Sasquatch, or Bigfoot, a kind of half-human, half-ape that inhabits the ancient woods of the Northwest. Traveling deep into the old-growth forests of British Columbia, he had a look for himself, and it's not too much of a spoiler to say that he adds to the seen/unproven inventory. The fact that no definitive evidence has ever been produced, admits the author, puts the Sasquatch in a category of critter "considered by most people to be no more real than fairies or gnomes." Bigfoot believers, he adds, explain the lack of evidence by the rarity and shyness of the creature, who knows better than to get too close to humans--even though some of the people Zada talks with, locals and visitors, claim to have seen the giants lurking at the edges of forest hamlets. Having been spooked by a sighting in a dark, dense patch of woods, Zada is inclined to believe, though he's a good enough journalist to know that assertion without evidence isn't likely to sway skeptics. As for true believers, well, there are plenty, many of them telling secondhand stories, such as one of a hunter who had Bigfoot in his sights but didn't pull the trigger "because it was too human-looking." Human, yes, and not bear, as so many claim, nor Yeti, maybe, Zada concludes, it's not provably seen because those who are looking for it are just trying too hard. "As soon as you stop trying," he writes, "your odds suddenly change." Believe or don't, the author writes nimbly and well, and his story is modest and evenhanded even as he lets us know just where he stands. An entertaining, provocative exercise in cryptozoology, best read with a modicum of suspended disbelief.

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2019
Travel writer and journalist Zada freely admits he caught the Bigfoot bug as a teen in the 1970s, pouring over pulp paperbacks and tabloid articles about kidnapped campers and hirsute giants haunting the Northwoods. Decades later, a chance opportunity to visit the sprawling Great Bear Rainforest in British Columbia revived his adolescent obsession with Bigfoot (aka Sasquatch) by allowing him to rub elbows with more self-proclaimed witnesses of the creature's alleged wanderings than anywhere else in North America. Zada's visits to British Columbia coastal towns, such as Bella Bella and Courtenay, yielded dozens of firsthand, close-encounter testimonials and interviews with Sasquatch true believers like John Bindernagel, a leading expert in cryptozoology (the study of mythical beasts), who insists his plaster footprint casts prove that the ape-like mammal is real. Zada strikes an engaging balance between curiosity and skepticism, letting the locals' convincing stories speak for themselves while probing the science behind misperceptions and cultural beliefs. While fringe-watchers will relish Zada's Sasquatch research, nature buffs will also enjoy his lush descriptions of the Canadian Pacific Northwest wilderness.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)