Divided into two sections, Rhoda Blumberg's The Truth About Dragons offers a comparative analysis of eastern and western dragons - mythological creatures that have a very different meaning, in different cultures. Including sections on physical appearance, size, habitat, social order, diet, reproduction, the relationship with treasure, enemies, and cures and charms, for dragons both east and west, this picture-book outline covers a lot of ground.

I liked the basic premise of the book, its comparative approach to one of the world's most recognizable folk icons: the dragon. I also appreciated that Blumberg quoted from historical works that discussed dragons, from Edward Topsell's 1608 The Historie of Serpents, to Father Kircher's 1678 work on earth science, Mundus Subterraneus (The Subterranean World). I did wish she had quoted from similar Asian sources, but can readily imagine that she simply lacked the proper source materials.

But despite my sympathy for her project, and my appreciation of the ways that she worked actual historical documents into her discussion of a mythological creature (demonstrating that the dragon was not always considered mythological), somehow I wasn't that taken, overall, with Blumberg's book. It wasn't detailed enough to tell me anything I didn't already know, but given its length and intended audience, I don't know that it is fair to judge it on that score. I think, in the end, there was just something a little off, in her tone and presentation. I couldn't figure out if she was presenting her information as a straight folkloric investigation - "Here are the beliefs, European and Asian, concerning dragons" - or a tongue-in-cheek field guide - "Here are the different kinds of dragons in the world." Mention, towards the end of the section on eastern dragons, of the sale of dinosaur bones, would point to the latter, but various phrases throughout, would suggest the former.

In the end, Murray Tinkelman's etching-like illustrations were my favorite part of the book. This wasn't a terrible reading experience, but given the fact that The Truth About Dragons is long out-of-print, and there are more current titles on the topic - like the immensely popular Dragonology: The Complete Book of Dragons - I would say that all but the most die-hard dragon lovers can probably afford to skip this one. ( )