Primeval Fear: The Elements of Classic Horror

Rating:
Summary: There are far better books than this
Review: Firstly, let me state that I was excited to acquire this book. The topic is dear to my heart, and I consider myself an aficionado of the genre. I love horror fiction. But...
Stylistically, this book is very poorly written. More than a dozen times you will find misspelled words, incomplete clauses, incorrect changes in tense, ambiguous pronouns, and generally badly organized sentences and clauses. I am not a grammarian or stickler for formality, but I found it difficult not to be distracted by the glaring errors in style. At the risk of sounding vicious, which is not my intent, it does not seem to be the work of a professional writer. It surprised me to see that he has already published 2 other works. This book would be mercilessly dissected by Strunk and White, and it is of the caliber you would expect to see from a sophomore in college.
Stylistic issues aside, his arguments can be made even more succinctly than the already-thin book of 100 pages would suggest. There is very little substance to his arguments, and while I agree with his basic principles, they are rather obvious and not very well supported once they are made. Then they are simply repeated as dogma for a few more pages and dropped for another topic.
This leads to the problem of the type of reader this book is most likely to attract. I assume that those interested in this work will have already read Lovecraft's treatise on the subject (vastly superior and required reading), or "The Weird Tale" by Joshi. I also highly recommend "Fear Itself" as well written and researched work on the primal causes and manifestations of fear. Once you have read these works and others in their bibliographies, Primeval Fear seems more like an enthusiastic rambling from a 20 year-old horror fan in your dorm room, than an erudite piece of work.
This is one of the few times that I will be asking for a refund from the book seller, it is simply not worth the $$.

Rating:
Summary: Loved the Book!
Review: Fortunately I had already read this book when I saw the review by the dredger from NY. I totally disagree with this review, which was very harsh. In fact, I liked everything about this book which tells about "Classic Horror" the oldest type of tale, and how we came up with these fears and fearful tales!

I loved this book, thought it well worth the money, and have recommended PRIMEVAL FEAR to friends and acquaintances.
One doesn't need to be a fan of horror novels to enjoy this book. I found it very useful, interesting, and in many ways comforting. I like how subjects are broken down by chapters, and the chapter titles. It's easy to find the right place when looking up something in particular. Do read from the beginning though. All the chapters are good.

I do read horror, but not Lovecraft, whose novels are a bit too much for my taste. PRIMEVAL FEAR by Christopher Treagus is my kind of book!

Rating:
Summary: Enlightened
Review: I read "Primeval Fear" in a few hours. I intended to stop at the end of each chapter to take a break, but started a new chapter each time--unable to put this book down until I had finished it! This is a great book for all who are interested in understanding why anyone would want to read books that scare them. I am a fan of ghost stories in particular, and found the chapter on ghosts enlightening. I also learned a lot about fear that I didn't understand, such as why any sane person in this century would still cringe at the thought of a were-wolf!