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Rating: 
Summary: Well worth the money.
Review: "The Werewolf Book" is a comprehensive and exhaustive study on were creatures and other shape-shifting beings. The author Steiger divides each section alphabetically for easy 'look up' and indexing. At a hefty 350+ pages this book is fascinating edition to any werewolf enthusiast's library.I had two peeves: One, despite the title only about a third of this book seems to be about werewolves. The rest of it is divided between Psychological studies of serial killers and the mentally ill. The other third seems to be other shapeshifting creatures which is interesting, but could've been put in another volume. Still, this book offers quite a bit of interesting tidbits for werewolf enthusiasts, and I recommend it for those interested in the lore of the loup garou. One star has been deducted for the sections focusing on modern serial killers and sections on demonology which seem to be filler more than substance.
Rating:
Summary: Steiger pens perfect Werewolf Encyclopedia
Review: Aahwroooo! Beware - werewolves are everywhere! Especially between
the pages of Brad Steiger's new howler, "The Werewolf Book." If
you think that blood thirsty beasties are only a legend from "the
old country long, long ago," you could be mistaken. Steiger's
encyclopedia of werewolves is the only one of its kind. It contains
summaries of written and dramatized lore from around the world
relating to these fanged furry shape-shifters. Most interesting of all
are his accounts of recent, true-life cases of bloody savagery that
have ocurred in our own time, our own country, and perhaps our own
neighborhoods. Notorious mass-murderers such as Charles Manson,
Richard Speck and Jeffrey Dahmer seem to fit the description of
"werewolves", because of the grizzliness of their attacks upon
victims with whom they had no previous relationship. There was
seemingly nothing to gain. Werewolves are men who temporarily behave
like rabid wolves. They unsettle us because they cross the boundaries
between the darkest side of mortal life and the light of the immortal
soul. The ultimate taboo is to regard our fellow human beings as no
more than packaged meat. This denies our divine human potential, and
we are all lost in the dark prison of the wolf's den. Steiger has
been collecting werewolf lore since the age of 11. As an adult, he was
initiated into a Native American wolf clan. This clan embraces the
positive aspects of wolfiness - strength, courage, and the social
protocol of the pack. Wolves take down the weak, the sick, and the
old, and have earned an honorable place in the food chain. This is a
far cry from brutal savagery to fulfill demented psychotic drives and
decrepit morality. Perhaps it is only fitting that Steiger should be
the one who inadvertently invites the reader to make a distinction
between wolves and werewolves. The Bible states that one day, even
the animals shall speak. Who are the werewolves and who are the sheep?
Rating:
Summary: Well researched and interesting
Review: Blah, padded, bloated, vague, rambling and pointless are all words that readily jump to mind after reading Steiger's attempt at penning a werewolf encyclopedia. Steiger has pulled exactly the same trick that inadequate students use on term papers. He substitutes length for research, and he does it by adding extraneous sentences, paragraphs, and adjectives, as well as randomly bringing up every topic that might possibly be seen as related to the assignment, and then subsequently rambling on about that subject. Even when Steiger is discussing werewolves, cat people, coyote people, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde or other shape-shifting beings, he regurgitates a handful of the simplest facts concerning said subject and then plays a game of seeing how long he can ramble on without adding any new facts to the mix. The writing varies in quality, but too much of it is either terribly vague or rambling yet pompous without actually saying much. At 397 pages in length, one would expect that the subject would eventually be covered adequately, but such is far from the case. It seems that everything other than shape-shifting beings ended up being irresistible fodder for Steiger's research agenda.
Let us examine one section and the nature of this tome shall readily show itself. In the "A" section alone, out of twelve entries, Steiger includes six highly questionable entries, namely three paragraphs about an English Abbot who claimed he found a demon corpse (it was all black and twisted because it had been struck by lightning, but nobody said it had shape-shifted), three pages about the "Abominable Snowman" (a subject that is redundantly brought up no less than five times in the remainder of the book under alternative names such as yeti, yet Steiger fails to establish any link, however slight, to prove, as he states, that "Folklore has cast these mysterious monsters as werewolves..." [this quote from page 4]), two pages about aliens, three pages about the almasti (a Russian yeti), a three-paragraph biography of Evelyn Ankers (an actress who played a minor part in one werewolf movie), and two paragraphs about Anubis (the jackal-headed Egyptian god, whom Steiger rambles about in an exceptionally pointless way). Thus, fully half of these entries for the "A" section have so little to do with werewolves that one wonders why Steiger even bothered. Ah, yes, because he was being paid!
A short perusal of the table of contents brings to mind many other entries that made me desire that this was a term paper, and I Steiger's professor, that I might give him an "F." The entry on blood is terribly pointless. It would be more appropriate to a treatise on vampires, yet a more dedicated author could have done a better job with this topic choice than Steiger did. His rambling jumps from one subject to another, including the historical tale behind the Jewish Passover, Native American rituals to appease blood-shedding, and Steiger's own (completely unfounded) ruminations about fossil evidence, ancient humans, green leaves, and wolfskin-wearing cannibals. I shall spare you the exact details. The next galling entry that leaps out at my eye is titled "Dahmer, Jeffrey." Despite the fact that this famous serial killer was never labeled a werewolf, Steiger emphatically states that he indubitably was one. The evidence? Dahmer was unusually quiet during his trial, therefore he was possessed by a demon-beast, and ergo he was a werewolf. The entry itself contains nothing more than a hurried summary of the basic facts and Steiger's bizarre rambling. Numerous entries on other cannibals and serial killers all follow the same line.
I could go on, but I being to sicken myself as I look over this waste of a book, and I believe you have the point. Don't buy this piece of trash unless you are a dedicated fan of this author or you absolutely must have every single book that is published on this topic. Looking over the irresolutely cheerful reviews below mine, spaced evenly every few days, each praising this book as highly as I have ever seen a book praised and using the same style and phrases, I cannot help but conclude that Steiger himself has been writing these reviews in volume so as to push his book in this venue. I regret that little can be done to impede such cheating, and can only hope that my review will stay on top for a week or two before a new flood of phony reviews submerges it.
Rating: 
Summary: Slapdash compendium for the gullible
Review: Brad Steiger has been cranking out monster books since at least the 1960s. Most of his stuff was published in the form of lurid, mass-market paperbacks, heavy on breathless prose but light on actual research. This book is no different. For an indication of the level of research in this book, consider that Steiger actually footnotes articles from The National Enquirer! The editors at the publishing house should have had the good sense to remove those passages. They didn't, so you should take this book with a big grain of salt. The tome feels like a cut-and-paste job. Why all of the irrelevant junk about serial killers? What does Jefferey Dahmer have to do with werewolves anyway? This book has one saving grace: It contains a lot of good data about werewolf movies (although someone needs to tell Steiger that "The Howling" was not quite the "Citizen Kane" of horror films that he seems to think it is)--and it does have a lot of cool photographs in it. Overall, though, it's a disappointment. It's a shame because werewolf lore is interesting, and there's certainly no shortage of material. This could have been a good book. Sadly, the project was turned over to the wrong man.
Rating:
Summary: Well researched and interesting
Review: I found Brad Steiger's book to be very informative and well-written, I like the fact that he did not just research werewolves but other types of shapeshifters as well. The glossary in the back with information on movies and books featuring werewolves was also a good addition.
Rating:
Summary: It's making me wonder about my neighbors...
Review: I'm still going through Brad Steiger's superb new "Werewolf Book" and wonder if it's mere coincidence that I'm writing this on the evening of the current full moon! This is an amazing, hard-to-put-down collection of stories, descriptions, pictures, and myths. And throughout, you can't help but feel that maybe the werewolf of legend may have some basis in fact. As evidenced in his excellent werewolf chronology section, Steiger shows, with relative ease, how shape-shifting creatures have been living side-by-side with humans since earliest recorded times. Steiger has obviously spent a lot of time thinking about and accumulating a wealth of information about this topic. He doesn't just provide the reader with an overview of famous and infamous werewolves; he also opens our eyes and helps us realize that there are real people walking and living among us who display possible lycanthropic tendencies. Contrary to an earlier review of this book, I believe that Steiger's inclusion of modern-day human "monsters" like Jeffrey Dahmer and Charles Manson is absolutely appropriate. Their actions serve to remind us of the unimaginable horrors that the human psyche is capable of. Hollywood and silver bullets aside, it's always a good idea to know who your neighbors are. And for any readers who are looking for more of the positive aspects of the spiritual connection between humans and wolves, I don't think that's what the author intended here. Mr. Steiger obviously wanted to present a compendium of the best-of-the-best werewolf folklore, deliberately venturing into the darker side of the lupine "force." If it's the more positive, spiritual stuff you desire, you'd be better off getting yourself a copy of Steiger's earlier work, "Indian Medicine Power." "The Werewolf Book" is exactly what it claims to be: an all-encompassing, encyclopedic guide to all things related to lycanthropy. But since it can't possibly include details of absolutely everything available on the subject, Steiger offers an additional wealth of werewolf-related resources, including Internet web sites and other books to further our personal werewolf research and interests. This book is the primer: Lycanthropy 101, if you will. After reading the section, "Detecting Werewolves Among Us," I now find myself being just a little more attentive to people who may possess index fingers much longer than their middle fingers (a sure sign, according to one tradition, of a potential werewolf). If you want to learn more about the myth and possible reality of werewolves, or if you simply want to read something that may scare the wits out of you, it doesn't get much better than "The Werewolf Book."
Rating:
Summary: Fill Your Mind With Fascination!
Review: This is a heavy piece of work, in fascinating detail, interesting real facts and in size. If ever I received my money's worth in a book, this is it. Legends, myths, and factual matter will fill your mind with fascination and awe. This great book reads more like a true crime novel than a research effort. I must admit I keep mine on my coffee table, and it's been borrowed so many times I probably need to buy another copy. My two teenagers are always picking it up to read a few new undiscovered tidbits. My wife has been a Steiger fan for decades and she has read most of his 140 plus published works. I usually read them after she has read and marked up the extra special parts, so in my feeblemindedness, I don't miss something important. My college aged son used 'The Werewolf Book' to write a paper on myths. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this wonderful work, a work which is 'the definitive reference book' on Werewolves in many many libraries around North America. I totally disagree with those who were too dense to enjoy this terrific book.
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