# Shepherd "Best Book" site **URL:** \ **Category:** Marketplace\ **Created:** [June 22, 2023, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shepherd-best-book-site/985911 "2023-06-22T01:03:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2023, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shepherd-best-book-site/985911/1 "2023-06-22T01:03:02Z")
This seemed like an appropriate place for this site. It isn’t really selling things directly, but it does direct you to where you can buy them. So I figured “Marketplace” was the right forum. The website “Shepherd” has entries by authors who make up lists of books similar to theirs in some way, and they put a title on the set “Five Best Books About [Topic]” Here’s the general link to the site – [https://shepherd.com/](https://shepherd.com/) The reason that I’m posting this is that they approached me and asked me to make a list of books similar to my first book, **Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon**. It seemed like a fun exercise, as well as a way to publicize my book. So here’s my entry – “The Best Books Explaining the Unexpected Truths Behind Myths” (although I’d have stated it a little differently) > **[The best books explaining the unexpected truths behind myths](https://shepherd.com/best-books/the-unexpected-truths-behind-myths)** > > Stephen R. Wilk shares the 5 best books on the unexpected truths behind myths. Have you read The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries? They asked me to help spread the word, so here it is. For the record, I really do like these books, and have read them multiple times (especially Willy Ley and T.H. White). There are several others I could easily add, like Odell Shepard’s **The Lore of the Unicorn** or Adrienne Mayor’s other books, or L. Sprague de Camp’s **Lost Continents** , but these five will do. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2023, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shepherd-best-book-site/985911/2 "2023-06-22T03:02:45Z")
Very nice. You probably would quibble about the amount mythology debunked, but my head went straight to Martin Gardner’s _Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science._ Then I jumped to _The Prevalence of Nonsense_ and its sequel _The Ignorance of Certainty_ by Ashley Montagu and Edward Darling as classic texts. There will always be a need for such books, sadly enough. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2023, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shepherd-best-book-site/985911/3 "2023-06-22T03:41:21Z")
Go9od books. I’ve re-read my copy of Gardner to death. I might also mention he classic debunking books _A Natural History of Nonsense_ and _On the Spoor of Spooks_ by Bergan Evans, the proto-Cecil, as well as the even earlier _Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds_ by Charles MacKay. But, fun and, indeed, also essential as these books are, they don’t really deal with myths, mythical creatures, and mythology (unless you stretch the definition a bit too far). ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2023, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/shepherd-best-book-site/985911/4 "2023-06-22T13:34:00Z")
Nice! Week before last, I assembled a list of “comparable titles” for when I’m querying my next book. I just went in and entered those authors and now I’ve got some attractive recommendations! (I’ve also signed up as interested in participating as an author, will see how they reply. I’m small change and don’t cast much of a shadow, but this would be quite cool)