In her nonfiction book Is It Real? The Loch Ness Monster, award-winning author Candace Fleming encourages readers to don their detective hats and gather their investigative tools in order to reach a verdict on one of the natural world’s greatest mysteries, whether the Loch Ness Monster is real or legend.
To take readers on this sleuthing journey, Fleming invents a member of the Black Swan Scientific Investigation (BSSI) team who receives the job to unravel the mystery of what lurks in Scotland’s Loch Ness.
Just as the scientific method typically has six steps, so too does the investigative method follow a systematic process: Review the evidence; be wary of wishful thinking; recognize the difference between fact, opinion, assumption, and lies/hoaxes; utilize experts; rely on Occam’s Razor (the simplest answer is often the correct one); and form a solid conclusion that is informed, logical, and objective.
Whether the reader wishes to be a detective or not, Fleming’s investigative process works well for most decision-making. After all, many of life’s mysteries should be approached with an open mind and with data—not hopes, wishes, and emotion—influencing our decisions.
Fleming also explores the human fascination with a mystery since the searching and sightings for Nessie have persisted since 1933. She reminds us not only that “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence” (120) but that mystery fuels the imagination.
- Donna