Jan Bondeson is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Rheumatology, University of Wales College of Medicine. He is the author of many books, including The Feejee Mermaid and Other Essays in Natural and Unnatural History (also from Cornell), The Great Pretenders: The True Stories behind Famous Historical Mysteries, A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities, and Buried Alive.

A sober, informative disquisition on the sundry forms that humanity can assume and endure.(Kirkus Reviews) As Bondeson looks at the cases of the so-called hog-faced women, dog-faced boys, and people with horns throughout history, he shows an acute sensitivity to the nuances of historical interpretation and for the humanity of those whose lives and conditions he chronicles.(Publishers Weekly)

• The two inseparable brothers and a preface; the hairy maid at the harpsichord; the stone-child; the woman who laid an egg; the strangest miracle in the world; some words about hog-faced gentlewomen; horned humans; the Biddenden maids; the Tocci brothers, and other dicephali; the King of Poland's court dwarf; Daniel Cajanus, the Swedish giant; Daniel Lambert, the human colossus; cat-eating Englishmen and French frog-swallowers.

Jan Bondeson is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Rheumatology, University of Wales College of Medicine. He is the author of many books, including The Feejee Mermaid and Other Essays in Natural and Unnatural History (also from Cornell), The Great Pretenders: The True Stories behind Famous Historical Mysteries, A Cabinet of Medical Curiosities, and Buried Alive.

A sober, informative disquisition on the sundry forms that humanity can assume and endure.(Kirkus Reviews) As Bondeson looks at the cases of the so-called hog-faced women, dog-faced boys, and people with horns throughout history, he shows an acute sensitivity to the nuances of historical interpretation and for the humanity of those whose lives and conditions he chronicles.(Publishers Weekly)

• The two inseparable brothers and a preface; the hairy maid at the harpsichord; the stone-child; the woman who laid an egg; the strangest miracle in the world; some words about hog-faced gentlewomen; horned humans; the Biddenden maids; the Tocci brothers, and other dicephali; the King of Poland's court dwarf; Daniel Cajanus, the Swedish giant; Daniel Lambert, the human colossus; cat-eating Englishmen and French frog-swallowers.