Mermaids 101: Exploring the Magical Underwater World of the Merpeople

I was going to read this book and then give it to a friend/client because I was thinking about getting the kindle version and am still kind of thinking about it,but ended up loving the book so much that I am keeping it at least for now.I bought another copy of it for someone to read and want to buy another copy for someone else.This is a book I want to share with other people for sure.It has beautiful pictures and great stories mostly about people who consider themselves merpeople or very dedicated to sea life doing what they can to help out.I think if you are going to get this book you should also get Doreen Virtue's Magical Mermaids/Dolphins card deck as well even though you don't have to.Also if you are interested in being like a mermaid Doreen mentions classes you can take and different types of mermaid tails you can get how much they cost and in general which ones are the best ones.There is other information in the book as well reguarding mermaids,so if you really like mermaids this is the book to get.

This book provides a lot of useful information about Atlantis & mermaids, but I feel like Doreen Virtue kind of pulls ideas from nowhere. "These ancient people were visited by these "extraterrestrial mer-beings" who they thought came from this star, and this star is blue and blue stands for this and that and flags all over the world have blue on their flags with stars, therefore it's connected to this!" I also feel like she tries to shove her products at you every chance she gets. This should be called "Product Placement 101." But other than that, Virtue really conveys the message that mermaids represent very well, she also does well at getting accounts from people all over on their experiences with mermaids & merfolk. It's a nice book, if you can get past the product placement and take some of her theories about the origins of merfolk with a grain of salt.

This isn't what I thought it was going to be. While there is great info in here a lot of it felt like a sales pitch for other friends of Doreen's and more their personal stories. I bought hoping to learn about working with mermaids and more. In the end I did learn something from the book. But walked away wanting more. It's a quick read though. And if you take her Realm reading course it will help you with that a bit. Other than that, know that while you will learn some you won't learn a lot and you will read much of other peoples personal stories. It's a short book as well.ETA: I don't think it's worth $9.99 for an ebook, print yes but ebook it's pricey.

Really interesting! I learned so many things and it pretty much included every subject but tied with mermaids. Which is definitely good because I was home sick. :( I had nothing to do that day so why not read a book? Guess what I actually enjoyed it! No matter how many times I've sneezed it was still a memorial experience that sticks in my mind to this very day. Turns out that I might've been a mermaid in my past life! Find out if you could be too by reading this EPIC BOOK.

Well, I have always had a thing for mermaids and I watched a YouTube video about it. There is just one thing I would recommend, have more facts to compare yourself to being a mermaid. That was my favorite part of the book. When I was comparing my hair with the book and my eyes as well. Otherwise it was perfect. Absolutely outstanding.

This book was so unique. I loved how Doreen goes into the history of mermaids and things I'd never heard before about how maybe some of us might be part mer-person. It's a fun book, and if you enjoy mermaids, you'll love diving in...haha...see what I did there.

I was always a big fan of Doreen Virtue. I have always had a connection with Mermaids and I thought this book would give me the information I have been craving for. Most of the book was about her and her friends " mermaiding"!! I didn't like reading about wealthy people and how wonderful it is to buy a mermaid outfit and to swim with dolphins in Hawaii!! For people like me struggling financially and yearning for some spiritual knowledge it was very frustrating to read. I will not be purchasing any more materials form Doreen Virtue, I think she has forgotten that the majority of her readers are regular people dealing with the struggles of life and we don't have the financial means to just escape when the going gets tough!!

Neat book to read. It has good stories in it and some pretty pictures. I just wish more information had been cited as to where it had been collected. There is no listing for sources for some of the facts.

There is interesting information in here, at the start, and really beautiful images of mermaid art depictions and religious depictions. I like the links to ancient belief systems and religion. Really interesting and magical.It was all going well.... then i found the images of the author and others dressed as mermaids mermaiding, and the chapter about that! It was boring to read their writings about their experiences mermaiding. My attention wasn't held and i realised i didn't want to read that. It's so silly to include it. Should have left that chapter out and including something else more intelligent. Those photos and that chapter bring down what would otherwise be a stunning book.I have kept this, and it's for the stunning art depictions at the beginning and end of the book and the interesting first half. There aren't any others like it, either.Saying all that, when i hold and look at this book my heart is filled with joy. 💖

My first impressions of this book were that a) It was a lot smaller than I'd expected (have hardbacks really got that tiny these days?!), and b) That it looks more like something that should be called Mermaid Diaries or Dolphin Days and made for ten year-olds. Taking the dust jacket off helped with this, as the book itself is a beautiful, solid navy cover with silver writing on the spine, but unfortunately the impression given by the design on the sleeve actually reflects the content inside.It seems this book is confused. On the one hand it claims to be a reference book, or 'introductory class' teaching about the history and mythology of mermaids; but on the other it's a happy-clappy-hippy book about the author's indulgence in 'mermaiding'. Seriously, there are awful pictures of her dressed as a mermaid, including one where she's playing a guitar in a swimming pool, digitally edited to look cool. (This particular page is captioned "Combining my two hobbies of playing guitar and mermaiding.", I'm not just exaggerating the matter!).The pages are glossy, and a confusing mix of beautiful hand-drawn illustrations and paintings vs. tacky print on coloured pages (the sort expected to be seen in a joke book or 100 best tips for) and painfully photoshopped underwater scenery/women in mermaid costumes/animated mermaids made to look real but failing to do so. Which is a pity, because if the book stuck to just one form of style, it could be a real gem. And that's without eliminating the awful adverts at the back for various mind-body-spirit-healing media.In conclusion, the book is far more aimed at "tapping into your inner mermaid" spiritual hobbies, than an enthusiast looking to educate themselves on the folk-lore and history of mermaids. Don't get me wrong, it's got some interesting facts in it (mostly at the beginning of the book, and nestled between horrible digital images repeating chapter-heading subjects) and does reference a lot of different mermaid origins from throughout time. It just isn't as educative on the subject as the title implies. So if you're actually interested in learning about the mythology and origins of mermaid existence, I'd highly recommend 'Mermaids, The Myths, Legends, & Lore' by Skye Alexander instead. But if you want a more slapdash, contemporary, colourful and casual book about mermaiding as a spiritual hobby with a bit of background information mixed in, then this is the book for you.

I find this book to be really confusing and the information presented to you does not seem very solid... The first part of this book is a collection of information that appears to be linked with the existence of merpeople. However, the explanations are not that clear and all the pieces of information are barely "stitched" together. There is a lot of things in this book that could be explained better and expanded upon. While reading this book I often found myself wondering "What does that have to do with anything ?", "How is this relevant ?", "Where did the author get this kind of information ?" etc... Everytime the author tries to explain something it just feels rushed. There is no bibliography so you just have to take everything the author says for granted and that is a huge problem for a former university student such as myself.Here is a quote from the book that embodies every problem I have with it (keep in mind that this book was published in 2012, so it is fairly recent) :"After all, scientists can't explain how three-quarters of the earth came to be covered in water - a much greater percentage than on other planets. Scientists are also at a loss to explain how it has remained in liquid form for so many years, when other planets' considerably smaller water sources freeze or evaporate." p.18There is absolutely no justification nor context for this claim. You can't make a claim like that without citing your sources and explaining how this is related to your previous pieces of information. The only conclusion I could draw from this passage is that the author selects and distorts information to suit the message she is trying to convey. I cannot take this part of the book seriously as it is not thorough enough (I would even say that it is not thorough at all).As for the part about "Mermaiding" I thought it was a decent introduction but nothing groundbreaking. It could have been more detailed. The good thing about it is that it introduced me to a few mermaids I did not know before.Another big problem in this book is the presentation, a lot of the pictures in this book have a line or two of text on them and are cutting a few sentences in half which is annoying :Page 101 ends with the beginning of a sentence :"This is". Then pages 102 ans 103 feature a full picture of the author mermaiding with her friend, this picture is accompanied by some text that reads : "Dana Richardson (in gold) and me (in pink) enjoying underwater mermaid fun." On page 104 we have another picture with some text that reads : "Dana loves to give "mermaid rides" to children, as well as teach them about the ocean". And finally, under this last picture is the continuation of the unfinished sentence that started back at page 101: "the mermaid's duty - to show our vital connection to the ocean and all sea life. [...]". This, to me, is just bad presentation/editing.I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone.If you are a mermaid fan like I am then you could always try "Mermaids: An Enchanting Exploration of Their Myths, Legend, and Lore" by Skye Alexander or do your own research.

Good book lots of info loved it goes with my others of the set.

a really nice book. found the info about mermaids fascinating. the only thing i didnt like was seeing lots of photos of the author dressed as a mermaid it just made the book seem a bit silly.