自古以来，人们就对人鱼着迷不已。从荷马的《奥德赛》中的海妖到安徒生的童话故事《小美人鱼》，再到1984年的电影《美人鱼》，关于半人半鱼的神话、故事和传说不胜枚举。在现代，“美人鱼”在角色扮演玩家中越来越受欢迎。在《人鱼:一部关于人类的历史》中，沃恩•斯克里布纳（Vaughan Scribner）追溯了美人鱼和美男鱼的悠久历史，收集了各种资料和117张引人注目的图像。从电影到哲学，从教堂大厅到咖啡屋，从古代神话到现代科学，斯克里布纳（Scribner）证明了美人鱼和美男鱼无处不在，而且一直如此。

People have been fascinated by merpeople since ancient times. From the sirens of Homer's Odyssey to Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid to the 1984 film Splash, myths, stories and legends of half-human half-fish creatures abound. In modern times 'mermaiding' has gained popularity amongst cosplayers. In Merpeople: A Human History, Vaughan Scribner traces the long history of mermaids and mermen, taking in a wide variety of sources and 117 striking images. From film to philosophy, church halls to coffee houses, ancient myth to modern science, Scribner shows that mermaids and tritons are - and always have been - everywhere.