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Summary: my own legend
Review: I enthusiastically recommend this book! Read all about those poor dead stolen kitties, the famous sewer 'gators, Kentucky fried rodents and my childhood favorites "dead Paul Beatle" and "Pop-Rox exploded Mikey" (the kid from those cereal commercials...GOD I couldn't stand those!! for reasons relating to my own name--end of digression). This book makes an excellent companion volume to "The Big Book of Urban Legends" introduced by Mr.Brunvand. Which I also recommend! If U like all those "campfire tales" from summer camp & reading the gruesome hazards of not shampooing often this book is definitely for you! Whoops, hang on a minute while I go dry off my poodle. It'll only take few seconds I'm using the mocrowave! ex posse ad nihil!!
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Summary: It's amazing what people will fall for.
Review: I read this book from cover to cover (despite the warning of another reviewer). I was mostly appalled-first by the fact that people would actually fall for some of this stuff, and then by the fact that I had actually already fallen for some of it. If you are a curious person who keeps his or her ear to the ground, I guarantee that you will have heard 75% of these or variations. I especially like the fact that Brunvand frequently explores the origin of the legends. Many of them actually contain a germ of truth. I first found out about the book after hearing and NPR interview the author. I will now be adding some of his earlier books to my library
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Summary: A thoroughly entertaining book
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I became interested in urban legends when I began working as a reporter at my local paper. We were constantly bombarded by people calling worried about needles in gasoline pumps or companies making satanic statements. I bought Dr. Brunvand's book to read up on these myths so I could easily answer the worried callers.
I now know how to spot an urban legend when I hear it, and I also had several hours of humorous, entertaining reading.
My only complaint is the author's tendency to point the reader to one of his other books for more information. (For example, he often says, 'I discuss this legend in full in my book...')
Overall, though, this is a really great text for anyone interested in folklore or who just wants a good laugh.
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Summary: Interesting and eye opening
Review: I started to read this book and was greeted with many urban legends I knew and many I have never heard of. The sad thing was that many of the stories I thought were true turned out to be urban legends. My only problem was after each urban legend the author decides to give you the background of each legend. I'm sure some people are interested in the origins of the legends, when they were first heard and what part of the world they were first heard in. I was primarily interested in the legends and could have done without the history lesson.
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Summary: This is the best book i have read so far about urban legends
Review: If you want to know about all of the urban legends you fell for in high school and maybe some you have missed, read this book. Not only are there a ton of them, but there is also a history behind them. Some reviewers have mentioned that they don't like them, but I think that's what makes it interesting! You find out where the story first circulated, or if some calls came into the police station about it! i personally believe that some of them happened. How many times did i fall for that coke/pop rock story? I'm still scared to flash people who dont' have their lights on, even if its pitch black outside, and I was so ready to make cookies from that 250 dollar recipe from Neiman Marcus after I got it in an email!!! I think this is a great book with a lot of information---so read it if you are obsessed with urban legends like I am!
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Summary: Great Book on Interesting Subject!!!!
Review: If you want to read about Urban Legends get this book!!! Unlike the Big Book of Urban Legends this one has alternate versions, explains how some came about or how long they have been around. The stories are very interesting even if they are untrue. Interesting because many are very plausible others so stupid its funny. Also interesting because you see how these stories travel around as truth. "I heard this one from my co-workers secretary's sister's boyfriend's cousin"
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Summary: There Really Was A Virgin Birth? Wow!
Review: Lets not quibble about whether a legend or two got missed. This book contains 500 pages of tales that a lot of people have thought to be true. Yes, I admit it, I've been snookered into believing a few of them, but now I have been set straight. Actually, author Brunvand lets us know that a few of them actually are true. What's really important is that a lot of these stupid stories have circulated on the internet: send a dying kid a get well card and put him in the Guinness book of records; beware of having your kidneys removed in a motel room. Indeed one of the most serious of computer viruses seems to be the Gullibility Virus that attacks the minds of those who wander about the internet. What makes it all especially interesting is that Mr. Brunvand traces down the origin of these legends. That bizarre "true" event related to you by a friend who heard that it happened to a relative of his ex-girlfriend has actually been circulating in one form or another for the last 70 years or so. My only quibble with the book is that occasionally the author tells too many versions of the same story, and you find yourself saying "enough already." Oh yes, take Paul Harvey, Dear Abby, and the Reader's Digest with a grain of salt. They seem most gullible of all, having passed on a lot of these legends as true. The book is a veritable encyclopedia of these fun tales, and I heartily recommend it. Finally, there was that strange incident regarding a virgin birth during the Civil War. Is it true? Get the facts in Too Good To Be True.
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Summary: Too Weird to be True
Review: Many of the stories in this book are amusing, some unbelievable and many are plain gross. For the most part, they are unverified stories of the sort someone would whisper in your ear, "Did you hear the one about..." One story that I thought would be in the book, but was not, was the roach-in-the taco that was reported by the New York Times a couple of years ago. Despite that, there were nasty enough stories about fast food. Thyis is a a collection of sometimes dubious stories that entertain to a degree but I think there are other books that I would prefrer to read.most of the reviewers here are teenagers, who are probably the group this book was written for.
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Summary: Fun and interesting read
Review: Mr. Brunvand's book is a delight to read simply as a collection of Urban Legends - the stories play on our love of fun, irony, mischief, coincidence or even morbid twists of fate. But anyone could compile a bunch of urban legends. The real meat of the book is in Mr. Brunvand's analysis of each legend, or group of legends. It is pretty amazing to see him trace the origins of each legend and pick apart the contents. Several of the legends actually have their root in real events, but most are pure fancy. Why do I give it only a four star rating? I save the fifth for truly outstanding books. This one is fun, but not a must-read. Format of the book: The author divides the book into chapters based on the theme of the legends. Each chapter has many legends (from his "files"), interspersed with his analysis. In his analysis, he may talk about the feasibility of a legend, the origin, other occurrances of the same or similar legends in history, or sociological aspects of the legend. "Parental advisory": A few of the legends have some somewhat twisted sexual content. So bottom line: Fun book - it will keep you entertained and give you the upper hand next time someone tries to tell you one of these legends.
Rating:
Summary: Fun and interesting read
Review: Mr. Brunvand's book is a delight to read simply as a collection of Urban Legends - the stories play on our love of fun, irony, mischief, coincidence or even morbid twists of fate. But anyone could compile a bunch of urban legends. The real meat of the book is in Mr. Brunvand's analysis of each legend, or group of legends. It is pretty amazing to see him trace the origins of each legend and pick apart the contents. Several of the legends actually have their root in real events, but most are pure fancy. Why do I give it only a four star rating? I save the fifth for truly outstanding books. This one is fun, but not a must-read. Format of the book: The author divides the book into chapters based on the theme of the legends. Each chapter has many legends (from his "files"), interspersed with his analysis. In his analysis, he may talk about the feasibility of a legend, the origin, other occurrances of the same or similar legends in history, or sociological aspects of the legend. "Parental advisory": A few of the legends have some somewhat twisted sexual content. So bottom line: Fun book - it will keep you entertained and give you the upper hand next time someone tries to tell you one of these legends.
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