Rating: 
Summary: a FAN from New York
Review: Read it cover to cover -- in fact, I had a hard time putting it down! I found any number of stories I too had thought were true, and was relieved to have the more guilt-inducing ones (the ailing kid who wants to get into the Guiness Book, etc.) debunked. Prolly the funniest part, though, was that 36 hours after I finished it I received two almost identical "cyburban legends" in my emailbox and was able to return them to sender with a note to get this book! Easy to read, very enjoyable, lots of fun. If you want to find specific legends disproved, look up Brunvald's other books. Or wait for his new encylcopedia to come out later this year.
Rating:
Summary: The only book on Urban Legends you'll ever need!
Review: The movie "Urban Legend" sparked my interest in the topic, but the author in his book exceeded everything I ever wanted to learn about all the modern day "fables" I have heard all my life. I actually got red-faced reading stories that I had believed all my life because I heard it from a friend that heard it from "a friend that it actually happened to..."! Can't wait to see what the author has coming up next!
Rating:
Summary: The only book on Urban Legends you'll ever need!
Review: The movie "Urban Legend" sparked my interest in the topic, but the author in his book exceeded everything I ever wanted to learn about all the modern day "fables" I have heard all my life. I actually got red-faced reading stories that I had believed all my life because I heard it from a friend that heard it from "a friend that it actually happened to..."! Can't wait to see what the author has coming up next!
Rating:
Summary: Ignore "Reader from New York" - this is great!
Review: The reviewer 2 reviews down, "Reader from New York," doesn't seem to be aware that Professor Brunvand has written several other volumes of urban legends, containing the "alligators in the sewer" as well as hundreds more. If you buy this expecting simply a rehash of stories that have been told many other places by many other people, then yes, you'll be disappointed. But if you have read and enjoyed all his other books, and are looking forward to an all-new Urban Legends collection, rest assured - you'll be delighted!
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Read
Review: This book amazed me. Definently a good read if you want to know about Urban Legends. I personally think this is the best book I have read about Urban Legends. I find the stories very interesting and fun to read. I do believe that some of these stories have happened, so I guess it is easier for me to get into these books. Being a teen makes a good excuse to believe in these stories. I reccommend this to anyone looking for these kinds of books
Rating: 
Summary: It's a great read but sadly not much analysis
Review: This book would make excellent summertime reading. Certainly the author's dedication to dispelling urban myths is laudable. What caught my attention was the repeated instances of the media parroting these legends in popular print and TV. To my mind this shows the real bias in the news industry-not a left-of-center political bias, but a strong tendency to substitute "human interest" and entertainment for research and critical reporting. What I was surprised to find was the lack of analysis explaining why certain myths keep returning and why the public insists on believing them. Sure, there are capsule summaries after each story, but these mainly consist of "see my book xxxx for the story behind this myth". I could be a cynic and say this is a blatant attempt to sell more books; however I think it is the annoying (to me anyway) practice of authors using themselves as sources. If I have to see "book xxx" to find out about a legend, why should read this book in the first place?
Rating:
Summary: the best
Review: this is the best book on urban legends. It has pretty much every urban legend u can think of... and more!
Rating:
Summary: Very detailed, great resource.
Review: Too Good to be True explians the backgrounds to the stories we've all heard. I find it particularly useful for replying to Urban Legends that I get in my email. :-)The downside is, knowing the facts behind the stories takes away the delicious thrill of fear that you get hearing and re-telling the stories.
Rating:
Summary: Very detailed, great resource.
Review: Too Good to be True explians the backgrounds to the stories we've all heard. I find it particularly useful for replying to Urban Legends that I get in my email. :-) The downside is, knowing the facts behind the stories takes away the delicious thrill of fear that you get hearing and re-telling the stories.
Rating: 
Summary: Four stars, but only in the Bathroom Reader category
Review: Urban legends are anecdotal yarns, sworn to be factually based, which become embellished to the point of being "too good to be true" as they percolate through society. Today's urban legends will become the future's fairy tales. TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE is an assemblage of over 200 such stories gathered by Jan Brunvand, who is an expert, perhaps obsessively so, on the subject. They cover a wide range of source topics: pets, criminals, cars, sex, accidents, babies, work, technology, human nature, mistaken ID, academia, food, the supernatural, wild animals, and more. They inspire laughter, horror, disbelief, or just plain "Oh, yuck!" Each story is followed by a paragraph, sometimes lengthy, on the times and places the anecdote, or some variant of it, has appeared. Some go back to the 19th century. After the first twenty-five or so, I decided to leave this last bit to the truly compulsive. My favorite was the one about the American couple staying at the Moscow hotel during the bad old Soviet era. Obsessed with the possible presence of listening devices, the couple searched the room for "bugs". Finding only a metal plate under the carpet, they removed the screws from it. The next morning on checkout, the desk manager asked if they'd spent a pleasant night. He was concerned since the couple in the room below our intrepid travelers had the chandelier fall on them. My wife said she's never seen me laugh so hard. The trouble with these stories is that they have no developing plot, no hero to love, and no villain to hate. Like eating popcorn, the experience, however delightful, ends with the last kernel/paragraph. Nobody ever exclaims, "Wow, I had a great bag of popcorn last week!" Similarly, I doubt this book will stay memorable for more than a minute. As a bathroom diversion for those contemplative moments, it stands out. Otherwise, it's light reading with a capital "L".
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