Customer Reviews

Baby on the Car Roof and 222 Other Urban Legends: Absolutely True Stories That Happened to a Friend of a Friend of a Friend

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

You may have received some of these whacky stories in an email before. You always wonder if *if* there is any truth to these. Did anyone really wake up missing a kidney? Has anyone ever been shot for flashing their headlights during the day? What about the Nieman Cookie recipe? Well be dumbfounded no more. The book is entertaining, and well organized in the stories. This book is perfect to take on a plane, train, or anytime you do not want to get too involved in a book, yet want something to read.

Originally, I bought it for a friend, but it sounded interesting so I kept it for myself... Upon reading it, I found that the book was very amusing with a good mix of stories (things that I know to be true as well as things that I find to be mildly questionable). However, there is one major problem with this book: The editing is TERRIBLE! Some sentences in the book do not make sense (whether in or out of context). The errors are so numerous that it seriously detracts from the stories. A third grader could proofread better.

I purchased this book as a gift for friends and relatives who constantly bombard me with e-mails about stories they "swear really happened" (I may have to buy several hundred). This book isn't heavy reading, but contains many twists and versions of urban legends we've all read on the web or in our e-mail inboxes. I only wish it took the time to trace the origins of these urban legends and describe variations of them as I've seen on a few web sites.

THis book was given to me as a gift. I enjoy reading urbanlegends, and have even been victim of a few. The author managed tocompletely suck the life out of the urban legends he includes. Byediting them down for length, the plausibility of each story iseliminated. Very few were left intact.

It is also irritating tofind several stories inside which are true, or not ULs at all.Including Microsoft easter eggs.

If you love Urban Legends, checkout one of the many sites dedicated to them online, and save yourmoney.

A decent book, with more breadth than depth -- perfectly acceptable for the format. Designed to be a retelling of the legends, rather than a true documentation of their existence in society, the stories told get tedious after a while, like a too-long list of elephant jokes. The text is, as one reviewer already suggested, best treated as a compendium of short tidbits and humorous stories for bathroom reading and other "short form" experiences.

By the way, those several reviewers herein who dismiss this book by claiming that the book fails due to a lack of origin story for most of the urban legends included have clearly not studied urban legends, nor do they understand the way they work. Urban legends are a kind of modern FOLKLORE -- and folklore, by definition, is usually orally transmitted in the original and thus has NO date of origin. See Brumveld's "The Vanishing Hitchhiker," the definitive text in the field of HOW urban legends move through culture, for more on this phenomenon -- and it gives each legend more flesh and "version comparison," and thus is far more interesting as a true book than just a compendium of stories like "Baby on the Car Roof."

No original writing, no sources, horrible editing, and a lot of material obviously taken from the Urban Legends Reference Pages web site. There are plenty of good urban legends book out there, and this isn't one of them.

This is a compendium of alleged Urban Legends. Included are some familiar old legends (the RV guy and the sandwich, the ubiquitous Neiman-Marcus cookie hoax) some new Legends (the experimental car) and some you'll swear are not Legends at all, but True Stories that Really Did happen to Great Uncle Fred's cousin's sister-in-law's hairdresser's nephew's girlfriend's father's fishin' buddy (Cadillac Rattle, Navy Pilot v. Lighthouse.)

Some are humorous (the resurrected rabbit,) some are gruesome (what is that dog choking on?) some are just plain gross (string cheese pizza) and some are literary rip-offs (the I'm-older-and-have-more-insurance Parking Lot Fiasco from *Fried Green Tomatoes* as UL)

Typos and other errata abound in this bath water brew, with little and no discussion of epistemology. Dump these tepid tales and refill with *Curses! Broiled Again! The Hottest Urban Legends Going!* Reviewed by TundraVision

This book has an amazing 223 urban legends and every one of them is a gem. While some of the stories are recognizable urban legends, such as `the hook' `spunk ball' and `baby on the car roof', others are lesser known. All of them are fun, and most are a page or less.

This is the perfect book to throw in your suitcase or backpack for having a little fun while traveling, tanning, or waiting for an appointment. It's also a great conversation starter, and the stories are great to read at parties for a laugh or cringe.

If you do decided to invest very wisely and buy this book, please read "the backyard archeologist". It's one of my favorite short stories of all time.

The book is interesting, and fun to read, but it would have been better with more history on where the legends came from. It has a little, but not nearly enough. The book is a nice size (smaller than normal), which makes it a good book to travel with. Great for long car rides with other people. If your looking for a fast fun read this is good, but if you looking for a good book on urban legends, I'd look elseware.

I thought this book would discuss urban legends and give additonal information about them. It merely list the legends. We know these stories are not true, but we are not told how the stories spread or any other interesting information about them.