Customer Reviews

Oddball Illinois: A Guide to Some Really Strange Places (Oddball States)

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4 star:		(3)
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If you're into Ira Glass, P.J. O'Rourke, or David Sedaris, you'll get into the humor of this book. It's filled with places you don't normally find in a guidebook like the world's largest bottle of catsup, Hitler's bicycle, and a two-story outhouse with the author's recommendation to "take the one on top." Most of the places have accompanying photos so you can see if The Choo Choo Restaurant is really your cup o' tea and the Chicago section is especially strong. Everyone I've talked to says, "This guy should come to MY neck of the woods", proving that there is enough tackiness in this country to go around.

What a great travel book for people who want to see the uncommercialized part of our country. We're going to Illinois this summer, and now we can't wait to get there. The author provides directions and regional maps to interesting and sometimes just plain goofy places that a lot of the local residents probably don't even know about. The author's irreverant descriptions and comments, filled in with little-known historical "facts" about famous and infamous people and places have made us laugh out loud.This book reminds me of the old "On the Road" T.V. series when Charles Karault interviewed interesting people in little out-of-the-way communities. I hope this author has more books about other states. I'd love to have one about my area here in Central California. He'd have a field day.

This book is so fun to read. If you live in Illinois, you will love finding out the very strange things that exist in the Land of Lincoln. I live in Chicago, and there is a VERY large section of this book that deals with Chicago and it's wierdness. From cemeteries to strange house decorations to wild birds living in a local park.........Illinois is so much more than I ever imagined....and I've lived here for over 25 years. Get this book and put it on your coffee table,you will find yourself picking it up over and over again.

Okay, here's the deal with this book- if you're like me and my friends and you drive around in search of adventure, this book is way awesome! "Oddball Illinois: A Guide to Some Really Strange Places" has tons of neato places to visit! Popeye's hometown, a broom museum and the sight of the Valentine's Day Massacre are only a few of the featured places. Some of the places are famous- The Museum of Science and Industry, and some are relatively unheard of- The Hindsdale Animal Cemetary. The greatest asset of this fine piece of literature is that it includes admission fees and visiting hours where applicable. And because it was written so recently, most of the info is very up-to-date. Jerome Pohlen is quite funny in his comments and makes this book a truly fun experiance.

SOME STUFF YOU MIGHT WANT TO THINK ABOUT BEFORE YOU EMBARK UPON ONE OF THESE ADVENTURES: An IL road map and internet directions can make finding some of the smaller towns much easier. Trust me on that one! Anyway, happy reading and enjoy some of those really stange places!

"Oddball Illinois," is a great guide to wacky and weird places around the state. Although there is a lot of places in Chicago, the book also talks about the burbs and Southern Illinois. I do wish that this book had more of the great photos that the other "Oddball," books have...otherwise this is a great book!

Even if you don't live in Illinois or plan to visit, the offbeat humor in this book makes it well worth reading. More than half the book is given over to Chicago and the burbs. For the location of many sites mentioned in the book, you'll see the original structures have been torn down. So while you may go to where the 1st skyscraper was constructed, you won't see it today.

The areas outside of Chicago are covered in much less detail. The author has included 3 maps covering northern, central, and southern Illinois to help with locating these more out of the way attractions.

The book has a somewhat disturbing bent towards scenes of violence and death. Cemeteries are covered in detail as are sites of various tragedies.