Customer Reviews

Too Good to Be True: The Colossal Book of Urban Legends

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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

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.

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"

For those of you who may not be familiar with the term, an Urban Legend is one of those stories that someone tells you--typically they claim that it happened to a friend of a friend (FOAF)--which just seems, in the words of this title, "too good to be true." But when the person tells the story they do so with great authority and include some little hyperspecific detail that tends to allay some of your skepticism. Or at least it does until someone else tells you a slightly different version of the same story two days later. Personally, I've heard dozens of these stories over the years, many from my Mom or my friend Charlie, and I've developed a particular awareness for when folks are peddling these myths, becoming a kind of amateur clearing house. Here are a few I've had folks tell me personally : The Blow Dry Rabbit; The Vibrating Cactus; the Confused Driver; Batman in the Closet; The Disgruntled Bridegroom; any others, anybody?

I don't know that he coined the term Urban Legend, but Jan Harold Brunvand, a professor at the University of Utah, certainly popularized it with his newspaper column and a series of books in which he collects them and tries to trace their convoluted paths through the popular culture (It's amazing how often Ann Landers has a hand in promulgating them).

I've been a fan of Brunvand's work for years, even submitting some of my favorites to him, including one which he reprinted in The Baby Train. His writing tends to be a little prosaic and, in letting his correspondents speak for themselves, he often presents the legends in less amusing form than he might. But in all honesty,the real pleasure in his books lies not in the stories themselves, but in the joy of recognition, the thrill of the "Gotcha!," when you finally have proof that a story is bunk.

This debunking process has been made much easier by the advent of the Internet; all you usually have to do is include a couple keywords from a given story and the term "urban legend" in a search line and you'll get numerous hits from websites that specialize in collecting and trying to stay current with them. It's a good thing too, because this latest effort from Brunvand suffers from a major and inexplicable weakness : it has no index. This curious omission is especially unforgivable in a reference book and is almost serious enough for me not to recommend the book. As is, we'll give it a very qualified nod, but suggest you seek out the earlier books instead.

GRADE : C

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!

For those who don't know, Jan Harold Brunvand has a column out in Salt Lake City, but has acquired a following all across the country, or rather the world. He is the leading scholar on the subject of urban legends, those sometimes funny and often terrifying stories you first heard on the playground or by the watercooler, which are always supposed to be true but can't be proved because they happened to a friend of a friend of a friend . . . This book, the "Colossal Book of Urban Legends" is really an updated combination of most of Brunvand's previous books, such as "The Vanishing Hitchhiker", "The Choking Doberman" and "The Baby Train". In other words, if you are going to buy this book, I doubt think you'll want to buy all the previous ones, though there might be a few stories in those not included here.

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

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!

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.

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.