Urban Legends: The Truth Behind All Those Deliciously Entertaining Myths That Are Absolutely, Positively, 100% Not True [Hardcover]

Richard Roeper (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1999

Now available in paperback, this book has been updated to include more humorous, entertaining myths that keep the rumor mills churning. Richard Roeper, the current co-host of Ebert & Roeper and the Movies, knows a lot about urban legends-tales so deliciously tasty that you desperately want it to be true.

Find out:

Does the "bonsai kitten" Web site celebrate cruelty to animals -- or is it just a tasteless joke?

What's the real story behind the so-called Ivy League porn film supposedly in production at Yale?

Could it really be true that a man named George Turklebaum dropped dead at his desk-and none of his co-workers noticed for five days?

Each of these stories and hundreds more like them have been told and retold, embellished and reworked. They're fun to hear or read, and even more fun to retell. They're part of our contemporary folklore.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 287 pages
• Publisher: Career Press; First Edition edition (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564144186
• ISBN-13: 978-1564144188
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,361,674 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What is it about a salacious urban legend that appeals to me, November 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Urban Legends: The Truth Behind All Those Deliciously Entertaining Myths That Are Absolutely, Positively, 100% Not True (Hardcover)

What is it about a salacious urban legend that appeals to my secret morbid curiosity? Gaping at car wrecks, nasty gossip about lovers' trysts, celebrity rivalries and divadom-you may not want to admit you live for this stuff, but I do and if you've found your way here than you do too. Urban Legends bring a little spunk or rush to what maybe an otherwise dull existence. Believing the story is true, knowing that "this happened to a friend of a friend of my aunt's" makes it that much more juicy. I think the lure of the UL dates back generations, because they're actually a modern-day version of folk tale and story telling, which indeed is an art. Once these stories are proven false, however, the bubble bursts, and I'm left feeling deflated. Somehow with Roeper's book though, the debunking of these urban legends is fun! He has a way of exposing the myths that is just as much of an art form as the story telling itself. He explains why we might be inclined to believe them, and that although the stories sound better had they been true, there truly is no possibility of it. He's got the journalistic talent and a thorough researcher and fact checker to back up what he's written. It is easy to see that Roeper has a passion for the ULs and years of experience tracking them. Plus, you'll never believe some of the ones he's included. You'll be surprised how many of them you've heard and believed to be true! This is a great book to read all in one night or pick up every now and then for light entertainment. I have done both. Don't miss the one that compares "The Wizard of Oz" with "Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon," "kidney harvesting" and the chapter on weddings. Those are particularly fun.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History Is Myth....Or....?, May 3, 2003

By 

K. Johnson (US/Asia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Urban Legends: The Truth Behind All Those Deliciously Entertaining Myths That Absolutely, Positively, 100% Not True! (Paperback)

In this book there are many of those Urban Legends that we've heard of that have been circulating since we can remember. And, there are also many tales that we haven't heard of. Today we get most of these myths via email, but before email came to be, I remember hearing...."this happened....I heard that....so-and-so said....did you know that....?" And beyond the humor, are the effects these tall-tales can have on the people and places they're about. Many of these "alleged" rumors were followed up in the form of questions from journalists during media interviews. Often, the media will investigate a rumor (urban myth) to see if there is any merit to it. Once debunked as false however, the rumor lives on in peoples' minds.

HIV positive Hyperdermic needles left in the coin returns of pay phones. Those unfortunate people who went out on the town to wake up in hotel bathtub filled with ice, and a note left to call the Doctor because their Kidney had been removed. And what's to that gerbil rumor involving a celebrity we all know? Well, that's false too. That particular myth has been tagged on other celebrities going back to the 70s.

Who started these tales? When? How did they get spread?
In addition to listing and describing these interesting myths, Roeper notes of the origins, means and methods of their growth, and the current believability status of many of them. Good coffee table book. It'll occupy some of the folks you'll bring over.

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great fun and an enlightening expose of a host of hoaxes., October 5, 1999

By 

Lisa Stach (Downers Grove, Illinois) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Urban Legends: The Truth Behind All Those Deliciously Entertaining Myths That Are Absolutely, Positively, 100% Not True (Hardcover)

Rich Roeper has done a thoroughly entertaining and very meticulous job of dispelling some of the great urban legends of our time. From the Craig Shergold business-card hoaxes to the rumors of thousands available from Disney and Bill Gates via the internet, to some of our favorite and most-hallowed backstreet Hollywood stories, Roeper takes 'em on and takes 'em down. In addition, Roeper's singularly amusing and inclusive writing style makes his deconstructions of these myths just plain fun to read. Terrific bedside reading and delightful from start to finish.