Reviews (1)

Fascinating Look at American folk humor
Great fun, and a fascinating look at urban legend and myth. Copiers gave the joke new life, as bits of popular wisdom spread through offices and then around the country. Not unlike the funny-forwards epidemic on today'seMail networks, this book captures the growth of folk humor in a thoroughlyenjoyable way! Complete with behavioral annotations that peek just belowthe laughter. Highly recommended! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Folklore    2. General    3. Literature: Classics    4. Office practice    5. Sociology    6. United States    7. Urban folklore    8. Xerography   

Subjects:  1. Folklore & Mythology    2. General    3. History    4. History - General History    5. History: World    6. Folklore    7. LEGENDS    8. Social Science / Folklore & Mythology    9. URBAN FOLKLORE   

Reviews (7)

More on ULs
Those who have read Brunvand's other books, or various compilations of urban legends, will likely be most interested in this collection of articles and essays.Each of the 13 articles generally focuses on an individual legend, and Brunvand thoroughly researches the tales by tracking down numerous versions of the stories and positing how they may have originated.The style is scholarly, but accessible and interesting.His writing is a good introduction to more advanced ways of studying folklore, and the analysis and commentary adds to our understanding of how these stories develop and why they have become part of various communities' cultures.Compilations of ULs do document good stories, but just reading lots of the same old ULs can become a bit boring after a while.This book shows that there are interesting histories to the tales and that understanding these histories and cultural contexts enrich our understanding of folklore in contemporary life.

Scholarly, detailed approach off-putting
Unlike Bunvand's other collections of urban legends, this book, as several other reviewers have noted, in more textbook-like in its approach, with chapters that trace the author's research about major urban legends and their potential origins rather than a wide variety of legends and analysis of those stories.This book may appeal to some hardcore urban legend-ologists, but I found some chapters tedious. I think some strenuous editing could have eliminated what felt like a lot of fact-checking and superfluous detail and still made a convincing case for Brunvand and the thouroughness of his research. I missed his humor and the lighter tone of the previous book.

good as always
i love this authors books. this one is also great.like pepole said before its not good as a beniger book in urbans legends. however, if your really intrest in urban legends this is the book for you.my fave legend in the book is the biscut can stroy its so fuuny. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Folklore    2. Folklore & Mythology    3. Folklore & Mythology - Folklore    4. Legends    5. Literature: Folklore/Mythology    6. Social Science    7. Social life and customs    8. Sociology    9. United States    10. Urban folklore    11. Humour    12. Literature: Texts   

Editorial Review

W. Haden Blackman preys on our more eccentric curiosities with his fact-filled Read more

Reviews (25)

Urban Legends
A decent overview of America's monster phenoms. Not a whole lot on any one subject, but makes for entertaining reading. Everything from Bigfoot to creatures totally unheard of by most. Not bad.

Interesting..
I find this field guide exceedingly interesting, if not frightening. Blackmen tirelessly explains the characteristics of different monsters with factual evidence, pictures, and drawings to create a definite page turner. However, I find a large portion of this book to be chock full of urban legends and myths that simply aren't true. For instance, Blackmen introduces the fact that Earwigs burrow into the ears to eat brains along with many other monsters consuming humans in some way, but this sounds way too farfetched itself to believe. And from what I see, there are no documentations to prove that Bogeyman also exist (confused with child murderers in this book), along with man-eating deer women. However, I find this book very well put together and informative if you can pick out the factual evidence, and is wll worth the money. A definite buy.

STOPWINING AND OPEN UP YOUR MIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I've read some nasty reviews here, but rest assured that this book is one of the most organized and interesting you'll ever read on the subject. Personally, I love this book because of the way Blackman combines supernaturalism and cryptozoology into a realistic zoological field guide. Plus, the tips on how to hunt monsters give you something to do on boring days. I can't get enough of the enigmatic monsters in this marvelous book, and I really think you should give it a chance. So open up your mind, open up this book, and let it work its magic. Remember, it may come in handy some day... ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Controversial Knowledge    2. Fairy Tales, Folklore & Mythology    3. Monsters    4. New Age / Body, Mind & Spirit    5. New Age / Parapsychology    6. North America    7. Reference    8. Fiction / Folklore    9. Folklore    10. Monsters & legendary beings    11. Sasquatch    12. Indians of North America    13. Urban folklore   

Subjects:  1. Folklore    2. Folklore & Mythology - Folklore    3. Legends    4. Literature: Folklore/Mythology    5. Popular Culture    6. Sociology    7. United States    8. Urban folklore   

Reviews (2)

Urban Legends come to life!
If your looking for a good scary book, I think you've met your match.This book tells of when three girls, Wendy, Keri, and Libb, who don't believe an old lady's stories until the legends start happening to them.Join the girls as they ride the urban legend rollercoaster.

The Coolest!
Wendy O' Darby loves Urban Legends but doesn't believe them especially one about an alligator in the sewer but then they start becoming real and she finds that what she calls Urban Legends, are actually Urban Facts. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    2. Children: Grades 3-4    3. Fiction    4. General    5. Horror fiction    6. Horror stories    7. Urban folklore    8. American English    9. Science fiction   

Subjects:  1. Folklore    2. Folklore & Mythology - Folklore    3. Legends    4. Literature: Classics    5. Sociology    6. Urban folklore    7. Literary Criticism & Collections / General    8. The Arts   

Subjects:  1. Belief and doubt    2. Folklore    3. Folklore & Mythology    4. Folklore & Mythology - Folklore    5. Legends    6. Social Science    7. Sociology    8. Sociology - Urban    9. Urban folklore   

Reviews (3)

For all the office workers of the world. A MUST HAVE !!
Gotta have it. If you are at all interested in theorigins of all the photocopier art passsed around from desk to desk and generation to generation...

An American Treasure of humor
This book is a MUST HAVE for the office worker who enjoys handing out XEROX copies of great humor. Not only is this book extremely funny, it has captured an "almost lost history" of American folklore. Nowhereelse can you get the ultimate source of good humor, that has detailedexplainations of what and how each joke (or story) have come to being. Goodinformation to educate the younger generation who don't quite understandthe true humor of the past. Get a copy of this genuine relic of greatwritings of people like you and me. A modest collection of pamphlets,cartoons, stories, limmericks, "Top Ten", racial, religious,nationality, poems. etc... some of which you may have seen passed aroundthe office at one time or another. Probably the best "bathroombook" you'll ever get your hands on.

White-collar frustration gets white-hot
White-collar frustration gets white-hot in this hilarious look into the minds of America's hardest working jokers. Water-cooler not included. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. American wit and humor    2. Folklore    3. Folklore & Mythology    4. General    5. Humor    6. Literature: Folklore/Mythology    7. Office practice    8. United States    9. Urban folklore    10. American English    11. Humour   

Reviews (3)

Really Interesting!
Really a great can't put down book full of interesting tidbits of information.At least for me, it was full of things I'd always wondered about.Great book!

VERY FUNNY READING
That's the best of this book: the ellegant humour through every page. You can't avoid a smile now and then and this makes the reading a real pleasure. As for the content... well, it is very illustrative in some spots, and it's been very well picked up. But in some points it didn't refer explicitly to some real origin of the tale (this is specially true for the Urban Legends)and the hypothesis on those issues are kind of vacue. Nevertheless, is a very nice reading for a quiet weekend.

interesting
Great Reading,book is funny in some spots. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Curiosities & Wonders    2. Folklore    3. Folklore & Mythology    4. Impostors and imposture    5. Literature: Folklore/Mythology    6. Reference    7. Social Science    8. Tall tales    9. Truth and falsehood    10. Urban folklore   

Subjects:  1. American wit and humor    2. Folklore    3. Folklore & Mythology - Folklore    4. General    5. Literature: Folklore/Mythology    6. Office practice    7. Sociology    8. United States    9. Urban folklore    10. American English    11. Humour   

Reviews (5)

Great topic, horrible execution.
The worst sin a book about Urban Legends could commit is to confuse the reader about what is fact, and what is fiction. This book does that time after time. The author hops around between Urban Legend and the truth that may have inspired it, and the writing is so poor that you can't keep track of what's what. The book is also filled with nonsensical run-on sentences; I often had to go back and reread certain sentences 3 or 4 times before just giving up. This book looks and reads like somone published it from their basement. N.E. Genge goes on my list of "Must-NOT-Read" Authors. Please don't buy this book!
This is without doubt THE most horribly written book I've ever read.Theauthor can't even write a story well - most of the legends she recounts haveno logical progression at all.To give one quick example: only this authorcould take a promising plot involving rednecks, beer, a jeep, dynamite, afrozen lake, and a retriever named 'Gump', and leave the reader wonderingwhy they bothered to read the thing in the first place. Packed with info but abysmally written.
If ever a book cried out for a competent editor, this is the one. It's rife with misspellings, typos and incredibly obtuse prose. While it does fulfill its stated purpose of being a compendium of both classic andcontemporary urban legends, it's an exhausting read because of itsstartling lack of polish. And if you find you're interested in learningwhether or not a particular legend is true or even based in truth, I hopeyou're the patient type: the author often waits several pages beforedeciding to comment on the veracity of a story, sometimes saving upmultiple stories and commenting on them collectively. That's when shechooses to weigh in on a tale's truthfulness at all, mind you. There aredefinitely better titles in this genre, not to mention the great Web sitescovering the same territory. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Fairy Tales, Folklore & Mythology    2. Fiction    3. Folklore & Mythology - Folklore    4. History and criticism    5. Legends    6. Literature: Folklore/Mythology    7. Oral And Folk Literature    8. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    9. Popular Culture - General    10. Social life and customs    11. United States    12. Urban folklore    13. Literary studies: general    14. Myth & legend told as fiction    15. Social Science / Popular Culture   

Reviews (10)

This "author" should stick to his day job
The concept of this book (urban legends regarding celebrities) is a good idea, but the "author" (cheesy movie reviewer) did such a horrible job writing and compiling this book that it was a major disappointment.The book is very disorganized, hard to follow, and haphazard in general.Instead of explaining each urban legend logically, the author will leave out important details, or will start in the middle of the story.Then scattered throughout the text are his own attempts at pointing out irony or including stupid puns.This book is more like an editorial, rather than a real source about urban legends. Shockingly bad; high school D paper
What a waste of trees. Mr. Roeper merely cobbled together a bunch of stories from internet and print Urban Legend sites and made himself a book, and the whole mess is so pretentious and badly written that it's nothing less than shocking. I've never, ever seen such a poor compilation of urban legends. He debunks true stories, exaggerates false ones, misstates facts, and even writes himself into an urban legend. He couldn't have spent more than a couple hours on the internet researching this mess. Really, really, bad.

What FUN!
I have been reading Urban Legends since "The Vanishing Hitchhiker" in the '80's.This is a great take on the subject, Hollywood and those "Famous" stories.I appreciate Roeper's debunking, and he does and especially nice job with Marylin's dress size.Read more

Subjects:  1. Anecdotes    2. Film & Video - General    3. Film & Video - History & Criticism    4. Motion pictures    5. Movie/Tv Tie-Ins    6. Performing Arts    7. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    8. Popular Culture - General    9. Television broadcasting    10. United States    11. Urban folklore    12. California    13. Films, cinema    14. USA   

Editorial Review

As it happens, that little dog that got nuked in the microwave was named Vince. That's one of the priceless details Ann Fiery has added to breathe new life into 25 old stories in Read more

Reviews (1)

Did You Hear the One About . . . .?
Caution:This book contains some crude language that is not necessary to convey the themes in The Completely and Totally True Book of Urban Legends.Read more

Subjects:  1. Fairy Tales, Folklore & Mythology    2. Fiction    3. Folklore    4. General    5. Humor    6. Legends    7. Social life and customs    8. United States    9. Urban folklore   

Subjects:  1. Folklore & Mythology    2. Legends    3. Sociology    4. Tales    5. Urban folklore    6. Wit and humor   

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    2. Children: Grades 2-3    3. Folklore    4. General    5. Juvenile Nonfiction    6. Legends    7. North America    8. Social Science - Folklore & Mythology    9. Urban folklore   

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Young Adult Misc. Nonfiction    2. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    3. Curiosities & Wonders    4. Folk Tales / Mythology / Fables (Young Adult)    5. Juvenile Nonfiction    6. Juvenile literature    7. Legends    8. Social Science - Folklore & Mythology    9. Social Studies - Folklore & Mythology    10. Unexplained Phenomena And Wonders (Young Adult)    11. United States    12. Urban folklore    13. Humanities   

Reviews (20)

Nice effort the least
I truly enjoy reading book on the paranornal but was not too impressed with this book. Dates and information were not exactly right, so why even place them in the book. I was counting on finding more information about a haunting but often came about conflicting accounts. Where did she get her information? I just wonder if the author has even been to any of these locations she talks about in her book. If you don't know much about Chicago and its ghostly lore, then you'll be impresssed by this book. Then again, if you read a few books and know some information, your going to get yourself confused reading this book.Nice effort the least...

CHILLING, BUT IT'S STILL TRAVELOGUE
Ultimately, this book is cocktail chatter--provocative facts (but with appalling gaps), dramatic scenarios, terribly entertaining.But only convincing if you believe in ghosts in the first place.
Historian?You need to do more research!
I have the revised edition of this book, and I cannot understand how this author can claim to be a "historian" and get so much of the history wrong.For instance, the Grimes Sisters story, Ms. Bielski states that "the police investigated a second confession, that of Silas Jane, a skid row transient who was believed to have been involved in a a string of murders in Chicago"Silas Jayne (correct spelling) was a millionaire horse breeder, which is a far cry from being a skid row transient.There was a 22 year old transient who worked for Silas Jayne by the name of Kenneth Hansen who is believed to have murdered the Schuessler/Peterson boys, but he was a homosexual pedophile, so with his attraction to young boys, it is doubtful that he committed the Grimes murders.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Chicago    2. Folklore & Mythology - Folklore    3. General    4. Ghosts    5. Haunted houses    6. History    7. History: American    8. Illinois    9. Sociology    10. Supernatural    11. Urban Folklore   

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    2. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 7-9)    3. Folklore    4. Folklore & Mythology    5. General    6. Juvenile Nonfiction    7. Legends    8. Science & Nature - General    9. Urban folklore   

Subjects:  1. Australia    2. Folklore    3. Folklore & Mythology    4. History and criticism    5. Legends    6. Nature/Ecology    7. Sociology    8. Urban folklore