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

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.

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.

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

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!

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"