Too Good To Be True The Colossal Book Of Urban Legends

Author : Jan Harold Brunvand
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 485 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2011-02-07
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780393104165

Get Book

Too Good to Be True: The Colossal Book of Urban Legends by Jan Harold Brunvand Pdf

"If you enjoy these too-good-to-be-true tales, Brunvand's new book will give you hours of pleasure."—Chicago Tribune A fabulously entertaining book from the ultimate authority on those almost believable tales that always happen to a "friend of a friend." Alligators in the sewers? A pet in the microwave? A tragic misunderstanding of the function of cruise control? No, it didn't really happen to your friend's sister's neighbor: it's an urban legend. And no matter how savvy you think you are, you are sure to find in this collection of over 200 tales at least one story you would have sworn was true. Jan Harold Brunvand has been collecting and studying this modern folklore for over twenty years. In Too Good to Be True he captures the best stories in their best retellings, along with their latest variations and examples of how the stories have changed as they move from person to person and place to place. To help you find your favorite, Brunvand has arranged the tales thematically. "Bringing Up Baby" is full of episodes of child-rearing gone wrong, including the grisly tale of the drugged out baby-sitter who mistakes the kid for a turkey. "Funny Business" showcases stories of infamous lapses in customer service, such as the story of the shockingly expensive chocolate chip cookie recipe. And "The Criminal Mind" features both brilliant --if they were real --scams, as well as the purported antics of the less mentally gifted. Whether you want to become an expert debunker or just have plenty of laughs, this book will surprise and entertain you. Illustrated throughout. "Informative and entertaining.... Brunvand has collected more than 200 of the most-repeated and best-known examples of modern folk-myth."—Tampa Tribune "[N]ot only an entertaining anthology, but an excellent introduction to the study of folklore itself."—Publishers Weekly "A fun read... . All the classics are here from the killer upstairs to the Kentucky Fried Rat."—New City "Resonant stories that express our hidden anxieties ... make us laugh, [or] arouse our fascinated horror."—San Francisco Chronicle Book Review "Informative and entertaining... . Brunvand has collected more than 200 of the most-repeated and best-known examples of modern folk-myth."—Tampa Tribune "[N]ot only an entertaining anthology, but an excellent introduction to the study of folklore itself."—Publishers Weekly

Author : Jan Harold Brunvand
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 480 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Legends
ISBN : OCLC:852661870

Get Book

Too Good to be True by Jan Harold Brunvand Pdf

Author : Jan Harold Brunvand
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2004-10-15
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780393350401

Get Book

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid: The Book of Scary Urban Legends by Jan Harold Brunvand Pdf

An anthology of the most chilling urban legends of all time collected by the maestro himself. Urban legends are those strange, but seemingly credible tales that always happen to a friend of a friend. For the first time, Professor Jan Harold Brunvand, "who has achieved almost legendary status" (Choice), has collected the creepiest, most terrifying urban legends, many that have spooked you since your childhood and others that you believe really did occur—even if it was one town over to some poor hapless coed who left a party early only to be followed by a man who just got loose from a mental hospital. From the classic hook-man story told around many a campfire to "Saved by a Cell Phone," these spine-tingling urban legends will give you goose bumps, even when you know they can't be true. Still, you'll continue to check the backseat of your car at gas stations and look under your bed at night before praying for sleep.

Author : Thomas J. Craughwell
Publisher : Black Dog & Leventhal
Page : 688 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2005-03-14
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9781603762632

Get Book

Urban Legends by Thomas J. Craughwell Pdf

A fascinating, creepy, frightening, disgusting, and hilarious collection of some of the world's most popular and enduring tall tales. With themes that run the gamut from funny to sick, risqué to informative, and frightening to disgusting, Urban Legends features fantastic yarns that are remarkable for their uncanny ability to travel the world by word of mouth. We've all heard the one about the alligators that roam New York City's sewers, or how "Mikey" of Life Cereal fame died from eating Pop Rocks mixed with Coke. And what about the flustered parents who left their baby on the car roof, or the scuba diver who was found in the middle of a forest after a fire? These classic tall tales are featured here in all of their creepy glory along with hundreds of others, and they're guaranteed to amuse, enlighten, and intrigue, but be careful: they may stick in your mind forever.

Author : Jan Harold Brunvand
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 1990-08-17
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780393346732

Get Book

Curses! Broiled Again! by Jan Harold Brunvand Pdf

From the master folklorist and sly wit, Jan Brunvand, comes a collection of all-new urban legends. Did your cousin's wife's dentist's daughter go to the tanning parlor once too often and had her insides cooked? Has your husband's brother's nephew teacher try to make a dead rabbit look alive? If so, you've heard—or you yourself may have told—two of the seventy-plus legends in this collection. Urban legends are "those bizarre but believable stories about batter-fried rats, spiders in hairdos, Cabbage Patch dolls that get funerals, and the like that pass by word of mouth as being the gospel truth." But of course, though often told as having happened to a FOAF (friend of a friend), they aren't true. Included in this collection are legends about sex, horror, cars, business, and academia. Among them are "The Bible Student's Exam," "The Pregnant Shoplifter," "The Ice Cream Cone Caper," "Don't Mess with Texas," and "Mrs. Fields' Cookie Recipe."

Author : Jan Harold Brunvand
Publisher : University of Illinois Press
Page : 234 pages
File Size : 46,9 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 0252070046

Get Book

The Truth Never Stands in the Way of a Good Story by Jan Harold Brunvand Pdf

"Here he [the author] looks in detail at a dozen rampant and long-lived examples of this vigorous category of contemporary folklore, tracing their historyies, variations, sources, and meanings."--Jacket.

Author : Gail Barbara Stewart
Publisher : Capstone
Page : 96 pages
File Size : 51,7 Mb
Release : 2012
Category : Urban folklore
ISBN : 9781601523235

Get Book

Urban Legends by Gail Barbara Stewart Pdf

Describes common urban legends, including how they can form, why they are popular, and how modern technology allows urban legends to spread around the world.

Author : Jan Harold Brunvand
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 566 pages
File Size : 43,8 Mb
Release : 2002
Category : Reference
ISBN : 0393323587

Get Book

Encyclopedia of Urban Legends by Jan Harold Brunvand Pdf

Presents descriptions of hundreds of urban legends and their variations, themes, and scholarly approaches to the genre, including such tales as disappearing hitchhikers and hypodermic needles left in the coin slots of pay telephones.

Author : James Proud
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 270 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2018-09-15
Category : Reference
ISBN : 9781510733183

Get Book

Urban Legends by James Proud Pdf

Did you hear about the kids who found a Ferrari buried in their garden? What about the man who sued Satan? Or the woman who woke up in the middle of her funeral? Do you know the legend of the Bunny Man? There are some stories that people will claim are true without a doubt, no matter the circumstance. This collection showcases the best of these fascinating and often creepy tales. The stories featured within fall under the following categories: Supernatural Pop Culture Medical Historical Mystery Death Tragedies Crimes The Government Animals And Many Other Fascinating Topics! Whether you believe these urban myths or not, they have the power to unnerve and enthrall us all. This incredible compilation of captivating stories will keep any reader on the edge of their seat.

Author : Carla J. List-Handley
Publisher : Kendall Hunt
Page : 164 pages
File Size : 40,5 Mb
Release : 2002
Category : Computers
ISBN : 0787290572

Get Book

Information Research by Carla J. List-Handley Pdf

Author : David Kushner
Publisher : Random House
Page : 394 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 2003-04-24
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781588362896

Get Book

Masters of Doom by David Kushner Pdf

Masters of Doom is the amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to co-create the most notoriously successful game franchises in history—Doom and Quake—until the games they made tore them apart. Americans spend more money on video games than on movie tickets. Masters of Doom is the first book to chronicle this industry’s greatest story, written by one of the medium’s leading observers. David Kushner takes readers inside the rags-to-riches adventure of two rebellious entrepreneurs who came of age to shape a generation. The vivid portrait reveals why their games are so violent and why their immersion in their brilliantly designed fantasy worlds offered them solace. And it shows how they channeled their fury and imagination into products that are a formative influence on our culture, from MTV to the Internet to Columbine. This is a story of friendship and betrayal, commerce and artistry—a powerful and compassionate account of what it’s like to be young, driven, and wildly creative. “To my taste, the greatest American myth of cosmogenesis features the maladjusted, antisocial, genius teenage boy who, in the insular laboratory of his own bedroom, invents the universe from scratch. Masters of Doom is a particularly inspired rendition. Dave Kushner chronicles the saga of video game virtuosi Carmack and Romero with terrific brio. This is a page-turning, mythopoeic cyber-soap opera about two glamorous geek geniuses—and it should be read while scarfing down pepperoni pizza and swilling Diet Coke, with Queens of the Stone Age cranked up all the way.”—Mark Leyner, author of I Smell Esther Williams

Author : Jan Harold Brunvand
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Page : 224 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2003-12-17
Category : Fiction
ISBN : 9780393346534

Get Book

The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings by Jan Harold Brunvand Pdf

The book that launched America's urban legend obsession! The Vanishing Hitchhiker was Professor Brunvand's first popular book on urban legends, and it remains a classic. The culmination of twenty years of collection and research, this book is a must-have for urban legend lovers.

Author : Paul Mason
Publisher : Gareth Stevens Publishing LLLP
Page : 96 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2015-12-15
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 9781482442755

Get Book

The Fact or Fiction Behind Urban Myths by Paul Mason Pdf

There are urban myths about all kinds of different things, but how many of these myths are actually true? This book takes a look at many different myths, exploring their origins and assigning a “fact” or “phony” label to each after careful evaluation. Fun fact boxes and amusing cartoons and illustrations help explore common beliefs—can people get sucked out of an airplane bathroom’s toilet? Do human fingernails keep growing after a person dies? The only way to find the truth is to keep turning the page!

Author : Bonnie Kunzel,Constance Hardesty
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 238 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2006-03-30
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN : 9780897899895

Get Book

The Teen-Centered Book Club by Bonnie Kunzel,Constance Hardesty Pdf

Vibrant, dynamic teen book clubs—the kind teens eagerly anticipate and attend session after session—are teen-centered. With innovative, pragmatic ideas that will attract and retain teen readers, this guide provides everything you need to run a successful, teen-centered book club. Covering every step, from planning and promoting to how to prompt discussion and keep it civilized, this is a one-stop source for the teen book club leader. Dozens of reproducibles for teens include book lists, ground rules, and book-based activities. The book even has directions for evaluating your club and lists of resources for more information. Whether you're starting a teen book club, trying to revive a flagging program, or wish to build on past success, if you're involved in a teen book club, this guide is a must. What's the difference between a teen book club and an adult one? Too often, the answer is Not much. Like so many programs for teens, traditional book clubs tend to be scaled-down versions of adult clubs. If book selection, taboo topics, and logistical details are the most important things that set your teen book club apart from an adult one, you could be missing a huge opportunity. Vibrant, dynamic teen book clubs—the kind teens eagerly anticipate and attend session after session—are teen-centered. They're not merely by, for and about teens, but are grounded in the admittedly radical idea that the club is not primarily about library programming or even about books (!) but is all about teens—their interests and needs, their social habits and styles, their initiative. Books are the medium and the club is the method to achieve the ultimate goal of developing teen readers and leaders. Furthermore, the teen-centered book club has huge potential to further a whole range of library goals, from bringing more teen patrons through the door, to building community-wide awareness and support for the library itself. What sets this book apart from the typical book club guide is that it is the only guide that addresses the unique constraints of public and school libraries—budgeting, impact on the facility and the collection, and potential attempts at censorship, to name just a few. It's also the only guide that takes a teen-centered approach, putting front-and-center the idea that, as with so many other things, book clubs for teens are not merely scaled-back versions of adult clubs. Whether you are starting a club, attempting to revive a flagging program, or building on past success, this manual offers you innovative, pragmatic ideas that will attract and retain teen readers. Grades 6-12. Teen Book Clubs offers a fresh new approach for today's teen readers and clear instructions, along with tips and ideas, for building teen-centered book clubs. In 12 brief chapters the book covers: the teen-centered book club: what it is and what it takes to make it work putting it together: planning and putting the plan in action going public: recruiting, boosting visibility, garnering support 15 cunningly creative types of teen book clubs using book club to develop teen leaders scads of book lists, reproducibles, and sample discussion prompters tweaking, troubleshooting, and tips for keeping it civilized evaluations beyond measure resources for more information. Filled with practical checklists, figures, worksheets, and reproducibles, this is the guide that all teen book club leaders should have.

Author : Joan L. Knickerbocker
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 457 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2017-03-15
Category : Education
ISBN : 9781351813037

Get Book

Literature for Young Adults by Joan L. Knickerbocker Pdf

Young adults are actively looking for anything that connects them with the changes happening in their lives, and the books discussed throughout Literature for Young Adults have the potential to make that connection and motivate them to read. It explores a great variety of works, genres, and formats, but it places special emphasis on contemporary works whose nontraditional themes, protagonists, and literary conventions make them well suited to young adult readers. It also looks at the ways in which contemporary readers access and share the works they're reading, and it shows teachers ways to incorporate nontraditional ways of accessing and sharing books throughout their literature programs. In addition to traditional genre chapters, Literature for Young Adults includes chapters on literary nonfiction; poetry, short stories, and drama; cover art, picture books, illustrated literature, and graphic novels; and film. It recognizes that, while films can be used to complement print literature, they are also a literacy format in their own right-and one that young adults are particularly familiar and comfortable with. The book's discussion of literary language--including traditional elements as well as metafictive terms--enables readers to share in a literary conversation with their students (and others) when communicating about books. It will help readers teach young adults the language they need to articulate their responses to the books they are reading.