Book of the Bizarre: Freaky Facts and Strange Stories

By Varla Ventura

Book Overview

Did you know duck dander is hallucinogenic? Or that Katherine Hepburn had a phobia of dirty hair? Have you ever wondered about the Magickal Skull of Doom or contemplated the mysterious Transylvanian Tablets? The Book of the Bizarre is a veritable treasure trove of startling and strangerthanfiction trivia that spans history, continents, even worlds. Never before have so many truly frightful facts been gathered together in one place. Teeming with the strange, the shocking, and the downright fantastic, The Book of the Bizarre's thirteen chapters include: Something Wicked: Mysterious Objects & Haunted Homes, Tender Murderers and Malevolent Males: Killingly Good Tales of Terror, and Morbid Writers and Tortured Artists: From Edgar Allan Poe to Vincent Van Gogh. Terrifying topics range from Corpses on Campus to Strange Rock and Roll Stories to Medical Maladies, Conspiracy Theories, Superstitions, Hexes, and even UFO's. The Book of the Bizarre is designed for the depraved, outlandish enough for the eccentric, and freaky enough for even the hardest trivia nut.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1578634377
• ISBN13: 9781578634378
• Release Date: October 2008
• Publisher: Weiser Books
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.0" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Interesting and Fun Light Reading

I picked up this book for light reading; I thought it would be fun, and it was. I really love trivia books and I have read them since childhood. This book seems more designed for a high school reader-- that was just my impression. I was able to put it down and mark a page and come back to it--something that I find impossible to do with a novel, so a lot of my reading has been books like this because I have young kids and I am constantly interrupted. The only chapter I skipped over entirely was "still on the books" (Chapter 9). I think that old, archaic laws are boring and reading dozens of these little 2-sentence anecdotes was not entertaining. I was a little surprised to see Amy Fisher in there-- that story was tabloid fodder less than a decade ago and it seemed out of place next to all the older stories. Overall, I thought the book was fun, light reading. Good for a teen or a plane ride.

Trivia fans will find it delightful

Startling stranger-than-fact true trivia is packed into thirteen chapters in BOOK OF THE BIZARRE, from surveys of haunted homes and spooky objects to strange facts about famous personalities, literary oddities, and more. As a light trivia read, this can't be beat and any collection catering to trivia fans will find it delightful. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

Good Gift for offbeat people

I don't have a whole lot to say. I bought this for my nephew and he loves it. Anyone who loves weird facts would love this book.