The AFU and Urban Legend Archive
Books
 afu booklist




From: tjw@vms.cis.pitt.edu (TJ Wood)
Subject: The AFU Book List

> There's a book named "Why Clocks Run Clockwise and other Imponderables"
> by David Feldman.

BOOKS?!?! Did you mention BOOKS, son!?! Why didn't ya say so sooner!

I haven't published this in quite some time.

Terry "Books R Us" Wood

Here's the OFFICIAL AFU BOOK LIST -- Suggested Reading for when your news feed is down.

If you can't find anything of interest on this list, you should probably be reading alt.sex or rec.arts.cooking.

If you know of a "good book" that isn't on this list, send it to me and maybe (just maybe) it will end up on this list :-) (You know how PICKY I am). Seriously, I'm always on the look out for books to read, so send 'em in.

RECENT ADDITIONS TO THE A.F.U COLLECTION:

Cannibalism and the Common Law: The Story of the Tragic Last Voyage of the Mignonette and the Strange Legal Proceedings to Which it Gave Rise by A.W. Brian Simpson, published by the University of Chicago Press, 1984.

This book is a great source of information about cannibalism in the Victorian age and covers not only the case of the Mignonette, but also the Alferd Packer trial and various other celebrated cases of "you are what you eat." Although Mr. Simpson has a lot of fun with his subject, this book is obviously well researched and includes a nice bibliography. An excellent reference when debunking cannibalism ULs. 

The Vanishing Hitchhiker        Jan Harold Brunvand
The Choking Doberman            Jan Harold Brunvand
The Mexican Pet                 Jan Harold Brunvand
Curses!  Broiled Again!         Jan Harold Brunvand

If you haven't read these, you can't be appointed an honorary TERRY. 

The Straight Dope               Cecil Adams
More of the Straight Dope       Cecil Adams

 "The Official Handbook of Practical Jokes", -          Peter Vanderlinden
      publ Signet, $3.50, ISBN 0-451-15873-3

"The Second Official Handbook of Practical Jokes" - Peter Vanderlinden

publ Signet, $3.50, ISBN 0-451-16924-7 illustrated (Lord help us)

Both books rated "It's the least he deserves" by 4 out of 5 AFU readers.

Note: These 2 books SHOULD BE PURCHASED (don't wimp out and go to the public library and GET THEM FOR FREE) as Peter needs the money. 

Rumor!          Hal Morgan and Kerry Tucker
More Rumor!     Hal Morgan and Kerry Tucker

Big Secrets William Poundstone
Bigger Secrets William Poundstone

The Dictionary of Misinformation Tom Burnam More Misinformation Tom Burnam

Books by David Feldman: 

Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise?            Who put the butter in butterfly?
Why do dogs have wet noses?             How to win at just about everything 
When Do Fish Sleep?                     Imponderables

Do Penguines have knees? 

        These are short subject books -- a couple of paragraphs are
        devoted to each subject.  Some like that format -- some don't.

The Day that lightning chased the housewife and other mysteries of science

edited by Julia Leigh and David Savold

The "Uncle John's Bathroom Readers" series (3 volumes) - Bathroom Reader Institute, Inc.

Piled Higher and Deeper: The Folklore of Campus Life Simon J. Bronner

Little Rock, Ark.: August House, 1990.

Best of the Journal of Irreproducible Results

Eccentric Lives and Pecular Notions (??? It was put out in 1990 by Bantam)

Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science - Martin Gardner 1952/1957

The Devouring Fungus (Tales of the Computer Age) - Karla Jennings

Bare-Faced Messiah - Russel Miller

(It's about L. Ron Hubbard NOT Grizzly Adams)

The Journal of the Institute for Hacks TomFoolery & Pranks at MIT -

Brian M Leibowitz

Mrs. Byrnes' Dictionary of Unusual, Obscure and Obsolete Words - ???

Dictionary of Historical Slang - Eric Partridge

High School - David Owen

David pretends to be a High School Student at the age of 27.

Anomalies and Curiosities Of Medicine - Gould, George M. 1848-1922.

Monkey On A Stick: Murder, Madness and the Hare Krishnas - John Hubner and Lindsey Gruson. With a title like this, you'll get no sleep at night.

Our Marvelous Native Tougue: The Live and Times of the English Language - Robert Clairborne (Author of The Birth of Writing). Probably some college student somewhere is suffering with the book as a text and here I am recommending it as "lite" reading.

You Know What They Say - Alfie Kohn. 

        Not quite an urban legend book, but should appeal to the same crowd.
        Recommended for skeptics in general.

Any current almanac, for those "factual" ULs

MAYBE RECOMMENDED:

Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things"

(Terrys say "it seems okay, but it's kind of boring")

Any issue of the WEEKLY WORLD NEWS (although issues with JFK or UFOs on them are usually better than ones with farmers and 25 Ft grasshoppers)

NOT RECOMMENDED:

Book Of Answers - New York Public Library Research Service.

TERRYs don't like it. It's boring, but it also says that the capital of Turkey is Istanbul. JUST about everybody knows it's Ankara. Anyway, a dumb mistake. (So there). TERRYs can be downright cruel.

Myself and the following READERS of A.F.U are to blame for this list:

"twcaps@dante.lbl.GOV" 30-MAY-1991

"Peter.Vanderlinden@Eng.Sun.COM" 30-MAY-1991

"AXM22@PSUVM.PSU.EDU" 30-MAY-1991

"wichers@husc.harvard.EDU" 31-MAY-1991

"bls@robin.svl.cdc.COM" 31-MAY-1991

"jsl@unix.cis.pitt.edu" 3-JUN-1991

"daniel@psych.toronto.edu" 3-JUN-1991

"cook@rpi.EDU" 4-JUN-1991

"cmdglv@pmvax.weeg.uiowa.EDU" 22-JUL-1991




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