Reviews (2)

Great book!
This book is really intersting and funny!It offers so much information about IN--things you never knew that are great trivia!Great for planning day trips in the state, too!

Funny, interesting reading
You'll enjoy this book even if you don't live in Indiana -- and you'll definitely enjoy it if you do. Packed with the odd and unusual, this book was filled with surprises even for me, and I've lived in Indiana for almost 20 years. Strange things you'll see along the road, folks who collect or build wierd stuff, bizarre legends and history... Dick Wolfsie explains them all with both wit and respect, and turns in a first-rate book that you should have with you on any daytrip you take around the Hoosier state. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Curiosities and wonders    2. General    3. Guidebooks    4. Indiana    5. Miscellanea    6. Travel    7. Travel - United States    8. United States - Midwest - East North Central (General)    9. United States - Midwest - General    10. United States - Midwest - Indiana    11. Travel / United States / Midwest / General   

Reviews (5)

Loved it!
My 8 yr old brought this book home from her school library.I cried the first time I read it to her, and after that I just made her read it to me! I thought it was fabulous, and have added it to our own library, as well as given it as a gift to many other children.

A Wonderful Book
This book was brought to my Children's Literature class and praised by everyone.At least three of us cried at the beauty of the language.The ending grabbed all of us.How beautiful for a child to read that he or she is wonderful just like the the trees, rain and birds.The clever use of borders, lines and space were praised by the professor.Contrary to the previous reviewer, we found the book delightful.

Such a great start, but in the end, a disappointment..
I picked up this book because the cover looked appealing, and I was intrigued about what this book may be about.I started reading it, and I was really quite impressed.I was starting to get notions in my head about using this book for storytime at work or donating it to my elementary school, but kept reading and changed my mind.Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Fiction    2. Children: Grades 2-3    3. Fiction    4. General    5. Juvenile Fiction    6. Rylant, Cynthia    7. Social Issues - Emotions & Feelings    8. Wonder    9. Juvenile Nonfiction / Curiosities & Wonders   

Reviews (1)

Delivers as promised but too much fascination with...
...Dan Quayle and Jim Jones.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Curiosities & Wonders    2. Curiosities and wonders    3. Guidebooks    4. History, Local    5. Indiana    6. Miscellanea    7. Travel    8. Travel - United States    9. Travel Guides - U.S.    10. United States - Midwest - East North Central (General)    11. United States - Midwest - Indiana    12. Wonders And Curiosities    13. Travel & holiday guides    14. Travel / United States / Midwest / General   

Reviews (8)

A lack of evidence is not proof of existence
Depending on what you mean by sea monsters Coleman and Huyghe's Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep is an adequate introduction into the realm of mysteries of the deep. Starting with the history of these beasts carrying on to modern times introducing the reader with monsters such as sea centipede's, marine crocodiles, giant sharks, sea turtles, octopi, giant beavers, monitors, dinosaurs, and salamanders. Certainly the Jurassic seas were filled with all kinds of marine reptiles that if they were alive today would fit the description of a sea serpent. However, these creatures seemed to have disappeared about the same time the dinosaurs met their end roughly 65 million years ago. More recently the zeuglodon, a primitive form of whale, might easily be mistaken for a sea serpent if it had been alive today, though it is a mammal, not a reptile.
Sea Serpents, Lake Monsters and Other Beasts from the Deep
From the authors of "The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Yeti and Other Mystery Primates Worldwide", this book tackles the various sea serpents, lake monsters and other aquatic cryptids in the same manner. It's not exactly an in-depth scientific survey, but it is a pretty good introduction to the phenomena, and it does try to cover a vast array of hypothetical species. We begin with a history of the sea serpent, going through important historical sightings, early studies of sea serpents, the discovery of the giant squid, and Heuvelmans attempted categorization. In these sections the book reads pretty much as a general history of Cryptozoology, so most readers will probably be familar with the material.
A good place to start on this topic, but not perfect
Coleman & Huyghe's "The Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep" is an attempt to develop a classification system for cryptic and relict water "monsters." Coleman, a prolific writer in the realm of cryptozoology. takes some of his previous, less focused works on mystery creatures and looks solely at the elusive deep water creatures. The success of this work is highly mixed, however, leaving readers starved for more.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Body, Mind & Spirit    2. Folklore    3. General    4. Marine animals    5. Monsters    6. New Age    7. New Age / Body, Mind & Spirit    8. Sea monsters    9. Unexplained Phenomena    10. Wonders And Curiosities    11. Zoology (Specific Aspects)    12. History / Modern / General    13. Monsters & legendary beings   

Reviews (4)

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges into the Universe
This is an excellant book to use either as a reference for school or to read for fun (or both). This (as well as all of the others) is a great gift for anyone who is interested in learning about inner and outer space.All of the Bathroom books make interesting reading on a vast variety of subjects.As the saying goes,"Try it, you'll like it".

the ultimate guy book
The husband starts telling me that the heart isn't really on the left side of the chest, it's just that the left ventricle is bigger, and why it developed that way.How did he acquire this arcane knowledge?Uncle John's "Plunges Into the Universe," of course. More fun than I expected
Lots of quick enjoyable reads in this book and a good laugh or two -- something for almost everybody.I especially liked the article about using flowers and fish to predict the weather... the sort of thing you'd only find in Uncle John.My hubby liked the info about the sturdiness of houses built out of dung.He's ready to try it if our rent goes up again... Yep there's good stuff in this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Humor    3. Miscellanea    4. Reference    5. Science    6. Trivia   

Editorial Review

The past holds many secrets. We don't know whether the Chinese beat Columbus to America or why the pharaohs built the pyramids of Egypt. How much truth is there to the whole King Arthur legend? Did the Greeks really build the legendary Trojan horse? Why did the Read more

Reviews (1)

A must for any history lover
Published by National Geographic, this is a history book that takes many taken-for-granted events (such as Columbus and Pearl Harbor) and completely re-tells the event using recently discovered or little known evidence. Set up in the form of question and answer, it takes about twenty points in history and re-examinens them, leaving you astounded and wondering how much about history you really do know.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    2. Children: Grades 4-6    3. Curiosities & Wonders    4. Errors    5. Errors, inventions, etc    6. History    7. History - General    8. Juvenile General And Reference Works    9. Juvenile Nonfiction    10. Miscellanea    11. People & Places - General    12. Juvenile Nonfiction / History / General   

Subjects:  1. Essays    2. General    3. Literature - Classics / Criticism    4. Questions & Answers    5. Reference    6. Trivia    7. French    8. Novels, other prose & writers: from c 1900 -   

Subjects:  1. Gardening / Horticulture    2. Personal & Practical Guides    3. Reference    4. Trivia   

Reviews (4)

History with Pictures
I had been looking for something with the history of Chicago and some good pictures. Despite the fact that this book doesn't really cover the history of the city, it does cover indeed most, if not all highlights of the city's history since the Chicago Tribune was founded. The texts of the 150 subjects have just the correct size, and most of the pictures are as breathtaking as you would expect from a newspaper as important as the Tribune.

A Most Interesting History Lesson of Chicago!
As a professional tour director and author I am always on the lookout for good information to share with my clients.When I took out a tour titled "A Week in Chicago" I needed a reference that would give me an insight to the city that guidebooks truly don't have. A Must Read
With excellent photography and sometimes gritty, big city narrative, Chicago Days is the sum of Chicago's history in an easy to read, fast paces, well written book that you won't put down until you reach the end.Read more

Subjects:  1. Anecdotes    2. Chicago (Ill.)    3. Curiosities & Wonders    4. General    5. History    6. History - General History    7. History - U.S.    8. History: American    9. United States - State & Local - General    10. Educational & careers guidance    11. History / United States / State & Local    12. USA   

Editorial Review

A search for the Pacific Northwest's fabled Bigfoot provides a jumping-off point for naturewriter Robert Michael Pyle's lyrical ruminations on wilderness, isolation, and the occasional triumphs ofmystery over so-called progress. Pyle's well-researched stomping ground is Washington State's DarkDivide in the Cascade Mountains--this rugged country of loggers and recreationists has been the scene formany sightings of the elusive man-beast. Pyle's route alternates between desolate clear-cuts and majesticancient forests, between the inroads of civilization and the dark recesses of the wild. But never does theauthor get too caught up in proving anything to himself or the reader; this search for Bigfoot has as much todo with locating the wild nature within each of us as it does with finding a legend. ... Read more

Reviews (19)

Dissapointing
I thought this book was about bigfoot. It is not. What little that is written about bigfoot is just a rehashing of much told events.
Rich, rewarding work from talented writer
Face it, if you are looking for a book "about" Bigfoot, it is necessarily going to be slim. With no definitive proof that Bigfoot exists - no data to analyze, no pictures, no fossils, no bodies - the basic gist of purportedly "scientific" Bigfoot books boils down to a lot of speculating about second hand information. Interesting perhaps, but never convincing. You either believe or you don't. (And to be clear, I am a believer.)
Where Bigfoot Walks
Intersting book, the book keeps you thinking, Rober Michael Pyle makes you feel that you are on the Journey with him. A big plus for this book.++++++++++++ Eric J. MAzzi Pa ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Animals    2. Controversial Knowledge    3. Curiosities & Wonders    4. Nature/Ecology    5. New Age / Body, Mind & Spirit    6. Reference    7. Sasquatch    8. Monsters & legendary beings    9. Nature / Animals   

Reviews (3)

Don't expect too much from it
I shall agree that the illustrations are great. However, the book contains very limited information about the wonders or their history. If you like to look at the pictures along this book is for you, but if you like to read about the Ancient wonders you need to look somewhere else. There are many books that cover this subject in a lot more details.

"WONDER"ful!
We checked this book out at the public library over 2 years ago... my husband and I stayed up one night after the kids went to bed and we spent over an hour reading and looking at the beautiful and fascinating illustrations.I am so glad that I found this book today... I have thought of it many times, but had forgotten the title. I can't wait to read and re-read it over and over again.

Wow!Buy This Book!It's Outstanding
This book can only be described with the use of the most superlative terms only.What a wonderful foundation book to fill any child with awe at the beauty and variety of man-made wonders in the world.The illustration, photographs and texts are thrilling!Two pages toward the end of the book show Natural Wonders, and I can't wait to see more of these.Buy this book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's 9-12 - Reference    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    3. Children: Grades 3-4    4. Curiosities & Wonders    5. Curiosities and wonders    6. History - Ancient    7. Juvenile Nonfiction    8. Juvenile literature    9. Reference - General    10. Seven Wonders of the World    11. Geography & Environment    12. Juvenile Nonfiction / Curiosities & Wonders    13. Children's   

Reviews (1)

Ripley's Believe It or Not
The acquisition has hundreds of little known facts and feats
Read more

Subjects:  1. Children's 9-12 - Reference    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    3. Children: Grades 3-4    4. Curiosities & Wonders    5. Curiosities and wonders    6. Encyclopedias    7. Juvenile General And Reference Works    8. Juvenile Nonfiction    9. Juvenile literature    10. Reference - General    11. Juvenile Nonfiction / General   

Subjects:  1. Children's All Ages    2. Children's Books/Ages 9-12 Nonfiction    3. Children: Grades 1-2    4. Curiosities and wonders    5. General    6. Handbooks, vade-mecums, etc.    7. Juvenile Nonfiction    8. Juvenile literature    9. Reference - General    10. Juvenile Nonfiction / Reference / General   

Reviews (1)

The most intelligent book on the paranormal out there.
This really is invaluable to anyone interested in researching paranormal claims.Full of humor, references and suggestions, it's like a gigantic handbook, or operations manual for the paranormally inclined.Told from askeptical point of view, the insight and commentary is enlightening.Amust-have in the library of anyone who has an interest in all aspects ofthe supernatural. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Controversial Knowledge    2. Handbooks, manuals, etc    3. Investigation    4. New Age    5. New Age / Body, Mind & Spirit    6. Occultism    7. Parapsychology    8. Parapsychology - General    9. Wonders And Curiosities    10. Occultism & quasi-religious beliefs    11. Unexplained phenomena   

Reviews (10)

Necessary!
EVERYBODY needs to read this book. I have read it twice, and about 5 of my friends have borrowed it from me. EVERYBODY. That includes you. Buy it now.- Lewis www.moresparecash.co.uk

Okay, although a tad radical
This book does not appear on the surface to be more than just facts to ponder. However, next to each fact written in bold, there is a well-written essay on the topic. Normally, the context of the fact is discussed, along with an evaluation of the fact and steps to change it (or let it be). Topics cover the gamut of human issues from poverty to obesity, and include some environmental ones too.
Blows you out of your shell - if you can distract yourself from Hollywood
Well researched, thought-provoking and well-written.
Read more

Subjects:  1. 1990-    2. 1995-2005    3. 21st century    4. Curiosities & Wonders    5. Economic history    6. General    7. History    8. History: American    9. Miscellanea    10. Popular Culture - General    11. Reference    12. Social history    13. United States - 20th Century    14. World politics    15. History / United States / 20th Century   

Editorial Review

Read more

Reviews (9)

By far the best book I have read!
OK, I have ready numerous books in effort to learn more about the afterlife.I enjoy reading books about families and how the cope with it.I personally enjoy books dedicated to one haunting. However this book gave me good stories about some people and the most important part of the book:TALKS ABOUT LIFE AFTER DEATH AND WHAT THE SPIRITS SAY.I can't explain how much detail Hazel Denning gives about why, how, and gives indepth information on the subject.This book has encouraged me to learn more about the afterlife more so than the hauntings.I highly recommed this book if you are looking for more than hauntings.Granted the names have been changed but in all the books you will find they do that, for protection.I would want my name changed.

True Hauntings of All of Her Friends
Ok. This book COULD be interesting to some. However, I found it to be pretty much the SAME story again and again.
Interesting for its philosophy
True Hauntings is an intriguing book.My first surprise was that the author, Hazel Denning has a PhD.That spurred me to check her vita to see in what the degree was taken.Apparently it's in clinical psychology, not a bad beginning.A practice emphasis on past life regression, however, tended to make me a little skeptical.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Alternate Spirituality    2. Body, Mind & Spirit    3. Curiosities & Wonders    4. Magick Studies    5. New Age    6. Occultism    7. Parapsychology    8. Parapsychology - General    9. Spiritualism - General    10. Supernatural    11. Body, Mind & Spirit / Parapsychology    12. Ghosts & poltergeists   

Reviews (21)

a good, light read
It is hard to review a book like this...or is it easy?The book is a collection of modern urban legends and the truth (or untruth) behind them.I guess you could criticize his selection of legends to cover, but that is more a personal choice.The truth is, Roeper does a solid job of reviewing the legend in question and then delving into the story behind it.
Perfect for teens
"Urban Legends" by Richard Roeper is a light read perfect for a teen audience.This book touches on most of the common urban legends, the welcome to the world of AIDS urban legend, whether Tupac is really dead, Tommy Hilfiger on Oprah and other urban legends that have been rehashed over time.The book dispells what is truth and what is fiction. Overall though this book doesn't really tell readers what can't be found on the Internet or in other books.It's an entertaining book.

History Is Myth....Or....?
In this book there are many of those Urban Legends that we've heard of that have been circulating since we can remember.And, there are also many tales that we haven't heard of.Today we get most of these myths via email, but before email came to be, I remember hearing...."this happened....I heard that....so-and-so said....did you know that....?"And beyond the humor, are the effects these tall-tales can have on the people and places they're about.Many of these "alleged" rumors were followed up in the form of questions from journalists during media interviews.Often, the media will investigate a rumor (urban myth) to see if there is any merit to it.Once debunked as false however, the rumor lives on in peoples' minds.Read more

Subjects:  1. Folklore    2. Folklore & Mythology    3. General    4. Reference    5. Social life and customs    6. Trivia    7. United States    8. Urban folklore    9. Collections & anthologies of various literary forms    10. Mind, Body, Spirit   

Reviews (2)

I would like to say that it's a little bit dissapointing
This paperback compendium of articles on the origins of words has been compiled by the editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Among the oddities revealed by its writers are that average derives from an Old French word meaning "damage to shipping", that caprice comes by a devious route from an old Italian word for a hedgehog, that in medieval times deer was the name for any creature, that in Middle English dinner could mean breakfast, that fawn and fetus are etymologically connected, that garage is from a French word whose first sense in that language was a place where one moors one's boat, that junk originally meant old rope ... and so on. Its writers have not shied away from discussing features of some of the most common words, such as a, it and they.
A very fine linquistic survey
How do new words enter the English language and dictionaries - and where did some older oddities come from? Plenty of 'word origin' titles are published; the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries answer numerous questions about what influences word changes and popularity, providing the stories of over 400 words from all areas of the vocabulary. Word Histories And Mysteries: From Abracadabra To Zeus is a very fine linquistic survey which is especially recommended for 'word origin' fans.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Curiosities & Wonders    2. Dictionaries    3. English Language History    4. English language    5. Etymology    6. Language    7. Language Arts & Disciplines    8. Language Arts / Linguistics / Literacy    9. English    10. Language Arts & Disciplines / Etymology   

Reviews (2)

Really great Lucy book
This is a different, fun, creative, interesting and challenging Lucy book. I loved it.

This wonderful book is so much fun!
I could flip through this book for hours!!I absolutely love it!Do you remember the first movie star Lucy sees in Hollywood?When Ethel and Fred's wedding anniversary is?Or how many appearances Ricky's mother makes during the run of the series?Read more

Subjects:  1. I love Lucy (Television progra    2. I love Lucy (Television program)    3. Miscellanea    4. Performing Arts    5. Performing Arts/Dance    6. Pop Arts / Pop Culture    7. Television - Guides & Reviews    8. Television - Reference    9. Trivia    10. Performing Arts / Television / General    11. film / radio / tv - TV & RADIO TRD PB   

Subjects:  1. Body, Mind & Spirit    2. Fiction - Mystery/ Detective    3. Mystery & Detective - General    4. New Age    5. UFOs & Extraterrestrials    6. Reference / Curiosities & Wonders    7. UFOs