Strange But True, America
Author: John Hafnor
Publisher: John Hafnor
Published: 2009
Total Pages: 164
ISBN-13: 9780964817555
DOWNLOAD EBOOKContains 101 curious tales and oddball facts about events and people from the fifty states.
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The Strange Genius of Mr. O
Author: Carolyn Eastman
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Published: 2020-12-11
Total Pages: 361
ISBN-13: 1469660520
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWhen James Ogilvie arrived in America in 1793, he was a deeply ambitious but impoverished teacher. By the time he returned to Britain in 1817, he had become a bona fide celebrity known simply as Mr. O, counting the nation's leading politicians and intellectuals among his admirers. And then, like so many meteoric American luminaries afterward, he fell from grace. The Strange Genius of Mr. O is at once the biography of a remarkable performer--a gaunt Scottish orator who appeared in a toga--and a story of the United States during the founding era. Ogilvie's career featured many of the hallmarks of celebrity we recognize from later eras: glamorous friends, eccentric clothing, scandalous religious views, narcissism, and even an alarming drug habit. Yet he captivated audiences with his eloquence and inaugurated a golden age of American oratory. Examining his roller-coaster career and the Americans who admired (or hated) him, this fascinating book renders a vivid portrait of the United States in the midst of invention.
Strange Wisconsin
Author: Linda S. Godfrey
Publisher: Big Earth Publishing
Published: 2007
Total Pages: 360
ISBN-13: 9781931599856
DOWNLOAD EBOOKPig men . . . trolls . . . the curse of Miller Park . . . the Golden Plates of Voree. When it coms to weird, Wisconsin's got it! And nobody is better at telling the bizarre stories of the state's odd side than best-selling author and paranormal authority Linda Godfrey. Join the fun on an eyebrow-raising tour of people and places you won't believe!
The United States of Strange
Author: Eric Grzymkowski
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2012-06-18
Total Pages: 317
ISBN-13: 1440536201
DOWNLOAD EBOOKLife, Liberty, and the Pursuit of All Things Weird Sure, you probably know that George Washington was our first president and that Christopher Columbus accidentally discovered America in 1492, but did you know that there are more plastic flamingos in the United States than there are real ones and that Disneyland employees were not permitted to wear their own underwear while dressing in character until 2001? Behind the portrait of America that history classes, news reports, and boring documentaries have painted lies a strange and perplexing country that you couldn't imagine even in your wildest dreams. Featuring 1,001 shocking facts, this book reveals all the secrets and weirdness that you never knew about the United States. From the thirty-two(!) bathrooms in the White House to the fact that a single U.S.–made hamburger may contain meat from 100 different cows, these wacky tidbits will guarantee that you'll never look at this nation the same way again!
Emily's Secret Book of Strange
Author: Rob Reger
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Published: 2003-02
Total Pages: 96
ISBN-13: 9780811839860
DOWNLOAD EBOOKEmily shows how she sees the world and how deceptive sight can be, in this book of illusions and surprises.
Encounters
Author: Matt Hoyle
Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Published: 2007-10
Total Pages: 148
ISBN-13: 0740769359
DOWNLOAD EBOOKI'm 126 years old. This is my 4,500th incarnation." -Dr. Bob, as profiled in Encounters With the Strange and Unexplained * The National UFO Reporting Center averages 332 unexplained alien sightings each month, and the Gallup Organization reports that more than 32 percent of Americans believe in ghosts. In the summer of 2006, award-winning photographer Matt Hoyle took a paranormal road trip across the United States. He photographed 60 witnesses to alien spacecraft, murky swamp creatures, and demonic house poltergeists. * Chronicling these encounters through both written and photographic profiles, Hoyle presents a spectrum of specter--loving and--loathing believers in Encounters With the Strange and Unexplained. * Hoyle's award-winning photography is known for its rich character and post-production treatment that re-creates both the mood and setting of the environments his portraits depict.
Strange Universe
Author: Bob Berman
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Published: 2015-11-10
Total Pages: 287
ISBN-13: 1627799435
DOWNLOAD EBOOK"Touches on a dizzying array of subjects, including UV rays, inert gases, fossils, meteorites, microwaves, rainbows . . . Like many a good teacher, Berman uses humor to entertain his audience and liven things up." —Los Angeles Times Bob Berman is motivated by a straightforward philosophy: everyone can understand science—and it's fun, too. In Strange Universe, he pokes into the bizarre and astonishingly true scientific facts that determine the world around us. Geared to the nonscientist, Berman's original essays are filled with the trademark wit and cleverness that has earned him acclaim over many years for his columns in Astronomy and Discover magazines. He emphasizes curiosities of the natural world to which everyone can relate, and dishes on the little-known secrets about space and some of science's biggest blunders (including a very embarrassing moment from Buzz Aldrin's trip to the moon). Fascinating to anyone interested in the wonders of our world and the cosmos beyond, Strange Universe will make you smile and think.
Strange Science
Author: Editors of Portable Press
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2017-06-01
Total Pages: 402
ISBN-13: 1684120101
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis entertaining compendium of bite-sized articles reveals the stranger-than-sci-fi world of strange science. From the oddest theories to the most astounding discoveries to the biggest blunders, Strange Science has all the facts your professors didn't teach you in science class. It's packed with earth-shattering eurekas, outlandish inventions, silly “scientific” studies, and the stories behind the weirdos who made it all happen. Put on your lab coat and get ready to discover . . . One dentist's quest to clone John Lennon How to hypnotize a chicken Real-life time travelers (or so they claim) The seven-year-long study that found earthquakes are not caused by catfish waving their tails . . . and other breakthrough findings Plus you’ll discover unbelievable inventions; the freakiest franken-foods scientists have created; some of Hollywood’s worst on-screen science blunders; and more! This amazing volume from the Bathroom Readers’ Institute contains the strangest short science articles from dozens of Bathroom Readers, along with fifty all-new pages.
The Book of Strange and Curious Legal Oddities
Author: Nathan Belofsky
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2010-08-03
Total Pages: 200
ISBN-13: 1101188960
DOWNLOAD EBOOKYou're probably breaking the law right now-and don't even know it. Did you know... ? Naples, Italy, enforces laws for what constitutes real pizza, and "pizza police" visit restaurants to crack down on unlawful pies? ? In West Virginia it is a crime to display or possess a red or black flag? ? It is illegal to sell stuffed articles depicting female breasts within a thousand feet of any county highway in California? ? Spherical fishbowls have been banned in Rome since 2004? There are hundreds of bizarre laws that we could be breaking at any moment. What exactly are we doing that we shouldn't be doing, and what happens if we get caught? In this engaging and insightful collection, Nathan Belofsky takes us on a journey of eclectic, unexpected, and bizarre laws from around the world. Written by a practicing lawyer with an eye for his profession's most unusual quirks, The Book of Strange and Curious Legal Oddities offers a delightful look at the legal system's peculiarities through the ages. From laws that crack down on how we eat, look, and have sex, to real legal battles involving litigious chimpanzees, you'll start wondering whether you're really the law-abiding citizen you claim to be.
Things New and Strange
Author: G. Wayne Clough
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Published: 2019-05-01
Total Pages: 264
ISBN-13: 0820355232
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThings New and Strange chronicles a research quest undertaken by G. Wayne Clough, the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution born in the South. Soon after retiring from the Smithsonian, Clough decided to see what the Smithsonian collections could tell him about South Georgia, where he had spent most of his childhood in the 1940s and 1950s. The investigations that followed, which began as something of a quixotic scavenger hunt, expanded as Clough discovered that the collections had many more objects and documents from South Georgia than he had imagined. These objects illustrate important aspects of southern culture and history and also inspire reflections about how South Georgia has changed over time. Clough’s discoveries—animal, plant, fossil, and rock specimens, along with cultural artifacts and works of art—not only serve as a springboard for reflections about the region and its history, they also bring Clough’s own memories of his boyhood in Douglas, Georgia, back to life. Clough interweaves memories of his own experiences, such as hair-raising escapes from poisonous snakes and selling boiled peanuts for a nickel a bag at the annual auction of the tobacco crop, with anecdotes from family lore, which launches an exploration of his forebears and their place in South Georgia history. In following his engaging and personal narrative, we learn how nonspecialists can use museum archives and how family, community, and natural history are intertwined.
