Review and Giveaway: A Curious Man by Neal Thompson

Published May 7, 2013
by Crown Archetype

A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not" Ripley by Neal Thompson is an interesting book. I didn't know the half of it when I started reading the book. I found it fascinating to read his sort of rags to riches story. To say he was a well-traveled man, is an understatement. He was all over the world and brought back many oddities. Some oddities or stories about them were acquired when people sent in the information or objects to him. Early on, he ended up hiring an assistant to deal with mail and to help him pull together his ideas for his column. 

The book is full of vignettes of his trips as well as interesting information on just what went into his comics and eventually his programs. He really was a fascinating man. Admittedly one of my favorite parts of the book was the section containing photographs of and about Ripley. I would be remiss if I did not mention that there is a multi-media aspect to the book. It requires a download of a free app to your phone. Then you can scan some of the photo pages and videos and additional information would appear. 

I can remember seeing reprints of his comics in the Sunday Funnies growing up. I'm glad I had an opportunity to read this biography about such a fascinating man. Also according to the book, "Ripley's Believe It or Not" comic has been one of the longest running. It was being drawn by John Graziano in 2012. If you grew up reading the same comics or perhaps hearing the program on the radio or watching it on TV, I think you would enjoy this book.I gave this book 4 stars.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

Teaser Tuesday: A Curious Man by Neal Thompson

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of  Should Be Reading.

Anyone can participate. just do the following.

Rules:

• Grab your current read

• Open to a random page

• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t  give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

• Share the title and author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 

Published May 7, 2013
by Three Rivers Press

A Curious Man - The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert Believe It or Not Ripley by Neal Thompson is so far an interesting biography of Robert Ripley. It also has other facts from the eras thrown in for good measure such as the origin of such phrases as "for crying out loud"(p.31). There is a nice pictorial section that runs 8 pages front and back with pictures of Ripley at various points in his career and on his travels.

Teasers:

(p.166) Ripley was given office space at the New York American in Manhattan, but he often chose to work from home.

(p.167) On his Central America trip he had picked up a foulmouthed parrot that he taught to say "Hello, Rip" and "Goodbye, Rip." From its previous owners, the birds had learned more colorful words. Ripley's pet was capable of as "sulfurous a flow of potent language as ever horrified delicate ears."

So, telecommuting existed even back in the 1920's it seems. According to the book he was very productive at home and worked very hard. 

So, what are your teasers this week? Leave them or a link in the comments please. Thanks for reading!