I know I expected more emphasis on the psychological and folklore aspects of urban legends, but that wasn't touched on in any sort of inventive manner. Once a psychological aspect was touched upon, it was brought up with every legend in the chapter only stated a little differently. This made for rather tedious reading since the author had a rather snide sense of humor and seemed to be mocking anyone who had ever fallen for an urban legend. Now I'm not stupid, but there are some urban legends I've thought twice about. That doesn't make me stupid, it makes me human.

Most of the urban legends themselves I'd heard before so there really wasn't much new there and the gory ones were even watered down. While some of it was interesting, too much of the book was repetative from chapter to chapter for me to really like it.


Look to actual folklorists for better books on Urban Legends   November 13, 2002
 1 out of 2 found this review helpful

This book may well be interesting, but it is not written by a folklorist and offers up some incorrect information. Folklorists would not call an urban legend a contemporary myth as the author claims; myths and legends are extremely different types of folk narrative. Any author who makes a mistake like that (even first year folklore students learn this stuff!) shouldn't be teaching others about the topic. The fact that this books begins by giving out misinformation from the first few pages (and it never quite manages to define folklore at all!) makes it a poor choice for those interested in Urban Legends. Search for a book by Jan Brunvand and find out what folklorists, who devote their lives to the scholarly study of legends like these, have to say on the matter.


Only took a day to read...   December 19, 2001
 2 out of 2 found this review helpful

I stayed home sick one day and decided to read this book. It was straightforward, interesting, fun, breezed right through it. I love books about urban legends anyway, but I also enjoy how they add history, Like "Did Shakespeare write Shakespeare?" and "Did Catherine the Great really do it with a horse?"

Also, it has a lot of emails that are circulated, since email is a big part of our lives nowadays which makes sense about how they can get passed from person to person so quickly.

I like the sidenotes that have "don't believe it" (you get the background on stories that are too weird to be true) or "fable facts" (trivia related to the legends) also "strange but true" (extended anecdotes, case histories, or other tidbits) and "legend lingo" explains the more difficult vocabulary words. There is even a chapter on what an urban legend is, and how to spot one. For example, is the story demonstrably false? Has the story appeared in multiple versions? Does the story carry an important lesson or warning? I remember being scared many times during my childhood because i thought the star tattoos were laced or if i went to the movies, i would be stuck with an HIV infected needle. It's great to put my fears to rest, but still entertaining!!!