Too Good To Be True: The Colossal Book of Urban Legends Revised and with a New Chapter Edition

I took a folklore class about two years ago and we were required to get this book. It has such interesting stories, some of which give you chills, while others make you laugh or lift a brow. It served me well in my class, and while most people want to get rid of their college text books, I had to keep this one!

Great BIG, well bound, book! Compiled in an interesting format.SINCE I love "Urban Legend" compilations----- and movies -----I have to say that THIS book has more "meat", and less "filler".

Mr. Brunvand's book is a delight to read simply as a collection of Urban Legends - the stories play on our love of fun, irony, mischief, coincidence or even morbid twists of fate. But anyone could compile a bunch of urban legends. The real meat of the book is in Mr. Brunvand's analysis of each legend, or group of legends. It is pretty amazing to see him trace the origins of each legend and pick apart the contents. Several of the legends actually have their root in real events, but most are pure fancy. Why do I give it only a four star rating? I save the fifth for truly outstanding books. This one is fun, but not a must-read.Format of the book: The author divides the book into chapters based on the theme of the legends. Each chapter has many legends (from his "files"), interspersed with his analysis. In his analysis, he may talk about the feasibility of a legend, the origin, other occurrances of the same or similar legends in history, or sociological aspects of the legend."Parental advisory": A few of the legends have some somewhat twisted sexual content.So bottom line: Fun book - it will keep you entertained and give you the upper hand next time someone tries to tell you one of these legends.

Really good read. Came in handy the day I got called to jury duty.

Not so crazy about this book. I have always loved a good urban legend. When I was little I remember my teacher bringing out a large leather bound book filled with Urban Legends. The stories that were read in this book were very detailed and amazing. I also told myself I would buy this book unfortunately I have yet to find it. I gave this book a try I figured even though it did not have the look I wanted the stories might be the same as my teachers........ the stories are too vague and I thought the authors explanation or style of writing takes away from the story itself. Still, if you like an explanation to how the urban legends came to be I guess you might like the book. It does have a lot of urban legends in it but if you're a teacher and want to read the stories to your students I suggest another style of writing.

Wicked funny book and loads of sick humor. New and classic legends. I like to read about the legends they are intertaining.

Sent to Sweden for the 17 year old granddaughter---I am sure she loved it.

I really enjoyed this book. I became interested in urban legends when I began working as a reporter at my local paper. We were constantly bombarded by people calling worried about needles in gasoline pumps or companies making satanic statements. I bought Dr. Brunvand's book to read up on these myths so I could easily answer the worried callers.I now know how to spot an urban legend when I hear it, and I also had several hours of humorous, entertaining reading.My only complaint is the author's tendency to point the reader to one of his other books for more information. (For example, he often says, 'I discuss this legend in full in my book...')Overall, though, this is a really great text for anyone interested in folklore or who just wants a good laugh.

Lectura ágil y amena. Buena edición

Una excelente introducción a las leyendas urbanas, contiene más de 200 leyendas agrupadas en 24 categorías. Lectura fácil y amena.

Classic text!

A great compendium of stories, all those urban myth's that we know and alot that we have never heard of before?1.....very amusing, very intriguing and very fascinatingly entertaining, a very worthy good read, highly recommended to find out the stories that were merely touched upon by the 'Urban Legend' film's, written and told as only Jan Harold Brunvand can or will...it is a book you can read over & over.....credit goes to Professor Brunvand for this volume, a wonderful book with a very reasonable price,..I remember seeing Jan Harold Brunvand in a segment on the Sci-Fi Channel several year's ago when he talked about these urban myth's and their origin's, there were UK dramatisations of 'The Killer In The Back seat' , 'The Dormitory', ''Human's Can Lick Too', I also saw several of the urban myth's dramatised in the great series, 'Beyond Belief-Fact Or Fiction', ever since then I was fascinated by these stories...I looked for year's to find a book with them in, but no luck?!...but then i remembered the name of the man on the Sci-Fi Channel segment on urban myth's, I typed it in on Amazon and a list of book's came up that I didn't know even existed?!!.......wow!....I finally had found it and more for a perfect price.....stories you will never, ever forget......

Leider gibt es nicht viele Bücher über urbane Legenden in deutscher Sprache, auch meine Recherche danach blieb Ergebnislos. Umso erfreulicher war ich als ich dieses Buch endeckt habe. Es ist zwar auf englisch aber es ist in sehr einfachem englisch geschrieben. Das Buch ist also geschrieben wurden von einem Mann der sich seit Jahrzehnten mit solchen urbanen Legenden befasst und damals für eine Zeitung geschrieben hat und die Leser aufrief ihm alle Legenden zuzusenden die sie kennen und wo und wann sie sie erstmals gehört haben und vor allem von wem.... es gibt ein ausführliches Vorwort in dem er dies erzählt, das er all die Legenden gesammelt hat und sich der Frage gestellt hat woher diese Legenden kommen.... all die Legenden sind in verschiedene Kategorien gegliedert. beispielsweise gibt es gruselige Legenden unter die auch der Mann mit Haken gehört oder der Mann auf dem Rücksitz... oder Legenden wo Haustiere vorkommen usw..... es gibt wirklich viele Kategorien und immer wieder gibt es zwischen den Legenden Kommentare von dem Autor, erklärt von wem er sie hat und zu welcher Zeit sie in Umlauf kam usw.... das Resultat davon ist ein wirklich tolles, großes, dickes, schweres Buch. Ich kann es nur jedem empfehlen der sich dafür interessiert!