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Alien Hand Syndrome and Other Too-Weird-Not-To-Be-True Stories
This collection of too-weird-not-to-be-true stories gives the freakish details behind odd curiosities, from unusual drug side effects to the Alien Hand Syndrome--a disorder wherein a person's hand develops a will of its own.
320 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 12, 2012
I'm the primary author of this book, so naturally I'm a fan. I'm not crazy about the title, cover, or alphabetical organization, but the publisher was indifferent to my protests. So it goes.
October 23, 2009
I love curious stories about stuff. All kinds, not restricted to topic. I've been fascinated by this sort of thing since elementary school, when I would find little gems in my Scholastic Book Club newsprint flyer every month, and beg my mother to give me the money for books like Strange but True Tales. As the years passed the books were lost or given away, but my love for the oddities and curiosities of life continued. I was overjoyed to find in this book details of some of those old scraps of information I'd been hoarding in my brain, like the Stewardess Who Fell 33,000 Feet, Clever Hans, and the Japanese Solider who refused to believe the WWII was over because Japan's loss was so inconceivable. Add to that a chapter on my favorite psychiatric diagnosis (Capgras Syndrome)! Thank you Alan Bellows and damninteresting.com!!
September 18, 2011
If you like websites like Mental Floss and Damn Interesting, this book is definitely for you. Since I'm really into that kind of trivia, I'd heard of most of the phenomena listed in the book, but there were some I hadn't heard of before, which is a nice surprise, and even the entries I already was familiar with were good reads.[return][return]I've passed the book on to my 66 year old mom after convincing her she'd be interested in it. She, in turn, has unsuccessfully tried to pass it on to a friend of hers who would love it. The problem is the title and the cover art. I guess it looks too National Enquirer and not Believe It or Not.[return][return]So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that if the cover or title are putting you off, give the book a chance! It's a lot of fun and you want someone you know to have read it, too, so you can talk about it with someone.
July 29, 2020
This was quite good. It's nothing dramatic, a collection of interesting stories, generally about either science or history (or historical science. Or scientific history). But I enjoyed them for the same reason I enjoy history and science podcasts, like Science Vs or Ridiculous History (this book is actually freakishly similar to this latter show). I enjoy learning about the past and how it affects the present (like in the podcast Throughline), but I also enjoy true stories that seem too crazy to be anything but fiction. This was a fun book.
June 17, 2023
Engrossing compilation of 1-4 page well written summaries of strange, unusual and true parts of everyday life, both in present time and the past.
p.s. Not mentioned in the book, but if you go to the damninteresting.com website and make a good donation, you will have access to a file of even more interesting stuff.
p.s. Not mentioned in the book, but if you go to the damninteresting.com website and make a good donation, you will have access to a file of even more interesting stuff.
May 5, 2022
This afternoon I was reading an article about a mining disaster and I started thinking about Lake Peigneur. I was trying to remember its name because I'd seen a really great documentary about it once on Youtube that I'd like to watch again, when it suddenly occurred to me that, not only do I own the book containing the article that first brought the lake to my attention, but for some reason I hadn't reviewed it yet. Forgot I had it, even. I haven't taken down
Alien Hand Syndrome
in ages, partially because of the Summer Reading Lists of Doom (spoiler: I will not be finished this year's list by June, mostly because I've been sneaking in books from what should have been the 2016-17 list and have gotten hopelessly behind), and partially because the articles are so well written that they tend to stick with you long after you've read them.
The articles in the book are all pulled from its source website Damn Interesting. Through my college years I kept a close eye on the site for its fascinating articles (usually to reread them), but about the time the book was published in 2009 the site was suddenly hit with a fallout of 'personnel issues' and the site went on an extensive hiatus. In writing this review, however, I see that the site is back up and I'll no doubt be saying goodbye to the rest of my evening so I can catch up.
The book has most of the best pre-2009 articles from the site, with a variety of topics. About the only thing all the articles have in common is that they're all really interesting. We've got the stories about the tree of Ténéré, the Gimli Glider, the Halifax explosion, and, of course, Lake Peigneur. There're disaster stories, wartime stories of weapons and spies and secret agents, stories about baffling psychological phenomena, mad science experiments, oddities of nature, etc. The book contains 91 articles and a sprinkling of related blurbs throughout which are interesting in their own right but not enough for full articles.
THE VERDICT? There's really not much I don't think you'll love about this book. It's fascinating information, but it's not written as a history book. The staff writers all have the gift of telling these stories from a personal level. When you read about the Gimli Glider you're there in the cockpit feeling the tension. The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 will leave you feeling like an ass for having laughed at the title. And best of all, the writers have fantastic senses of humor and spot-on comedic timing.
The articles in the book are all pulled from its source website Damn Interesting. Through my college years I kept a close eye on the site for its fascinating articles (usually to reread them), but about the time the book was published in 2009 the site was suddenly hit with a fallout of 'personnel issues' and the site went on an extensive hiatus. In writing this review, however, I see that the site is back up and I'll no doubt be saying goodbye to the rest of my evening so I can catch up.
The book has most of the best pre-2009 articles from the site, with a variety of topics. About the only thing all the articles have in common is that they're all really interesting. We've got the stories about the tree of Ténéré, the Gimli Glider, the Halifax explosion, and, of course, Lake Peigneur. There're disaster stories, wartime stories of weapons and spies and secret agents, stories about baffling psychological phenomena, mad science experiments, oddities of nature, etc. The book contains 91 articles and a sprinkling of related blurbs throughout which are interesting in their own right but not enough for full articles.
THE VERDICT? There's really not much I don't think you'll love about this book. It's fascinating information, but it's not written as a history book. The staff writers all have the gift of telling these stories from a personal level. When you read about the Gimli Glider you're there in the cockpit feeling the tension. The Great Molasses Flood of 1919 will leave you feeling like an ass for having laughed at the title. And best of all, the writers have fantastic senses of humor and spot-on comedic timing.
September 27, 2013
Alien Hand Syndrome and Other Too-Weird-Not-To-Be-True Stories is basically a compilation of articles from damninteresting.com. While many of the stories are only found in the book, a lot of them are taken directly from the web site. This may make you wonder why you would buy the book if you can just read most of it on-line for free. Well, you really need to read both the book and the web site. The stories are just that good.
While the stories are all intriguing and very well-written, I found that it took me a long time to finish the book. The problem is that with each story being between half a page and five pages long, there are just too many stopping points. Your interest doesn't flow from one story to the next because they are ordered alphabetically instead of in a logical way that would induce you to keep going.
It's funny how the book starts to change your whole outlook on things. For the first several stories you are just blown away at how curious or bizarre the topic is. But after a while you gain a different perspective on how bizarre the world really is. After a while you aren't surprised at all by some of the crazy things being described. It is a real eye-opener.
While you won't find yourself reading the book for hours at a time, you will find yourself coming back to it over and over. It's just that interesting.
While the stories are all intriguing and very well-written, I found that it took me a long time to finish the book. The problem is that with each story being between half a page and five pages long, there are just too many stopping points. Your interest doesn't flow from one story to the next because they are ordered alphabetically instead of in a logical way that would induce you to keep going.
It's funny how the book starts to change your whole outlook on things. For the first several stories you are just blown away at how curious or bizarre the topic is. But after a while you gain a different perspective on how bizarre the world really is. After a while you aren't surprised at all by some of the crazy things being described. It is a real eye-opener.
While you won't find yourself reading the book for hours at a time, you will find yourself coming back to it over and over. It's just that interesting.
August 20, 2016
Strictly a light-reading, bathroom-type book.
Fine for what it is.
From damninteresting.com, apparently.
The most interesting thing about it, for me, was the way I came across it: I happened to be walking down a street not far from home that I had apparently never walked down before, and found a house with a small cabinet by the sidewalk, labelled "Community Library". It contained an odd assortment of books. This book seemed like about the most interesting to me, so I took it.
My wife tells me that there is a similar "Community Library" cabinet at another house a similar distance from home but in another direction.
I think I'll deposit this book there, in the interest of circulation, and see if I can't find something else to read there, which I will then deposit back at the first cabinet.
Fine for what it is.
From damninteresting.com, apparently.
The most interesting thing about it, for me, was the way I came across it: I happened to be walking down a street not far from home that I had apparently never walked down before, and found a house with a small cabinet by the sidewalk, labelled "Community Library". It contained an odd assortment of books. This book seemed like about the most interesting to me, so I took it.
My wife tells me that there is a similar "Community Library" cabinet at another house a similar distance from home but in another direction.
I think I'll deposit this book there, in the interest of circulation, and see if I can't find something else to read there, which I will then deposit back at the first cabinet.
November 10, 2023
This is definitely a compilation of website articles. And yes, that is an insult. A lot of these little stories about strange facts are written badly. I did not get what a lot of the articles were about simply by reading. It’s not even dense, just badly written. While a lot of it actually was interesting, like the articles about history or parasitical organisms, there is also some conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, and other things that I cannot think are true. It was pretty funny, but the sort of funny that wants the reader to take it at face value, which is a stupid kind of cynical humor. This book is definitely from 2009, and that is an insult.
September 17, 2012
I did not really know where to shelve this one as it falls under so many odd little niches. A fun book to pick up when one has a little moment here and there as most of these stories are only a few pages long. Lots of odd history here as well as very bizarre scientific items. Consider the interesting story of the Japanese soldier that carried on for 30 years after WWII had ended, hiding out in the jungle, next to a scientific piece about a doctor that considers eating your boogers is good for you. Yes that is what is in here from the interesting too the bizarre too the downright disgusting.
December 8, 2014
This was the first Early Reviewers "win" that I can whole-heartedly say I loved receiving. I'm a huge fan of Workman Publishing -- every book I've ever bought from that publishing house has been attractively designed and packaged, and "Alien Hand Syndrome" definitely falls into that category. The book itself is like a treasure trove of oddities -- an updated and expanded Ripley's Believe It or Not! I've only scanned through about 1/3 of the content (at random) so far, but I've enjoyed most of the entries I've read, and I'll be happy to give this one a positive review.
July 14, 2012
This book and the blog is full of great stories. Each story is well researched, has humor and the flow keeps you engaged and entertained. I often keep it near by for a quick story read for myself or with my kids.
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August 9, 2011I'd never heard of the web site DamnInteresting.com. Their stories are surprising and informative. I give this compilation book my highest recommendation.
December 29, 2011
I knew some of these, others I thought were urban legends. Fascinating book for those who love obscure and bizarre stories
January 5, 2012
Good to have around for when you have a few minutes to spare, and can fit in a few pages. I just skipped the few stories that didn't interest me. A roughly even mix of science and history.
August 8, 2013
Loved this book! Lots and lots of short articles on very unusual topics. Fascinating reading, and easy going.
February 3, 2014
I have read a lot of weird facts and stories over the years, but this book was filled with surprises and far more new information than I ever expected. Fascinating.
August 12, 2015
The title of the book doesn't quite do it justice. It's filled with lots of random facts and historical events. Very interesting and fun to read!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews