REVIEW: A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert “Believe It or Not!” Ripley��by Neal Thompson
I remember picking up paperback books when I was a kid that were filled with Ripley���s Believe It or Not! cartoons. I loved them! Those little snippets of information peaked my interest about the world around me and instilled in me a fascination for the odd and unusual. This summer, one of the stops on my family���s Great Smokey Mountains vacation was to visit the Ripley���s Believe It or Not! Odditorium. I had hoped that it might spark curiosity in them as well.
So when I saw, A Curious Man by Neal Thompson, my curiosity kicked in. Why hadn���t someone written about Robert Ripley before? I purchased the book and enjoyed it immensely.
It is the story of Robert Ripley���s journey from struggling newspaper cartoonist to cultural icon. He came from a poor family and was teased for his buckteeth and stutter. It is a true rags to riches story because Ripley also had talent, determination, and a strong work ethic.
A Curious Man also paints a picture of a talented man whose passion for travel and oddities gave way to a life of excess and then obsession.
Ripley conquered newspapers, books, radio, television, the speaking circuit and museum circuit. Even with the help of the staff that he eventually had, I am still amazed that he could do as much as he did and still travel for months at a time.
Along the way, readers get a good picture of life during an interesting time of American history���the Roaring 20s, the Great Depression, and WWII. They watch the rise and beginning decline of the newspaper industry.
I found the book easy to read and enjoy. I also liked the Ripley-style callouts of interesting factoids throughout the book that Thompson called ���Believe It.���
If I have one complaint about the book, it���s that it continued too long for me after Ripley���s death. The battling over the Ripley empire after his death held little interest for me.
A Curious Man made me start looking around for those old paperbacks again so that I could read more about the wonder of the world.
