Each chapter is self contained, making this book ideal bathtub/bedtime reader.

I was thouroughly entertained by this book. It is a quick and fun read. The bibliography and index lets you conduct any further investigations on those subjects that particularily interested you.

Try it, you'll like it.


Some Interesting Characters, Some Not   May 29, 2004
 4 out of 6 found this review helpful

This book bumps up against the contemporary reality that we are regularly exposed to peculiar people through news and entertainment media. This book includes some extremely odd people but it also spends a good deal of time discussing people who were odd a century ago but quite dull by today's standards. Seems to me that the author needed a sharper focus. Was it purely to entertain? Was it to give a historical sense that eccentrics have always been a part of the community? Was it simply an attempt to restate in narrative form the notion of "to each his own?" Any one of these might have called for some change in the material or a sharper edge to the narrative.
Having said all that, if individuals with odd beliefs and eccentric notions are of particular interest to the reader, there are some notable characters to be found in this book.


great reading   April 26, 2000
 7 out of 7 found this review helpful

I read this book after reading another by the author as I liked him so much and I was not dissapointed! The book provides detailed, fasinating accounts of people with eccentric hobbies that they have devoted their lives to. For example, Mrs Elizabeth Wells Gallup, the baconian cipherer. A great read. enjoy.