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.

As fascinating as these stories are, the book itself leaves something to be desired. Because it seems all too often, the author is either constantly doubting that this is a true story (duh!) or that he cannot believe in the gullibility of people (there is quite a liberal amount of self righteous sarcasm).

Okay, we got the message! Just tell us the stories and give us the facts. The book would otherwise woudl have worked more effectively in giving me the creeps. But it didn't. Maybe it wasn't suppose to.

Still, I can't help but think that the author insulted my intelligence.

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE is an assemblage of over 200 such stories gathered by Jan Brunvand, who is an expert, perhaps obsessively so, on the subject. They cover a wide range of source topics: pets, criminals, cars, sex, accidents, babies, work, technology, human nature, mistaken ID, academia, food, the supernatural, wild animals, and more. They inspire laughter, horror, disbelief, or just plain "Oh, yuck!" Each story is followed by a paragraph, sometimes lengthy, on the times and places the anecdote, or some variant of it, has appeared. Some go back to the 19th century. After the first twenty-five or so, I decided to leave this last bit to the truly compulsive.

My favorite was the one about the American couple staying at the Moscow hotel during the bad old Soviet era. Obsessed with the possible presence of listening devices, the couple searched the room for "bugs". Finding only a metal plate under the carpet, they removed the screws from it. The next morning on checkout, the desk manager asked if they'd spent a pleasant night. He was concerned since the couple in the room below our intrepid travelers had the chandelier fall on them. My wife said she's never seen me laugh so hard.

The trouble with these stories is that they have no developing plot, no hero to love, and no villain to hate. Like eating popcorn, the experience, however delightful, ends with the last kernel/paragraph. Nobody ever exclaims, "Wow, I had a great bag of popcorn last week!" Similarly, I doubt this book will stay memorable for more than a minute. As a bathroom diversion for those contemplative moments, it stands out. Otherwise, it's light reading with a capital "L".