What Were They Thinking?: Really Bad Ideas Throughout History - Brossura

Felton, Bruce

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1599211327 ISBN 13: 9781599211329

Casa editrice: Lyons Pr, 2007

Riassunto

Bad ideas are everywhere--they're the tile grout of history, the crabgrass of civilization, poking up through every crack in our thinking. According to government statistics, they outnumber good ideas 600 to 1.

Fully revised and expanded, What Were They Thinking is a compendium of some 400 harebrained schemes, fool notions, and misguided obsessions both grandiose and mundane. Readers will learn about the mutant cheese that attacked the White House . . . the Atlanta Braves pitcher who ironed his shirt--while he was wearing it . . .the man who put lobsters in his underwear . . . and the Elvis Vegiform, a plastic mold that makes any vegetable resemble the King. Within these pages, the aim has not been to probe the motives behind bad ideas, but simply to recount and, above all, revel in them.

The stories in What Were They Thinking? range from the horrific to the hilarious; many are both. But they are all true.

Su questo libro

L'autore

Bruce Felton, an award-winning writer and editor, has written for numerous magazines and newspapers and has authored five books. He lives in New York City.

Dalla quarta di copertina

Why would a Boston shoplifter hide stolen lobsters in his underwear? What would possess a California physician to give a cadaver’s severed hand as a romantic gift? What mental misfire led an Atlanta Braves pitcher to iron his shirt?while he was wearing it? Renowned bad idea connoisseur Bruce Felton examines these unanswerable questions and many others in What Were They Thinking?, revised for this edition to include recently unearthed harebrained schemes, useless products, and misguided obsessions. You’ll learn the stories behind: ?  The World War II plot to attack Buckingham Palace with exploding ­chocolate bars
?  The zoo that encouraged visitors to shoot the animals (and even supplied rifles for an extra charge)
?  The travelers’ phrase book that translates ?The cockroaches have eaten my shirt,” ?Is there a taboo on your house?” and ?Where can I defecate?”
?  The British plan to tear down the Taj Mahal and sell the pieces to interior decorators
?  The Elvis Vegiform, a plastic mold that turns any vegetable into a bust of the King      

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Lyons Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2007
• ISBN 10: 1599211327
• ISBN 13: 9781599211329
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 291