Strange People

5 out of 5

Fiona Robson – Jan 01, 2014

“Describes giants, midgets, sideshow acts, a young strongwoman, a lost colony, a mysterious coma, idiot savants, clairvoyants, eyeless sight, ghosts, psychic detectives, and a man who needed no sleep.” I inherited this book from my cousin, and I always try to read all the books I own. This was a delight, and later in the year, when Bowie published his top 100 books, this was on the list, so that’s something else in its favour!

4 out of 5

Fishface – Jan 20, 2016

I loved every story in this book. Nuff said.

4 out of 5

Jim – Jul 05, 2018

Giants, midgets, fat men, a strongwoman, a "monkey girl," psychics, "idiot savants"--this is a classic of stories about strange people. I have the original paperback published in 1961 (price-all of 50 cents!). I remembered some of the stories, but not all. When I ran across this book while going through some stacks of books, I started reading it again and finished it on the 4th of July holiday, ice tea in hand while reading it on a very humid hot day. It's by Frank Edwards (1908-1967), writer a Giants, midgets, fat men, a strongwoman, a "monkey girl," psychics, "idiot savants"--this is a classic of stories about strange people. I have the original paperback published in 1961 (price-all of 50 cents!). I remembered some of the stories, but not all. When I ran across this book while going through some stacks of books, I started reading it again and finished it on the 4th of July holiday, ice tea in hand while reading it on a very humid hot day. It's by Frank Edwards (1908-1967), writer and broadcaster, who wrote a series of books on psychic phenomena and UFOs. His book, "Flying Saucers: Serious Business" was an influential book for me as a kid. In "Strange People," he writes about such well-known strange people as Edgar Cayce, "the sleeping doctor" from Kentucky, and Peter Hurkos, the Dutch psychic detective, whom Edwards interviewed in 1961. There are a number of cases presented of "water witches"--it's fascinating to me that there are so many documented cases of water dowsing and, as far as I know, no scientific explanation has ever been given for how that works. The same with rainmakers. As with many cases of e.s.p., it seems we've gone beyond the realm of science, and scientists would prefer to ignore what's going on rather than seriously study psychic phenomena. It's like quantum mechanics--it's beyond scientific understanding. As a final note, I found the stories of "sleepless people" to be most interesting ( maybe because that would be a power that I would love to have!). One case was that of Valentin Medina, a Spanish farm laborer, age 61, who walked to Madrid in 1960 to see if doctors there could cure his insomnia. His doctor said he had not slept for more than 50 years. The Madrid doctors had him stay at a hospital--and he never slept a wink. He was given a prescription compounded of tranquilizers and sent home. Three weeks later, Medina's doctor reported that his feet went to sleep, but he didn't! Here's a quote from the sleepless Spaniard: " I would like to know how to read and write. Nights would be shorter for me if I knew how to read books. All my life, while the rest of the world sleeps, I can only sit in front of the kitchen fireplace and wait till the rooster crows." I can only sympathize...thank whatever gods there be for books.

4 out of 5

Sam – Aug 20, 2018

I found the stories in this books very interesting but in the first third of the book the author persisted in referring to the people in the stories as "monsters", "creatures" and "it", which really marred my enjoyment of that portion. I found the stories in this books very interesting but in the first third of the book the author persisted in referring to the people in the stories as "monsters", "creatures" and "it", which really marred my enjoyment of that portion.

5 out of 5

Marissa – Jul 02, 2007

This book was everything I wanted it to be and more. Snappily written and full of awesome, bizarre anecdotes of dubious truth, yet every single one of the short chapters sparks the imagination and could be a novel of its own. Highly Recommended!