Thanks to the twenty-four-hour news cycle, today we can learn of big news developments in no time at all. But what about the smaller—and stranger—events that are often overlooked or ignored? This captivating volume offers readers the oddest stories ever to hit the newspapers. A dog on trial for murder? A man who choked to death on the garlic he used to repel vampires? A torrent of frogs raining from the sky? A lady who picked up broadcasting signals through her teeth? The trouser thief? These crazy news stories will convince readers that truth is often stranger than fiction. Sidebars, a glossary, and books and websites in the further reading section are also included.

A New York Times Notable Book of 2020 A Bloomberg Best Non-Fiction Book of 2020 A Behavioral Scientist Notable Book of 2020 A Human Behavior & Evolution Society Must-Read Popular Evolution Book of 2020 A bold, epic account of how the co-evolution of psychology and culture created the peculiar Western mind that has profoundly shaped the modern world. Perhaps you are WEIRD: raised in a society that is Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. If so, you’re rather psychologically peculiar. Unlike much of the world today, and most people who have ever lived, WEIRD people are highly individualistic, self-obsessed, control-oriented, nonconformist, and analytical. They focus on themselves—their attributes, accomplishments, and aspirations—over their relationships and social roles. How did WEIRD populations become so psychologically distinct? What role did these psychological differences play in the industrial revolution and the global expansion of Europe during the last few centuries? In The WEIRDest People in the World, Joseph Henrich draws on cutting-edge research in anthropology, psychology, economics, and evolutionary biology to explore these questions and more. He illuminates the origins and evolution of family structures, marriage, and religion, and the profound impact these cultural transformations had on human psychology. Mapping these shifts through ancient history and late antiquity, Henrich reveals that the most fundamental institutions of kinship and marriage changed dramatically under pressure from the Roman Catholic Church. It was these changes that gave rise to the WEIRD psychology that would coevolve with impersonal markets, occupational specialization, and free competition—laying the foundation for the modern world. Provocative and engaging in both its broad scope and its surprising details, The WEIRDest People in the World explores how culture, institutions, and psychology shape one another, and explains what this means for both our most personal sense of who we are as individuals and also the large-scale social, political, and economic forces that drive human history. Includes black-and-white illustrations.

The Rough Guide to Unexplained Phenomena is an exploration of the zone that lies between the known and the unknown, a shadowy territory that's home to the lake monsters, combusting people, teleporting frogs and man-eating trees. Taking a Fortean path between dogmatic scientists and credulous believers, the authors trace tales of wonder back to their sources, drawing from a huge archive of observations, opinions and discussions. This updated second edition boasts new illustrations and plenty of intriguing new sections from near death experiences to ghosts, haunted houses and mysterious mass deaths. There are many things which are not yet known or understood about our world - as this guide shows there are many riddles to solve and wonders to experience. Decide for yourself with The Rough Guide to Unexplained Phenomona

A bumper collection of the most outrageous, but absolutely true, news stories.

The Onion has quickly become the world's most popular humor publication, misinforming half a million readers a week with one-of-a-kind social satire both in print (on newsstands nationwide) and online from its remote office in Madison, Wisconsin. Witness the march of history as Editor-in-Chief Scott Dikkers and The Onion's award-winning writing staff present the twentieth century like you've never seen it before.

Eight stories about the distillation of wisdom, concerning dream worlds, magical thinking, the subconscious and the soul.

The Book of the Year is back, with yet another pro-rogues gallery of the most amazing, audacious and absolutely absurd news of 2019. Once again the fact-finding foursome behind the podcast No Such Thing As A Fish have been newspaper-trawling and website-crawling to create your ultimate guide to the past twelve months. Learn which of Donald Trump’s claims are so bizarre they can’t even be fact-checked. Find out why every single French MP received camembert in the post. And get to the bottom of all the improvements made to the Ford company’s robotic bum. All this and much, much more, including the news that: · Two tourists planning to visit the Norwegian village of Å, ended up 1,310km away, in Aa. · Five guys were arrested at a branch of Five Guys. · Hollyoaks was partly written by the British government. · The US town of Hell froze over. From Assange to Zuckerberg, taking in Cardi B, CCTV, D-Day, and eSports, The Book of the Year is the only book you need to make senseof the year, no matter how senseless it might have seemed.

For news junkies and fans of the bizarre-but-true, here is an outrageous collection of all-real, all-weird news stories culled from the nation's mainstream newspapers. Line art throughout.

Before picking up Pedestrian Safety Expert Gets Hit by Bus, be prepared to alternately laugh out loud, recoil in horror, and be dumbfounded as page after page of ludicrous and unfathomable, but 100 percent true, tales unfold. The follow-up to the successful Another Weird Year, Pedestrian Safety Expert Gets Hit by Bus is a brand-new collection of bizarre, strange, and outrageous news stories that are so crazy they couldn't be made up! Consider this: A South African woman has difficulty finding one of her favorite foods since moving to another part of the country. Her food of choice? A cup of red sand, which she describes as tasting like cocoa.From crazy animals and blundering criminals to acts of love and plain human error, Pedestrian Safety Expert Gets Hit by Bus is the perfect comic roundup of the year. This trove of truisms offers wacky and weird happenings of everyday people-giving the rest of us a huge sense of relief that there are plenty of people out there who make a mess of things far worse than what we could ever do!

Gathered from the popular website www.StellaAwards.com, The True Stella Awards is an outrageous collection of America’s most frivolous lawsuits Named for Stella Liebeck, the woman who won a multimillion-dollar lawsuit after spilling hot McDonald’s coffee on herself, humorist Randy Cassingham’s popular website chronicles the hard-to-believe and amusing claims brought before the U.S.courts. The most ridiculous of these lawsuits are given the “honorable” Stella Award. In The True Stella Awards, Cassingham documents the most outlandish of these real-life cases, including: * The man who legally changed his name to Jack Ass, and then sued MTV because their TV show and movie Jackass infringed on his trademark and demeaned his “good name” * The songwriter who left a minute’s silence on his record only to be sued by the estate of another songwriter who copyrighted his own “silent” song * The man who sued an amusement park after being the victim of the ultimate “act of God”: He was hit by lightning while standing next to his own car in the parking lot Stunning and hilarious, The True Stella Awards reveals the extremes people will go to in the pursuit of “justice.”