Randall Sullivan
Who doesn’t love pirate stories? Adventure, freedom, exciting battles, chests of gold… So it’s no surprise the mystery of Oak Island, located off the shores of Nova Scotia, have fascinated us for centuries.
In the late 1790s, a group of teens exploring the heavily wooded island found a …
Robert Kurson
The idea of leaving your day job and mundane life and heading out to sea to find pirate treasure can sound like a pipe dream. But there really are people whose business is to search for lost treasure. …
And Other Real-Life Stories of Bones, Burials, and Murder
Douglas Preston
Douglas Preston, and his writing partner Lincoln Child, are best known for the best-selling Special Agent Pendergast novels. These include two of my all-time favorites – Still Life With Crows and The Cabinet of Curiosities. Preston has written …
Edward Brooke-Hitching
Brooke-Hitching has created another marvelous collection of oddities. His book The Madman’s Library focused on the most bizarre and unique books in the world. The Madman’s Gallery expands the scope, looking at some of the strangest artwork and art movements in history. Learn about the “Ghost Heads” of …
Adam Savage
Adam Savage, of Mythbusters fame, has written a combination memoir and maker advice book. With decades of experience making props and sets for major studios like Industrial Light and Magic, then 20 seasons of the incredibly popular Mythbusters show, Savage knows what he is talking about. Always a …
OSS – The Director of Strategic Services
This fascinating little pamphlet was written in 1944 by the Office of Strategic Services (precursor to the FBI), and is filled with basic instructions on slowing and thwarting the enemy. There are no plans for rigging bombs, making poison or stealing state secrets. …
Cassandra Peterson
Everyone knows Elvira, even if they don’t know where they know her from. A long-running host for schlocky late night horror movies (the ones MST3K loves to mock), the “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark” brand grew to international fame. With a combo of blatant sexiness, chutzpah and cheesy …
A.J. Jacobs
The Puzzler is the best new book from Jacobs since The Year of Living Biblically. Less of a personal experiment than his past titles, Jacobs delves into the world of puzzles – be it crosswords, jigsaw, sudoku, puzzle boxes or scavenger hunts. Fortunately for the Jabobs family, …
Dean Jobb
While the name Jack the Ripper still resonates over a century later, Dr. Cream has fallen into obscurity. Yet, in his day, he was as infamous a murderer as Jack. Like his predecessor, Dr. Cream primary targeted prostitutes. However, his crimes were more subtle, as they were done …
A Food Adventurer’s Guide
Cecily Wong and Dylan Thuras
Fans of the website Atlas Obscura, a guide to the world’s many bizarre and hidden wonders, will love this huge collection of food novelties. While in theory, you can eat or drink everything in this collection, many are definitely unappealing. …
Michael Farquhar
Five Centuries of Sex, Adventure, Vice, Treachery, and Folly from Royal Britain
Imagine of People Magazine were to write a textbook of British royalty. This is pretty much it. Each short chapter is a speedy, breezy read about an English monarch. Starting with Henry VIII (yes, him) up …
How I Helped The Rich Become Famous and Ruin the World
Ben Widdicombe
Gossip columnist Widdicombe fell into his job by accident. As a newly immigrated Australian journalist in New York, he had no social connections to get him started. Writing about successful Australians in America, for Australian publications back …
Greg Sestero & Tom Bissell
If you haven’t heard of it, The Room holds the dubious honor as one of, if not the worst, movie ever made. It’s bad on every level – acting, set, plot, script… And yet, over the years, it has taken on a cult following equal …
Witold Szablowski
A cook is often one of the most intimate relationships a rich or powerful person may have. Both from living in close proximity. But also, the rich and powerful must trust their cook to not murder them. In turn, these cooks find themselves very well-compensated, but also …
Michael Palin
If Michael Palin, of both Monty Python fame and former president of the Royal Geographic society, turns his eye to a topic, you know it will be good. The Erebus and Terror are two ships that have gripped the imagination for over a century. The two old warships …
Caitlin Doughty
The magnificent, hilarous and always fascinating mortician Caitlin Doughty (Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs and Smoke Gets in Your Eyes) is back with another intriguing look at death.
Death is inevitable. But the way Americans and many in the west act, it is something shameful …
