What Were They Thinking? New & Revised: Really Bad Ideas Throughout History

by Bruce Felton

Copyright 2003, 2007 by Bruce Felton All Rights Reserved.

Categories:  Contemporary  History  Humor

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106 Installments total (Preview 3 free sample installments)

Description

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

Extended Copyright Information

Copyright 2003, 2007 by Bruce Felton

Initial publication by The Lyons Press,
an imprint of the Globe Pequot Press.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Opening Lines (Experimental)

What could Tommy Dorsey have been thinking in 1940 when he installed his orchestra in the Monkey House of the Philadelphia Zoo to perform a concert for the apes?
Could artist Rudy Giacomo have been serious when he proposed building a 39-mile manicotti around Manhattan Island?
Was the Nobel Prize ...

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