The Cat in the Dryer

and 222 Other Urban Legends
by Thomas J. Craughwell

This amusing book contains over 200 stories that spread rapidly by word of mouth in spite of being rather fabricated or outrageous simply because they are just enough believable that we want to share them with everyone. The kind of stories that happened to a friend of a friend of a friend. Craughwell starts out the book by defining what an "urban legend" is, then launches into a handful of stories that cropped up just after 9/11. The rest of the volume is chock full of mishaps, pranks, common sense blunders, the doings of celebrities and minor disasters to unfortunate pets. The common thread is that they are all, however much we want to believe them, untrue. Craughwell tracks down the origins of many of the stories (which are only a page or two in length), lists numerous variations of each tale, and explores what made them intriguing enough to become the little legends they are. The Cat in the Dryer is great light reading material, that will make you laugh a lot and think again about the stories you hear.

Rating: 3/5                   256 pages, 2002