10-08-2013, 03:53 PM
The full title is actually 'A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not!" Ripley' But see, the title has two meanings. Ripley was curious about things and he was a curious man, as in strange. Never mind.
I loved his museum at Fisherman's Wharf. I must have gone there dozens of times and the magic store next door. I loved that place. So, naturally I was drawn to the story about the man behind the name.
I found up he grew up in Santa Rosa, that he was on hand for the 1906 Earthquake which decimated Santa Rosa, and at one point he was probably the highest paid man in America. But there isn't a lot of arc to his story. He gets fired twice as a sport cartoonist in San Francisco, moves to New York and never looks back. He just kept making more and more money. He loved to travel. He especially loved India and China but preferred his luxuries while he traveled.
I can't say the biographer really cared for Ripley. Thompson spends a lot of time talking about awkward Ripley looked with his bucked teeth which caused a tremendous lisp. Despite this he was always in demand for Radio spots and TV shows. Ripley managed to be an alcoholic during prohibition. He did this by traveling to places where there was alcohol. He had lots of mistresses some concurrently.
Ripley just comes across as a man-child with lots of money but a great ability to draw. The book could have used more of his drawings. There was an android phone app that if you scanned some pages you would get more content, but I never got it to work properly. Stupid technology.
It was a fine read that never went to anyplace unexpected.
I loved his museum at Fisherman's Wharf. I must have gone there dozens of times and the magic store next door. I loved that place. So, naturally I was drawn to the story about the man behind the name.
I found up he grew up in Santa Rosa, that he was on hand for the 1906 Earthquake which decimated Santa Rosa, and at one point he was probably the highest paid man in America. But there isn't a lot of arc to his story. He gets fired twice as a sport cartoonist in San Francisco, moves to New York and never looks back. He just kept making more and more money. He loved to travel. He especially loved India and China but preferred his luxuries while he traveled.
I can't say the biographer really cared for Ripley. Thompson spends a lot of time talking about awkward Ripley looked with his bucked teeth which caused a tremendous lisp. Despite this he was always in demand for Radio spots and TV shows. Ripley managed to be an alcoholic during prohibition. He did this by traveling to places where there was alcohol. He had lots of mistresses some concurrently.
Ripley just comes across as a man-child with lots of money but a great ability to draw. The book could have used more of his drawings. There was an android phone app that if you scanned some pages you would get more content, but I never got it to work properly. Stupid technology.
It was a fine read that never went to anyplace unexpected.
So much for the flickr badge idea. Dammit