A curious guy

The strange as well as brilliant Life of Robert “Believe It or Not!” Ripley

I hadn’t believed about “Ripley’s believe It or Not!” in years. I keep in mind reading it as a kid, before the Web made it much easier to discover these type of weird factoids as well as info about different cultures.

And that’s why Neal Thompson’s biography of Robert Ripley appealed to me — it reminded me of a long-ago time when the world was a much larger, more unusual place. Ripley lived during the days when travel was exciting, dangerous, as well as exotic. Newspapermen might modification the world … while making a great living. as well as cartoonists might make a fortune.

A hundred years ago, Ripley went from shy, young, aspiring newspaper cartoonist to globe-trotting, athletic millionaire. In A curious Man, Thompson intersperses background factoids with Ripley’s life story in a reminder of his style as well as what made him famous. He began by drawing sports cartoons, in a time before photography, before moving to new York as well as being sent overseas. He was almost 30 when he produced his famous comic strip, which established slowly, over a number of years, in between contending in handball, a short failed marriage to a showgirl, as well as an around-the-world trip, where he integrated curiosity as well as parochialism. Later, he wound up looking for women as well as drinking his method across South America, pastimes that punctuated his life.

His strip led him to radio shows, films, books, lectures, as well as star appearances, as others did the work, uncredited. later chapters begin to look like a tabloid, rolling out scandalous stories as well as freak show examples. There’s not much sense of the man; he’s depicted as something to watch, without any indicator of what may be going on in his head.

That said, the biggest flaw in this book is the lack of examples of Ripley’s work. It’s a criminal offense to talk about a cartoonist while not reprinting the art he’s understood for. The book complies with the old-fashioned approach of putting all the photos together in one short (16-page) section, with a promise that downloading an app as well as scanning the page would show videos as well as cartoons. I didn’t bother to try.

As for the famous strip, there’s one poorly reprinted example at the end of the book. It’s a disappointment. believe it or not, the comic is still running, now done by John Graziano. You can discover out more about the book at the author’s website. (The publisher provided a evaluation copy.)

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