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jonnyfox's review against another edition
4.0
God loves a trier. A really charming book about those who almost changed the world
mrfrenchtoasts's review against another edition
4.0
I very much enjoyed this. I didn't think that I'd be this interested in reading about failed ideas. I am left with wanting more. I wonder if there are other books with a similar theme, because I'd like to read them!
blevins's review against another edition
2.0
A bit of a disappointment this one. A collection on essays about obscure types who "almost" left a legacy behind but have slipped away into the unknown--from the Concord grape guy to a guy who spent his life trying to find habitable holes IN the earth to a guy who secretly built a 400 foot subway line under NY (complete with station!) in the mid 1850s w/out anyone above knowing (this was my favorite essay).
I love the quirky people but found this book as a whole just kind of dull. If a book is dull, that's kind of hard to hide from. Dull is dull no matter the quirk level.
I love the quirky people but found this book as a whole just kind of dull. If a book is dull, that's kind of hard to hide from. Dull is dull no matter the quirk level.
jonvarner's review against another edition
5.0
This book has provided more conversation fodder for me than anything else I've ever read.
jvan's review against another edition
4.0
Delightful stories about obscure, amazing, strange people who were often vastly famous in their own time but in a century or two became entirely forgotten. The last couple entries are very much lesser, but the book is still great overall.
gio_shelves's review against another edition
2.0
This ended up being SUCH a mixed bag for me. Some chapters I genuinely had fun with, but then again it was too much of a miscellaneous collection for me, especially since there were parts that totally failed to hold my interest. It’s more of a 2.5 but really, it’s right in the middle of the scale because I don’t know what to make of it as a whole.
harvio's review against another edition
4.0
from the jacket: "Paul Collins's Banvard's Folly is a different kind of book. Here are 13 unforgettable portraits of forgotten people: men and women who might have claimed their share of renown but who, whether from ill timing, skulduggery, monomania, the tinge of madness, or plain bad luck - or perhaps some combination of them all - leapt straight from life into thankless obscurity. Among them are scientists, artists, writers, entrepreneurs, and adventurers from across the centuries and around the world..."
- I especially enjoyed learning about William Henry Ireland who signed "William Shakespeare" to a book and launched a short, but meteoric career as a forger of undiscovered works by the bard - until he pushed his luck too far.
- I especially enjoyed learning about William Henry Ireland who signed "William Shakespeare" to a book and launched a short, but meteoric career as a forger of undiscovered works by the bard - until he pushed his luck too far.
karencorday's review against another edition
4.0
Whenever I think of doing something grand and new, I remember this book and go back to drinking beer and adding things to my Good Reads list. Kidding, kidding. That's just what I'm doing right now.
chrisjp's review against another edition
5.0
What a strange and wonderful book. Each chapter is one person's story of a) extreme success, b) extreme failure, c) something in between, or d) all of the above.
It could be depressing, and at times it is, but mostly it stands testament to our ability to try and to invent and to create and to persevere.
Funny, enlightening, and highly recommended.
It could be depressing, and at times it is, but mostly it stands testament to our ability to try and to invent and to create and to persevere.
Funny, enlightening, and highly recommended.