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Weird Florida
This book chronicles examples of Florida's fascinating and funny weirdness.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1955
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About the author
Eliot Kleinberg
13 books9 followersFlorida native Eliot Kleinberg, creator of the Civil War historical novel "Peace River," the"Adventures of Nate Moran" novels, and the original "Weird Florida" books, spent nearly a half-century reporting on local news and writing about Florida and Florida history. He produced two history columns and wrote fourteen books -- and co-wrote or contributed to several more -- all of them about Florida. Son of longtime journalist Howard Kleinberg, he lectures regularly on Florida topics and runs a blog on better writing called "Something Went Horribly Wrong." http://www.ekfla.com
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 28, 2021
Are you a fan of Florida man/woman stories? If so, this is a book for you. Kleinberg is a journalist who complied here hundreds of Florida man/woman stories a culled from newspapers in Florida. There are also some longer stories on weird Florida at the beginning that are fun. This book makes no pretense at any type of analysis-- it just documents Florida weirdness. As such, it makes a great bathroom reader. I bought this at a thrift store when I moved to Florida a few decades back and it was worth all 50 cents plus. 3.5 stars.
February 17, 2008
Wacky Florida news stories compiled by a writer from the Palm Beach Post. After reading this will help you understand why Florida is the only state to have its own category tag on Fark.com
July 29, 2013
Interesting bizarre funny Florida stories.
March 8, 2021
( Format : Audiobook )
"Come in naked for 50% off."
An absolute joy for anyone who likes trivia, bizarre facts and,often funny, tidbits of useless information, this book supplies over five and a half pleasurable hours to feed that pleasure. Although most of the tales are brief, like the 18 month child who drove his mother's car for half a mile, near one liners a bit like a comedy club performer, there are initially more developed stories, such as the lost squadron, 15 men in five planes, who went missing during a training exercise and their search party which also disappeared: yes, Burmuda Triangle stuff. Or the medical assistant who claimed to be a Baron and fell deeply in love with a 22 years old cancer patient. Denied her love whilst she lived, he stole her body ... Well, read the book.
Many of the stories were taken, with permission, from the Florida Post and there is a full referencing of materials at the conclusion. The book is read by Gavin Bruce, with a gentle enthusiasm which further enhances the reader's enjoyment. Clear diction, good modulation and sometimes a hint of surprise at what he is reading makes him a pleasure to hear.
My thanks to the rights holder of Wierd Florida, who, at my request freely gifted me with a complimentary copy via Audiobook Boom. This is one of those delightful books which will shock and surprise, disgust and bring laughter and incredulity at some antics occurring inside Florida state. Ghosts, killers, idiot criminals, strange sports, aliens, beasties and more. And it can be picked up even if the reader has only five minutes to spare. I loved this book and warmly recommend it.
"Come in naked for 50% off."
An absolute joy for anyone who likes trivia, bizarre facts and,often funny, tidbits of useless information, this book supplies over five and a half pleasurable hours to feed that pleasure. Although most of the tales are brief, like the 18 month child who drove his mother's car for half a mile, near one liners a bit like a comedy club performer, there are initially more developed stories, such as the lost squadron, 15 men in five planes, who went missing during a training exercise and their search party which also disappeared: yes, Burmuda Triangle stuff. Or the medical assistant who claimed to be a Baron and fell deeply in love with a 22 years old cancer patient. Denied her love whilst she lived, he stole her body ... Well, read the book.
Many of the stories were taken, with permission, from the Florida Post and there is a full referencing of materials at the conclusion. The book is read by Gavin Bruce, with a gentle enthusiasm which further enhances the reader's enjoyment. Clear diction, good modulation and sometimes a hint of surprise at what he is reading makes him a pleasure to hear.
My thanks to the rights holder of Wierd Florida, who, at my request freely gifted me with a complimentary copy via Audiobook Boom. This is one of those delightful books which will shock and surprise, disgust and bring laughter and incredulity at some antics occurring inside Florida state. Ghosts, killers, idiot criminals, strange sports, aliens, beasties and more. And it can be picked up even if the reader has only five minutes to spare. I loved this book and warmly recommend it.
May 10, 2021
I thought it would be better than it was. The first hour was great (Audible) as each chapter had a single subject that was explored. But after that it was as if the author ran out of enough information on each subsequent weird news story so just bundled them all loosely together, barely giving more than a few sentences to each. I lost interest at that point, and started doing other stuff; barely paying attention to it.
May 20, 2021
The saying "truth is stranger than fiction" is literally true for Florida.
I really enjoyed the beginning of this book as the weird stories were all told in little chapters with more flesh and information, but then later on the book it was almost like it was only weird headlines being rambled off, without any flesh or story to it, which was disappointing.
I really enjoyed the beginning of this book as the weird stories were all told in little chapters with more flesh and information, but then later on the book it was almost like it was only weird headlines being rambled off, without any flesh or story to it, which was disappointing.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews