Scams!

by Andreas Schroeder

Ten of the biggest scams in history. When a tribe of natives who lived for centuries with no outside contact was discovered in the Philippines in 1971, the world was captivated. Media and scientists flocked to the Tasadays' village and the story held the public's attention for more than a decade. Then two journalists dropped in on the village unannounced. What they found unearthed one of the most elaborate scams of the 20th century. Scams! reveals ten true tales of tremendous trickery that will mesmerize young readers. They will learn how Donald Crowhurst almost won the first-ever round-the-world yacht race -- without ever leaving the Atlantic. They will witness the hysteria that swept the United States when Orson Welles used on-the-scene reports of Martian attacks to add realism to his radio play The War of the Worlds . They will discover how the Germans planned to destroy the British economy during World War II by flooding the world with millions of fake British banknotes. Readers will be enthralled by these stories of trickery exposed, where the strange twists and turns truly test the limits of credulity. Chapters

Genres: Nonfiction

160 pages, Hardcover

First published March 6, 2004

About the author

As the “resident Scam-meister” on the popular CBC Radio show Basic Black, Andreas Schroeder spent twelve years reporting on ingenious frauds, swindles, and hoaxes that have been committed around the world. Though the radio show ended in 2002, Andreas’s fascination with the subject continued, culminating in the publication of Scams! (2004), stories of some of history’s greatest tricksters.

Aside from having had one of the world’s all-time greatest job titles, Andreas has been an avid reader all his life and a writer for most of it. Born to a German-speaking Mennonite family who emigrated from Poland to Canada in 1951 (when he was five), he lived for 10 years on a farm in B.C.’s Fraser Valley, where he avoided farm chores whenever possible in order to spend his time reading. As a boy he wrote poetry and short stories in both German and English. A move to Vancouver when he was 15 introduced him to his own brand of paradise: libraries (free books!), bookstores on every corner, and a burgeoning population of fellow writers. He has never looked back.

Andreas and his wife, Sharon, lived for many years on a mountaintop in Mission City, near the B.C.–Washington State border, in a round four-story tower they built themselves. Today they live by the ocean on the Sunshine Coast with their daughter, Vanessa. Another daughter, Sabrina, travels the world as a composer. True to the West Coast ethos, Andreas enjoys motorcycling, paragliding, and skiing—when he’s not reading or writing, which he is most of the time.

Andreas Schroeder has published more than 20 books. Scams!, part of Annick Press’s True Stories from the Edge series, is his first book for young adults. Thieves! (2005) features ten enduring stories about the cunning plans and daring capers of thieving criminals.

Reviews

[Suzan Kadri · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so good! I say that all the time lol. I learned so much from it and all the stories in it were so good!

[Abbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't realize this was a book "for teens" until partway through (when they defined mid-sentence the word "anthropologist"), as the local library had it in the adults section. Lucky for me, as this book was a brisk, fun read about some of the most insane cons and scams. The only one I had heard of before this book was Oscar Welles' famous "War of the Worlds" radio presentation. Others included: a crazy 18th century British man who devoted his life and money to buying every book he could (sight unseen), and storing them in coffins (cheaper than bookshelves); a Phillippenes conspiracy to give the world the first teetotal, peaceful "undiscovered" tribe; and a yacht race around the world that ends in suicide. This book was comparable to the engrossing experience of getting lost in crazy Wikipedia entries, but with a personable, never-condescending, and engaging writing voice.

[George Ilsley · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a young adult book, this volume must be viewed more as a slight introduction to each of the 10 topics, rather than as an attempt to present something insightful. However, I did find the shallowness somewhat distracting, and was not sure how much the information could be trusted. For example, in the chapter on the Nazi counterfeiting scheme, the inmates of concentration camps were described as "not criminals". This is clearly wrong; criminals did comprise one element who were sent to the camps, and in fact, criminals (such as forgers) were particularly useful in the German plan to counterfeit British currency.

[Josh Chajon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the book throughout the whole book. It was very interesting and taught he about this scams that occurred throughout the whole world. Honestly I would love to read this book another time if I could. Each story was really different out of the 10 the book had. I would recommend this book to anyone. My overall favorite story of the book was probably the first about the greedy king that convinced there were cavemen that were found.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review: https://hiplibrariansbookblog.com/200...