Review
'Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls...writers par excellence.' Simon Calder, The Independent
Product Description
Tall Tales and Tittle-Tattle by Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls, Cadogan's trusted arbiters of travel taste promises to be this year's must-read book for all who bought Schott's Original Miscellany. Written by the renowned and best-selling Cadogan Guide authors who have over forty titles in print, Tall Tales and Tittle-Tattle is a fascinating, entertaining, wry and utterly absorbing book, combining hilarious yet unbelievable snippets from their travels, with an array of historical, cultural and travel miscellany and tittle-tattle from around the world.
Drawing from over twenty years of experience going to hitherto untouched parts of Europe and beyond, Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls trace with infectious enthusiasm the history of cosmetics, the customs of the harem of Istanbul, how the Venetian republic was run, the antiquities of Sicily, the werewolves at the ancient Olympics. They examine why gnats buzz in circles, the boiling down of mummies for medicine, Goethe's colour theory, the Napoleonic coincidences, Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen of New Orleans, the origins of the constellations, man made deserts and how English titmice disproved one of the dogmas of evolution in 1946.
The longest words in Turkish, the Egyptian labyrinth at Crocodilopolis, Alfred Packer and American cannibalism along with the over the top cities of Magna Graecia Sybaris, Croton and Akragas are but the tip of the iceberg in a book that will also outline exactly how to eat an ortolon.
Drawing from over twenty years of experience going to hitherto untouched parts of Europe and beyond, Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls trace with infectious enthusiasm the history of cosmetics, the customs of the harem of Istanbul, how the Venetian republic was run, the antiquities of Sicily, the werewolves at the ancient Olympics. They examine why gnats buzz in circles, the boiling down of mummies for medicine, Goethe's colour theory, the Napoleonic coincidences, Marie Laveau, the voodoo queen of New Orleans, the origins of the constellations, man made deserts and how English titmice disproved one of the dogmas of evolution in 1946.
The longest words in Turkish, the Egyptian labyrinth at Crocodilopolis, Alfred Packer and American cannibalism along with the over the top cities of Magna Graecia Sybaris, Croton and Akragas are but the tip of the iceberg in a book that will also outline exactly how to eat an ortolon.
From the Back Cover
Tall Tales and Tittle-Tattle, by best-selling Cadogan Guide authors Dana Facaros and Michel Pauls, is an engrossing gallimaufry of history, absurd legends, antique curiosities, inventions, miscellany and trivia, collected from over twenty years of travel and research.
Informative and highly entertaining, Tall Tales and Tittle-Tattle commemorates humbugs and villains, impostures and follies, seasoned with a dollop of unnatural cadavers, deplorable architecture, and bad table manners. There's the riddle that killed Homer (with some other puzzlers thrown in), and the election that killed Edgar Allan Poe; the oldest recipes in the world, a catalog of pasta and an alarming recipe for lamprey; accounts of mouse-worship and goose mysticism; the werewolf who took a prize at the Olympic Games, and the secret identity of the Jack of Hearts - not to mention the revelation of a great mystery: why Americans zigzag when they eat.
Informative and highly entertaining, Tall Tales and Tittle-Tattle commemorates humbugs and villains, impostures and follies, seasoned with a dollop of unnatural cadavers, deplorable architecture, and bad table manners. There's the riddle that killed Homer (with some other puzzlers thrown in), and the election that killed Edgar Allan Poe; the oldest recipes in the world, a catalog of pasta and an alarming recipe for lamprey; accounts of mouse-worship and goose mysticism; the werewolf who took a prize at the Olympic Games, and the secret identity of the Jack of Hearts - not to mention the revelation of a great mystery: why Americans zigzag when they eat.
About the Author
Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls are the authors of over forty Cadogan Guides to European countries.
