A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not!" Ripley

By Neal Thompson

Categories: Biographies & Memoirs

Biographer Neal Thompson tells the life of Robert Ripley, the cartoonist who created Believe It or Not! Buck-toothed and shy, Ripley rose from poverty in California to become one of the most famous men in America, traveling the world in search of oddities and building a media empire across newspapers, radio and film. Thompson portrays Ripley's eccentric life and his influence on popular culture.

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• Shane Parrish: “As portrayed by acclaimed biographer Neal Thompson, Ripley’s life is the stuff of a classic American fairy tale. Buck-toothed and cursed by shyness, Ripley turned his sense of being an outsider into an appreciation for the strangeness of the world.”