Thirteen Tales of Renowned Obsurity, Famous Anonymity, and Rotten Luck
Paul Collins
This was a very nice break after the horrors of the last book. From true crackpot ideas and fads, to poets of the century who are now forgotten completely, this fun collection takes you on a wild ride of the most fascinating people you've ever heard of.
From fake "primitive tribal convert" to a talented painter who toured with literal miles of canvas that scrolled behind him as he told tales of the Mississipi, almost every feature of life you can think of is touched on. Some were well meaning idealists searching for a better life for mankind as a whole via miracle cures, while others were professional fraudsters. All made an impression at the time, ranging from at least moderate public interest, to full blown international celebrity status. None are remembered today, except by the occasional specialists like the few who still study an attempt at a music based universal lanugauge (although the interest in it now is mainly from a linguistic and cryptologic view, rather than actual users of the language. Even then, there are still only around a dozen who are familiar with and study it.)
If you like the weird, wonderful, and occasionally poignantly tragic, this is a great anthology.
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