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True Remarkable Occurrences
A collection of sixty true, yet totally unbelievable happenings, including that involving the despondent wife who jumped out of her window and landed on her faithless husband, instantly killing him.
- GenresHumorNonfiction
64 pages, Hardcover
Published December 30, 1978
15 people want to read
About the author
John Train
46 books35 followersJohn Pell Coster Train was an American investment advisor and writer. He was a founding editor of The Paris Review.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 15, 2018
Having just reviewed Leland Gregory's The Stupid Crook Book, it occurs to me that if you're going to compile a book of trivia oddities and tidbits, True Remarkable Occurrences by investment advisor and apparent Renaissance-man writer John Train is how to do it. Where Gregory is smarmy and too clever for his own good, Train is genteel and restrained, and he lets the anecdotes do all the talking, with a minimum of editorial comments—just the occasional footnote that serves to elaborate on an even more "remarkable" aspect of the tidbit of trivia. (Probably not for nothing does George Plimpton contribute the foreword.)
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, former Harvard Lampoon contributor Train wrote several of these slim, gift-sized "Remarkable" books, among them Remarkable Words with Astonishing Origins, a book I have enjoyed browsing for many, many years and only today read cover-to-cover. To that end, Train writes with a refined, understated style—again, letting the anecdotes themselves shine, the best effort by an editor of such works—and True Remarkable Occurrences benefits greatly as a result. A typical bit of trivia from the book has become somewhat famous (under the heading "Traffic", Train writes that "In 1895 there were only two cars in the whole state of Ohio. They collided." [p.51]); such anecdotes, told with dry wit by Train, are both interesting and whimsical. (In his foreword to Remarkable Words with Astonishing Origins, Alan Pryce-Jones calls whimsy the "enemy of the humorist" [p.7], but it seems to work excellently for Train, Pryce-Jones' assessment notwithstanding.) Moreover, Train's books in this series are short enough that one can read them in one sitting, but substantial enough that they're not throwaway, either. Add to the whole experience Pierre Le-Tan's wry illustrations, and True Remarkable Occurrences is a fine addition to one's reading library; not for nothing do both Plimpton and Pryce-Jones call Train's books wonderful stocking stuffers, if you observe that holiday.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, former Harvard Lampoon contributor Train wrote several of these slim, gift-sized "Remarkable" books, among them Remarkable Words with Astonishing Origins, a book I have enjoyed browsing for many, many years and only today read cover-to-cover. To that end, Train writes with a refined, understated style—again, letting the anecdotes themselves shine, the best effort by an editor of such works—and True Remarkable Occurrences benefits greatly as a result. A typical bit of trivia from the book has become somewhat famous (under the heading "Traffic", Train writes that "In 1895 there were only two cars in the whole state of Ohio. They collided." [p.51]); such anecdotes, told with dry wit by Train, are both interesting and whimsical. (In his foreword to Remarkable Words with Astonishing Origins, Alan Pryce-Jones calls whimsy the "enemy of the humorist" [p.7], but it seems to work excellently for Train, Pryce-Jones' assessment notwithstanding.) Moreover, Train's books in this series are short enough that one can read them in one sitting, but substantial enough that they're not throwaway, either. Add to the whole experience Pierre Le-Tan's wry illustrations, and True Remarkable Occurrences is a fine addition to one's reading library; not for nothing do both Plimpton and Pryce-Jones call Train's books wonderful stocking stuffers, if you observe that holiday.
June 29, 2015
This was too funny! Written in 1978, this is a compilation of 60 stories of unbelievable things people have done in the past. It is akin to things we see today: dumb criminals, weird news, strange ways to die, embarrassing reasons to end up in the hospital, and so on. It seems that people in past decades and centuries were just as ridiculous as we are today.
Aside from a few things that were so outdated that I didn't understand them, I really enjoyed this book. If you can find a copy, you should definitely make some time to read it. It's too fun to miss.
Aside from a few things that were so outdated that I didn't understand them, I really enjoyed this book. If you can find a copy, you should definitely make some time to read it. It's too fun to miss.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews