The Portable Obituary: How the Famous, Rich, and Powerful Really Died

by Michael Largo

Book Overview

No matter what your station in society, everybody has to go sometime. Even the wealthy, powerful, and world-renowned must ultimately meet their Maker--though some have departed this life more ignobly than they might have wished.

From Mozart to rock and roll, which performers ended their lives on the wrong note?

What famous U.S. bridge is named after an explorer who was eaten by cannibals?

Everyone wants to hit the lottery, but...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0061231665
• ISBN13: 9780061231667
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.6" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

A Fun Read

This is a really great book to read if you're looking for a morbidly good time. It answers a lot of the questions about how our favorite celebrities of the past bit the dust. It has a lot of little facts that I never knew. I really liked it, was easy to read, and was entertaining. If you're wanting a book on Celebrity death then this is a good one for you. But if you're wanting a book on bizarre deaths of just normal people around the world, I suggest Final Exits over this one though.

Essential Reading

Plenty of books obsessed with scandal and buzz words in the vein of Weekly World News have been written on the subject of celebrity death. The idea of a book that approaches this suggest with respect, intelligence, and a little book of good old-fashioned dark humor is a rare thing indeed. Which makes The Portable Obituary all the better. This is an enormously entertaining, insightful, and fascinating read. Essential for anyone who wants a book that actually knows what it's talking about.

Portable Obituary- Largo Has Another Hit!

The "Portable Orbituary" is well written and easy to read. The book feeds our insatiable appetite for information on the famous, rich and powerful. Just as "Final Exits", Largo's previous book, is difficult to put down, his latest effort, "The Portable Obituary" will keep you page turning from start to finish. Largo's latest book would make a great Christmas present for the celebrity junkies on your list.

Interesting & Entertaining

This book has an interesting and varied collection of obituaries that read more like mini-biographies, but always include the answer to the most important question--to me anyway--how did they die. The odd and the common ways numerous rich and famous people, from movie stars to inventors, to historic legends met their end were fascinating, and even though I planned to read one, I kept flipping to the next. I appreciated how nothing was sensationalized, and rather serious though entertaining with a sometimes ironic touch of absurdity to many entries. I read a lot of books like this--but this one is refreshingly original.