Alien Hand Syndrome

By DamnInteresting.com, Alan Bellows, Jason Bellows

Welcome to the five stages of reading Alien Hand Syndrome : Astonishment : This is amazing! Insecurity : I'm a smart person-- how could I never have heard of this before? Panic : Please, don't let it end. Gratitude : Great!--and look, there are over 90 more essays where that one came from. And Zeal : You won't believe what I just read. Collected and curated by Alan Bellows and his team at DamnInteresting.com, with over 400,000 unique visitors a month, this is the stuff nightmares are made of, and no one will be able to stop reading: Giant Carnivorous Centipedes; Mike, the Headless Chicken; The Exploding Lakes of Cameroon; The Swirling Vortex of Doom; Secret Agent Cyborg Cats; Fiery Balls of Naga; The Deepest Hole; The Terrifying Toothpick Fish; and, of course, Alien Hand Syndrome--a disorder wherein a person's hand develops a "will of its own," unbuttoning shirts, grabbing at the steering wheel, tossing away cigarettes, and in some cases actually attacking its host. Most entries are full-blown narratives, complete with illustrations--for example, pointing out step-by-step how "The Halifax Disaster" unfolded. Other entries examine short-take anomalies--such as unusual drug side effects, including the antidepressant Clomipramine (spontaneous orgasm upon yawning), the hormone Oxytocin (increases one's generosity), the medicine for Parkinson's disease, Ropinirole (compulsive gambling), and Viagra (priapus syndrome, with a remote chance of gangrene curable only through penectomy--say no more).

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0761152253
• ISBN13: 9780761152255
• Release Date: July 2009
• Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.19 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.7" x 7.4"

Customer Reviews

one of my favorite books from my childhood

I honestly have no idea how a copy of this book ended up in my hands when I was, I don't know, somewhere between 11 and 14 years old. I lost that copy a few years ago, but I always remember loving this book, carrying it around with me in my backpack, and reading it over and over and over again. The stories in it are fantastical and wonderful and sometimes downright terrifying, and are made even better by the fact that they are all true. I'm reordering a copy now because I need this book in my life again. Cannot recommend this book enough!

Recommended even if you read all the website articles...

It's an excellent compliment to the [...] website. The book compiles (and in some cases expands or summarizes) many of the best online articles. There are a few brand new articles containing subject matter not already published on the website (see below for a list). Another thing I like about the book is that it has some articles that combine and summarize multiple similar web articles (like Cognitive Glitches). Many of the article titles in the book are different than titles on the website. I was going to buy this book even if the authors decided to only use the existing online content. It was an added bonus to see new material. Here are articles that I found to be exclusive to the book (at the time of this writing) : *Animal Weaponry *Cognitive Glitches *Deep Water Mysteries *Kowloon: The Walled City of Darkness *The McCollum Memo *Peculiar Parasites *The Revelations of Restored Sight *Sylbaris The Survivor *Unanticipated Side Effects *Walking Corpse Syndrome *Weird Weaponry Again, some of the above "new" articles contain pieces and summaries of existing online articles, but the writers added a fair amount of interesting fresh content. Highly recommended!

Thanks for the Helping (Alien) Hand

I cam across damned interesting in my never ending exploration of the internet in search of things that that which would make me more interesting. [...] provided me with what I always wanted: a database of interesting and unique stories that I could use to set me apart from the crowd, and women that my mother was right, I am a catch! The only problem was that i couldn't very well continue to take my computer to the bar. But all that has been remedied! Now, whenever I'm lacking in interesting conversation starters, i can just pull out my Alien Hand, and the odd and intriguing are at my fingertips! This book really delivers, just like the website, without being merely a text iteration of the site. I love the obscurity of its stories, and the fact that even though i hate doing it, i always learn something after I'm finished reading. If the unknown and obscure is what tickles your pickle, this is the book for you!

Highly addictive

(In the interest of full disclosure, I am a contributing editor). The book turned out better than I even anticipated. (The cover has improved, for one thing.) I hadn't been keeping up with the site, and now I see what I've been missing-- and there's other stuff exclusive to the book, if you are a faithful follower. I seriously love it. This is Ripley's for the 21st century. Fascinating, funny, disturbing, awe-inspiring, all in rapid succession. And all in bite-sized chunks. (Dare I say it? It's good bathroom reading...) I've found the book itself is a conversation piece. People laugh at the title and then ask what it's about. And if you've read it, well, you'll have plenty of facts to mesmerize that girl at the cocktail party. And you'll be a better person for it. Moreover, the book is cheap! But why listen to me? See what Scott Adams said about it on the cover. Alan's writing (and everybody else's!) absolutely scintillates. So go find out what a megacryometeor is.

This booked confirmed for me that the consumption of boogers may be helping to cure the common cold

This book is obscure, intersting, and a great read. I'd recommend this highly to anyone that enjoys moments of fascination, disgust, horror, or tribulation. [...], this book is more than a pulp version of the site and looks great on the coffee table or toilet tank.

Smart fun

I love Mental_Floss magazine, and as a result a friend recommended me to the Damn Interesting page about a year and a half ago. I check it everyday! The website is great for picking up interesting conversation starters and little fun facts. I always felt like I learned something after reading the articles, and it's great they finally have a book out! This book is perfect intellectual beach reading (or bathroom reading!) The essays are about really interesting and obscure subjects, like ancient birth control methods and ne'er-do-wells who are sole survivors of volcanic eruptions. A lot of learning and a lot of fun!