Freak Babylon: An Illustrated History of Teratology and Freakshows

I haven't finished reading this entire book yet. But, what I've read thus far has been interesting, at times quite shocking, sometimes sad, sometimes hilarious and just all around great.There was one section of the book that talked about "freaks" or mutants that had a second head somewhere on their body and some of these heads even talked. Man! That was freaky and crazy to read about! It even drove one poor afflicted soul to end his life because the thought of that made him nuts. I can't say I blame him, having a second head on my body that would babble or even talk would drive me completely insane too I think. That's just one of the many interesting and completely bonkers stories you'll get in this book with its eye popping, Total Recall-esque, cover.I've tried to include a smattering of some the wild, real life photos you get in this book in my photos I've attached to this review. Some of them were a little too explicit to share though. Nothing too obscene in my opinion. But, I probably wouldn't let any children check this book out. If you did it would probably give them nightmares without the context of understanding the book. Heck, it may even give a few adults nightmares too.A book cannot live just on its cover alone I don't believe. But I think that this one scores some pretty high marks on covers for books you own, that are most likely to make your friends or company go - :-O. This definitely will be a great conversation starter if you leave it on your coffee table I would bet. Though, unless a prospective date is already into this type stuff, I probably wouldn't try to break the ice by showing your date the photos from this book of the guy with a second head growing out of his forehead. I mean, I might do that, but that's probably why I'm still single at the moment.Overall, I'd have to say that I'm quite pleased with my purchase of, Freak Babylon. It was shocking and yet very entertaining, informative and educational as well. I'm glad I own a copy and I would definitely be happy to check out any other books by this author on this subject or really anything else, the book was very well written in my opinion too. I hope this review was helpful to others, thanks.

Is a beautiful addition to my collection of strange, morbid, and bizarre. This is one of the only books, I’ve read from first page to last!! The pictures are amazing!!

Fun read. Nothing spectacular, just weird fun stuff.

I bought this as a Christmas present and my friend cannot stop talking about how interesting and well written it is. Big hit.

Although much of this information is on the Internet, it's nice to have it collected in a book. Good photos and lots of descriptive text. A good contrast of how we see these unfortunate people from then to now.

strange

Good and disturbing read...the pictures are horrifying and cause one to pause and be thankful one doesn't have the fate these people did. After doing extensive research in "disabilities" in general, I had to look at further readings, much better

The photos were great but more photos and less writing would have been better . The condition of the book was okay and the price and shipping were good .

Very nice in excellent condition!!

Good book, only downfall, photos in book look photocopied in. Some are harder then others to see. Everything else is gold in my opinion

Muchas imagen la calidad de la edición bastante buena y a un muy buen precio. Aunque no es muy extenso cuenta con información relevante.

L'ouvrage est à recommander pour les lecteurs français anglophones, qui aimerait se documenter sur les "monstres". L'ouvrage se concentre aux individus ayant vécu plusieurs années, donc on n'y trouvera pas de cas tel que la cyclopie, l'anencéphalie ou autre malformations du même type. Le texte ne présente clairement aucune difficulté et je regrette qu'il se simplifie parfois à de seule liste de noms, d'anecdotes (dont la véracité tient parfois de la simple rumeur). Certains cas ont été avérés par la suite comme des faux (Pascal Pinon) et l'ouvrage aurait gagné à être vérifié et/ou complété (par exemple, en ajoutant la source des photographies ou de certaines citations comme celle des essais de Montaigne, livre II chapitre XXX concernant Lazarus-Johannes Batista Collaredo). J'ai retrouvé avec plaisir des anecdotes et des photos des comédiens de Freak de Tod Browning, comme Johnny Eck ou Prince Randian. L'iconographie est un grand point fort de Freak Babylon. Il y a là de quoi satisfaire les plus curieux et se constituer une bonne base pour approfondir, l'ouvrage citant des textes scientifiques forts intéressants.

その時代、見世物小屋に送り込まれた訳ありの方々の写真集。映画にもなったエレファントマンはじめ、奇形の方たちのオンパレード。笑顔の裏に想像を絶する時代背景があったのでしょうね。合掌！