Thousands of Stories and Headlines!
I’ve been telling these wacky-but-true stories weekly since 1994, and there must be a lot of them by now, right?
Why yes…. Yes there are.
Each volume of the This is True book collection contains a full year’s worth of columns from This is True. Each week the newsletter has many stories, and only four or five make it into the free edition; the rest were only in the Premium edition. Not only that, but sometimes there have been extra stories that were pulled for confirmation, because I didn’t like the tagline, or other reasons. Many of those have been confirmed or improved, and restored for the books. The result: more than 500 True stories and headlines in each book!
Each book is available in paperback or instant-download ebook format — in both “mobi” (Kindle and similar) and “epub” (iPad and similar) formats.
- v1: This is True: Deputy Kills Man With Hammer
- v2: This is True: Glow-in-Dark Plants Could Help Farmers
- v3: This is True: Pit Bulls Love You, Really
- v4: This is True: Artificial Intelligence Like Real Thing
- v5: This is True: Cost of Being Poor Rising
- v6: This is True: Platform Shoes Claim Another Life
- v7: This is True: Committee Names Committee
- v8: This is True: Invisible Man Disappears From View
- v9: This is True: Science Confirms: Politicians Lie
Each book’s title is a real news headline included in that volume. More volumes are coming as I have time to create them — see below for title details.
You Don’t Need a Kindle!
Note you do not need a Kindle device to read these books! Get the Kindle app or software for Android phones/tablets, iPhone/iPad, BlackBerry phones, Windows Phone 7, and/or Windows or Mac for free here. (Or check this article from AskLeo!, How do I read a Kindle book if I don’t have a Kindle?)
Also Available: True’s Honorary Unsubscribe
The Honorary Unsubscribe is a recurring feature in This is True. While True has weekly examples of the crazy things we humans think we can get away with — jaw-dropping stories of the human thought process, and the realization that we can do better (a lot better!) — the Honorary Unsubscribe is the “balance” to that, the opposite: stories of the absolutely coolest people you’ve ever heard about; the ones who do live a lot better by thinking.
And the first five volumes collecting those write-ups into book form are now available.
These are the people you wish you had known. Start with the inventors: the same guy invented the computer hard drive and the video cassette. Another guy vinyl — and bubble gum. Even the guy who created the Smiley Face (and why he didn’t get rich from it).
And then there’s the artists — the creators of music and TV shows you love. Doctors who made radical breakthroughs to improve human life. Even a rocket scientist here and there, who helped humanity reach toward the stars. And, yes, an entertainer or two — the ones who spent their entire lives bringing us joy, only to die mostly forgotten.
The mainstream media tend to worship celebrities and sports figures, but the real heroes in life are often anonymous to the public. You’ve likely never heard of the doctor known as “the fastest man on Earth” — but you’ve probably seen his photo, working as his own test dummy, risking his life to learn how to make cars (and even spacecraft) safer. He’s in Volume 1.
For full details (including the complete name lists): the full contents of Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3, Volume 4, and Volume 5.
The stories are fascinating: you won’t believe the cool people you have missed in your life. They’re not only available from Amazon in Kindle format, but also in both “mobi” and “epub” formats, as well as paperback versions.
- Volume 1 includes write-ups from 1998 through 2000 on Kindle, and other ebook formats and paperback.
- Volume 2 includes write-ups from 2001 through 2003 on Kindle, and other ebook formats and paperback.
- Volume 3 includes write-ups from 2004 through 2006 on Kindle, and other ebook formats and paperback.
- Volume 4 includes write-ups from 2007 through 2009 on Kindle, and other ebook formats and paperback.
- Volume 5 includes write-ups from 2010 through 2012 on Kindle, and other ebook formats and paperback.
Also Available: True’s Spam Primer
The Spam Primer started in the This is True newsletter in 1996 as a way to help people deal with a new problem: spam. Even then, author Randy Cassingham realized spam would become a huge problem for everyone who depends on e-mail (and it has: it’s estimated that about 90 percent of all e-mail traffic is spam, which makes it difficult for legitimate e-mail to get through, and to find it among all the garbage!)
Spam has of course grown to be more than a nuisance: you can have your identity stolen and see all of your bank accounts drained. This short new book includes full details on how Randy solved his spam problem (he only gets 2-4 in his inbox per week out of the thousands sent to him), plus answers to questions from readers, and more. It’s just $2.99.
Click on the cover to order from Amazon.com, or click for the Amazon store you use: Amazon USA | Amazon France | Amazon UK | Amazon Germany | Amazon Italy | Amazon Spain | Amazon Japan | Amazon Brazil | Amazon Canada.
Coming Soon: More This is True Volumes!
- v10: This is True: Whale Flatulence Stuns Scientists
- v11: This is True: Chicken Ticketed for Crossing the Road
- v12: This is True: Teen Sex Survey Reveals Lying Is Rampant in Teen Sex Surveys
- v13: This is True: Much of the Adult Population Are Poor Role Models
- v14: This is True: Official Statistics Say Don’t Trust Official Statistics
- v15: This is True: Man Arrested after Chicken Was Found in Pants
- v16: This is True: One-Legged Suspect Caught with One Stolen Shoe
- v17: This is True: Police Charge One-Armed Man with Unarmed Robbery
- v18: This is True: Man Exposes Himself at Association for the Blind
- v19: This is True: Man on Singles Holiday Finds Himself Alone
- v20: This is True: Stolen Prosthetic Arm Discovered in Second Hand Shop
- v21: This is True: Drunk Man Says Dog Drove Him to Store
- v22: This is True: Animal Rights Activist Beaten with Duck
- v23: This is True: Psychic Hit by Car Says He Never Saw it Coming
- v24: This is True: Parent Wants Book about Book Bans Banned
- v25: This is True: Hospital Evacuated after People Report Feeling Sick
- v26: This is True: Subtitle TBD
- v27: This is True: Subtitle TBD
- v28: This is True: Subtitle TBD
- v29: This is True: Crack Dealer Arrested on Weed Street
Whew! Plenty to choose from. If you’re new to the books, start at the beginning with Volume 1, and work your way though them.
I like using batteries in my AC powered Kindle, besides wanting to save a tree. Also, these old eyes aint what they used to be, and the Kindle lets me set the font size without paying through the nose for a large print version (which is not available.) Please consider making your books available in a Kindle or MOBI format for us few eBook readers. (You won’t burn in Hell if you don’t.) Thank you.
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Kindle coming up. Stay tuned! -rc
I have a eBook reader too. Mine is not a Kindle, rather an EZReader. It reads 22 different formats of eBooks. I do hope that you can publish the books in eBook formats other than Kindle as not everyone has a Kindle and carrying the whole collection would be quite cumbersome.
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One step at a time, but yes, more formats will be available. -rc
Please, consider publishing them in the Apple Store, I’d be really glad to learn english while having the best of the funs while reading these amazing stories instead of boring news in my iPad. Thanks.
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They will be available in the Apple store, and several other places, in addition to Amazon, yes. -rc
My first stop to purchase This is True books was Amazon.com to see if they were available on Kindle. It is also possible to provide download links at the store website. Please advise when these books are available on the Kindle!
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“Soon”! I’ll announce it in TRUE for sure. -rc
I was waiting for these books to become available on Kindle. Now they are! Awesome! I can hardly wait for the rest of them; keep up the good work!
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Thanks, Robert. More are definitely coming; my goal is to see if I can catch up completely — which means 18 books total, before Christmas. Not sure if I can or not, since volumes 1-6 are easy because they were already edited, but I’m definitely going to try! -rc
Was so excited to hear these books are available for the Kindle I didn’t see your link and went straight to Amazon to find them. Learned two things; (1) not good to search for “This Is True” as there are several other books with those words in the title and (2) searching on Randy Cassingham in the Kindle store also show that your “The True Stella Awards” is also out for the Kindle.
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Yeah, Stella has been on Kindle for some time, but the price is ridiculous — more than a printed copy — so I’ve never promoted it. -rc
Out of curiosity, why does your newsletter (#929) state that Amazon Prime members can only borrow the books for two weeks? Is that something built into your books? Normally Prime members can borrow a book for an indefinite amount of time (but only one at a time).
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It looks like I’m mixing two things together: you can get a free book up to once a month with Prime — one at a time. You can also “borrow” books from other Kindle owners if “lending” is turned on for that book (and it is for mine), and that is limited to two weeks. During those two weeks, the original purchaser cannot read the book. -rc
Great stuff. Always such a good read. Thank You for all the work.
Finally… (Took ME long enough) I bought all the True books you have so far on kindle! Thanks for your hard work! Merry Christmas!!
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Thanks, Colleen: that really helps support my work. Enjoy your Christmas reading! -rc
I can’t find it on Kobo. They only have one book of yours…The True Stella Awards. Can that be fixed…or will i have to get a different reader?
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Above: “They will be available in the Apple store, and several other places, in addition to Amazon, yes.” That will include Kobo, Sony readers, Nooks, and pretty much any reader that uses a standard file format. -rc
These books are a compilation of the unbelievable things that “normal” do. Things that get them arrested, ridiculous zero tolerance events — peanut butter sandwich gun of 6 year old. Reading anyone or all of them (really save yourself time and order all!) will leave you laughing in stitches or shaking your head at stupidity, beyond your imagination.
And if you don’t want to wait for the next issue to come out, subscribe to This is True — free or paid (paid has way more content) and each week your email will raise to a new level of hilarity or disbelief at humanity. The highlight of Monday is This is True in my mailbox.
And as a side note the publisher Randy Cassingham is a all-over great guy and serves his community.
I’ve got Vols. 1-8, and your newsletter and blog refer to higher volume numbers. Where can I get those?
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We’re behind on publishing new volumes because I keep getting a new assistant trained up, and then they move out of the area. Meanwhile, this page shows everything that’s available in ebook and print formats (which is 1-8 at this moment), and I’ll be announcing new volumes in the newsletter as they become available. -rc