""A delightful and entertaining romp through false beliefs, tall tales, fads, crazes, and urban legends of all kinds. A Colorful History of Popular Delusions is a much-needed reminder that the human capacity for self-delusion is seemingly endless.Enlightening and eye-opening—and great fun.”—Scott O. Lilienfeld, PhD, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Psychology, Emory University “Humans are a strange lot, and this book encapsulates that notion perfectly. Put a bunch of us on the same planet and we'll come up with things that don't even exist. From UFOs and monsters like Bigfoot, to mass hysteria involving tarantulas—this book takes a critical yet loving look at the utterly bizarre. Never mocking, but with a sense of fun, it puts a magnifying glass up to the stuff we think is real, but probably isn't. Probably.”—David Farrier, Journalist “Vast, intriguing, and downright interesting. Robert E. Bartholomew and Peter Hassall take a no-nonsense tour of the world of fantasies, illusions, fallacies, disturbances, and deceptions. You will be enlightened more than you can imagine!” —Loren Coleman, MSW, Author of Cryptozoology A to Z “Scholarly enough for the researcher yet accessible enough for the interested layperson,this book is a welcome and important addition.”—Benjamin Radford, MEd, Discovery News columnist and coauthor of The Martians Have Landed! A History of Media-Driven Panics and Hoaxes