Cool Dead People: Obituaries of Real Folks We Wish We'd Met a Little Sooner

By Jane O'Boyle

A humorous and inspiring collection that celebrates little-known people who led remarkable lives.

You won't find them in history books. They're people you've probably never heard of, but they made the world a more interesting place while they were in it. Here is just a sampling of the colorful obituaries you'll find in Cool Dead People

* Insurance agent and Montana conservationist Art Aylesworth, best known as the "Bluebird Man" for his work with the mountain and western bluebirds, who built and gave away more than 35,000 bluebird nest boxes. His efforts saved these two birds from extinction.

* Mel Fisher, who spent years diving for sunken treasure, only to hit paydirt at the age of 62: Off Key West he uncovered a $400 million cache of silver bars, gold, emerald, diamonds, and pearls which had been lost on a Spanish ship in 1622.

* The literary agent, Connie Clausen, who began her career as an elephant rider in the circus.

From the doctor who healed a town to a typewriter repairman to the stars...from the countess who traded her title for a waitress tray, to the cleaning lady who left $150,000 to a local college, this whimsical and moving collection has the last word on over 100 people who could be, well, any one of us.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452282292
• ISBN13: 9780452282292
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: Plume Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 4.6" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Fun, short book

This book is simple fun. It's a quick read, but it's full of people who have led full, interesting lives. Many of the obituaries are examples of people overcoming circumstance or just doing amazing things. Some were sad, some sweet, but all are intriguing and made me wonder what I will have accomplished at the end of my life.

More than cool--simply wonderful!!

This book is at times touching, funny, creepy, and all the time just plain wonderful. It's so nice to read about real people who lead extraordinary lives that few of us ever know about. I've read this author's other books--and liked them a lot!!--but this one is a nice change of pace. It really renewed my faith in the fact that each one of us really does make a difference--Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed in "It's A Wonderful Life" has been transformed into something all of us can appreciate and recognize. Thank you so very much for this gem!!!