Finished (E-Reader) - "A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert Ripley" - Neal Thompson

I found Thompson's biography of Ripley (of "Believe It Or Not" fame) to be a compelling, can't put down book.

Ripley came from modest roots, almost finished high school, with few friends.  His skill was cartooning, which did make him modestly popular in later school drawing teachers and other amusing cartoons for fellow students.

A series of lucky contacts launched Ripley into doing sports illustrations for newspapers, which led to  "odd sports" comics, and eventually to "Believe It or Not".

Through cartooning and his life as a newspaper illustrator,  Ripley managed to do overseas voyages, paid for through the newspapers by writing and illustrating columns while on the road.

Ripley became very famous doing this, and eventually moved his cartooning into radio shows, in-person appearances and even into television.  A sideline was the "odditorium", part freak show, part display of souvenirs Ripley collected during his voyages.

The timeline of Ripley's life spans WWI, prohibition (which he avoided by travelling, drinking and writing about it), the depression and WWII.  This also spanned the heyday of cartooning (newspaper panel-type cartoons), the popularization of comic books (famously Superman started in 1938), radio shows and the new tech of television.  Ripley played a part in all of this, becoming one of the richest people in the U.S., some of which at a time when many had nothing at all.

His travels were interesting because Ripley seemed to be a tireless and brave traveller, with the sterotypic "ugly American" habit of refusing to speak any language other than English, choosing to speak louder if the recepient was not an English speaker.

Ripley was an odd man in his personal life, a world class handball player, playboy who made his home into a museum, which some found odd.  He enjoyed the limelight, which is remarkable in the 21st century "looks-only" media, as he wasn't classically beautiful, and had bad teeth for most of his life.  His life with women was interesting, as he had no problem attracting women, and had several serious relationships, but never had "the love of his life", a woman friend who died relatively young.

Ripley died in his 50's as his dad had of a heart attack, a few days after having some type of attack live on TV.  Oddly, his last show was a Memorial Day brtoadcast, and the last thing broadcast on Ripley's watch was the funeral song "Taps".