Audiobook33 minutes
The Balloon Hoax
Written by Edgar Allan Poe
Narrated by Cathy Dobson
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
3/5
()
About this audiobook
The Balloon Hoax was first published in The Sun newspaper in New York in 1844. Originally presented as a true story, it detailed European Monck Mason's trip across the Atlantic Ocean in only three days in a hot air balloon.
The story turned out to be a hoax and the paper published a retraction two days later (rumoured to also have been written by Poe himself) admitting the deception.The story ignited a fever of excitement in New York: Poe himself claimed that the Sun building was "besieged" by people wanting copies of the newspaper. "I never witnessed more intense excitement to get possession of a newspaper," he wrote.
The furore around the story is a testimony to Poe's ability to build up a narrative with such plausible details, that it appears almost inconceivable that it should not be the truth.
The story turned out to be a hoax and the paper published a retraction two days later (rumoured to also have been written by Poe himself) admitting the deception.The story ignited a fever of excitement in New York: Poe himself claimed that the Sun building was "besieged" by people wanting copies of the newspaper. "I never witnessed more intense excitement to get possession of a newspaper," he wrote.
The furore around the story is a testimony to Poe's ability to build up a narrative with such plausible details, that it appears almost inconceivable that it should not be the truth.
Author
Edgar Allan Poe
Dan Ariely is James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University and Sunday Times bestselling author of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape Our Decisions. Ariely's TED talks have over 10 million views; he has 90,000 Twitter followers; and probably the second most famous Behavioural Economist in the World after Daniel Kahneman.
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Reviews for The Balloon Hoax
Rating: 2.8000000199999997 out of 5 stars
3/5
10 ratings1 review
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5I've heard this narrator before and her voice and delivery is fingernails on a chalkboard.