THE MUSEUM OF HOAXES (2002)

Some Ph.D. candidates spend the better part of a decade poring over musty Sanskrit texts or zapping lab rats. Not Alex Boese. For his doctoral sheepskin, he assembled this compendium of scams, pranks, and urban myths from early medieval forgeries all the way up to present-day fakes (the notorious 9/11 photo of a tourist standing on the World Trade Center's observation deck, with a low-flying jet in the background). Here you'll find the origins of April Fool's Day, learn whether or not Thomas Crapper invented the toilet, and discover what's up with those antler-sporting rabbits called Jackalopes. What you won't find is a whole lot of insight into why we fall for these put-ons. We're not sure what Boese's thesis adviser gave him, but here he earns a solid