Quickie Book Review: You Can Get Arrested for That by Rich Smith

Who would have thought that a simple round of Balderdash would lead to one of the strangest crime sprees in America? But that's exactly what happened according to British writer Rich Smith in his book You Can Get Arrested for That: 2 Guys, 25 Dumb Laws, 1 Absurd American Crime Spree. After a rousing game on Christmas Day in 2004, Smith was helping to put the game away when he spied a question on one of the cards and asked everyone "what activity was illegal for divorced women in Florida to do on Sundays". The answer -- skydiving -- made no sense to Smith, but it did pique his interest, challenging him to uncover other bizarre laws in the United States. His researched produced a surprising amount of such laws, and he wondered if he could get away with breaking them.

Months later, and with much British media attention, Smith and his buddy Bateman set out from England to the United States with the goal of breaking as many of the laws as they could. They began in San Francisco and drove their way East, through the Mojave Desert, crossing the Mississippi, and winding their way to New York, breaking -- or attempting to break -- as many laws as they could. Laws such as: it's illegal to peel an orange in a motel room in California; you can't play cards on the street with a Native American in Globe, Arizona; you can't fish while wearing pajamas in Chicago, Illinois; it's illegal to drive around the town square more than 100 times in a single session in Oxford, Mississippi.

Along the way they meet an interesting cast of characters, from a fortune teller in Long Beach, California, to Arden Deloris the Native American with whom they played cards in Arizona, and the residents of Mineral Point, Wisconsin -- the sister city to Smith and Bateman's hometown of Redruth. And that's where I think this book shines -- giving an outsider's glimpse at life in America thanks to the everyday people you meet on the street. People are friendlier and more willing to help than we give them credit for, and much of this travelog points that out.

I would have made an even more interesting story if Smith had been able to incorporate some history about the laws themselves, why a law banning someone from riding a bicycle in a pool in Baldwin Park or falling asleep in a cheese factory in South Dakota was necessary. Perhaps that's for another book?

You Can Get Arrested for That
by Rich Smith
Three Rivers Press
trade paperback, 243pgs.

Image from Open Library.