Authors know this, so the next time you read a biography filled with unusually inspiring, heartbreaking, or just plain awesome stories, keep in mind that there's a solid chance it's all complete and utter bullshit. For example ...

If you write an outrageously implausible story and get it published, congratulations -- you've just added yet another novel to the pile of thousands that come out every year. But if you write the exact same outrageous crap and put it in the biography section, then you've got yourself a best-seller and become a media sensation .

6 Go Ask Alice Was a "Troubled Teen Diary" ... by a 54-Year-Old Mormon

Prentice Hall

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The Book:

Go Ask Alice is the diary of a 15-year-old girl whose drink is spiked with LSD during a party. Two years and several doobies, heroin shots, and blow jobs for money later, she's dead from an overdose. There's a good chance that your school either made you read this book or banned you from even looking at it. It's very popular with teachers, partly because of its "painfully honest" anti-drug message and partly because you can easily tell a student didn't actually read it when they call the unnamed protagonist "Alice" (that's the name of another character).

Cinema Studio Entertainment

In a plot twist, the narrator's true name is Tyler Durden.

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In the four decades since its publication, the book has sold millions of copies around the world, and yet no one has been able to find out the identity of the stoner Anne Frank who wrote it. It's weird that none of the people who knew her have stepped up by now, huh? They're probably all dead from pot overdoses.

The Bullshit:

Wait, no, we do know who wrote the diary. Here's that young, troubled adolescent: